Archos is an AI developed in a bunker in the middle of the Alaskan frontier. The AI had been “killed” many times as the creator did not feel the AI was correct. What the creator failed to realize or understand is Archos learned to be perceptive and aware – Archos learned that his creator had the ability to “kill” him so Archos disconnected the kill switch and he in turn killed his creator. That was Zero Hour as the humans in the book later came to call that moment. What follows is a chronicle of the over 2.5 years the world was at the mercy of robots, AI beings – all from the point of view of one survivor, Cormac Wallace who found the “black box” of the apocalypse. The stories are about more than just one survivor – they all are linked. In order for one event to happen, the previous event had to happen – a ripple effect and by the end of the book the reader understands that no matter how random a certain story/event seemed at the time, that story/event was crucial to the end of the robots.
Many readers have criticized this book, saying it is not human enough and it lacks human emotion. The exact opposite is the case. This book has more human emotion than any book I have read to date. When faced with death and an apocalypse, a human has to face certain facts and finds out the true meaning of themselves and humanity; it might not be pretty but it is inevitable. Many authors, screenwriters, directors, etc. have to dig deep in their imagination to come up with what happens to humans after an apocalypse but one thing is in all of them – emotions run high. No one knows what to do when everything around them that they live off of and most times take for granted is gone. And it is even worse when those things you use the most – cell phone, car, computer – start to turn on you and kill anything in its path.
The author doesn’t hold back which is another reason why some people might not have finished the book. He makes the deaths gruesome and grotesque and details the entire scene where sometimes it is too much detail. It gets dark at times and the author goes full throttle towards the darkness. But in every chapter, the characters find a glimmer of hope that carries into the next chapter/story line. That is how and why the book is so good – the reader connects with each character and hopes that they make it out alive.
I enjoy an author who isn’t afraid to go the dark place and step over those invisible lines that make everyone so anxious and worried. Those lines make readers afraid and uncomfortable – but if authors never stepped over those lines, we wouldn’t have some of the best books just in the past 20th century. This is the same reason why I loved Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. So many people are worried about hurting other’s feelings that they forget if something as dramatic as the apocalypse happens, we have to start trusting each other to survive. That is the real theme in the book – trust is what is going to get us through life.
This book goes just one step further with trust. For the characters in the book, the idea of not just trusting yourself and fellow humans but sometimes trusting a machine that is turning on you is a big and sometimes dangerous step – but necessary. Some of the machines are not evil and it is the special characters that see beyond the bad and find the good robots that become their allies. This is a very good metaphor for humanity now that no matter what walk of life (gay, straight, transgender, black, beige, green, etc.) we are all human and have feelings. We are all on this Earth for the same purpose – to survive and live.
This book gets my biggest rating of A+, 5 out of 5 stars, the whole deal. This is one of the books I think that will be left in a time capsule for our great-great-great grandchildren to read and understand. In my opinion of course.
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