Book Title: Ghost In The Machine
Author: S. J. Davis
Genre: Steampunk
★★★
The idea behind Ghost In The Machine is really interesting, especially for some technology and science nerd like me. However, perhaps due to my high expectation, this read was actually quite disappointing.
You all know that I have a problem with multiple povs, and with this book, the time changes a lot as well, leaving me as baffled as possible. I’ve made a mistake not noting the date written in the beginning of every chapter, so it was a huge struggle for me to keep track of what is happening.
The story jumps a lot – there’s almost a new event for each chapter. It lacks continuity and I feel like reading several separate stories. Plus, the tension built disappeared quickly at the end of the chapter (except for the ending), which, in my opinion, did no good in engaging the reader.
Despite all of that, I still give it a three stars out of five stars because I really love the idea. Time travelling is essential to the plot, and to my delight the author did explain the paradox behind it! I love it when the book is written based on scientific facts (or at least the facts we know of right now).
This book may not be my cup of tea, but others might enjoy it. So if you find the blurb below interesting, do pick up this book! Just remember to note down what year you’re at 🙂
Josephine, Bodhi, and Caroline, live in a scientifically advanced Victorian London as the Industrial Revolution is in full swing. Infrared goggles, dirigibles, and analog computers exist alongside bustles, parasols, and high tea. On the grounds of an Old Saxon church, three strange net-runners arrive from a future where everyone is assigned a barcode from the moment of birth. What you buy, what you read, your health care history, your bank accounts, your measured intelligence, are all captured by this barcode and sent to the feed of OmniCorp. Human data mining forms the basis of a massive Industrial Complex, a thinly veiled profit center, based on the control of human behavior. To interrupt the inception of OmniCorp, the net-runners, a subversive underground group, enlist the aid of the steampunk Victorians to thwart a meeting between two men, who hundreds of years earlier, laid the foundation for OmniCorp. Extraordinary figures race toward a rendezvous with history, weave in and out of time, fight evil steampunk automatons, hide in Victorian brothels, fight Indian mutinies, and take refuge in dystopian cyberpunk pawnshops, to insure a future where personal privacy is protected over corporate power.
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SJ runs three Indie Publishing companies: Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly, Hot Ink Press, and Vamptasy Publishing, UK.
Ten percent of all proceeds for SJ’s books go to Turning Point, a counseling center for women in crisis or experiencing domestic abuse.
On a personal note, SJ Davis is the daughter of an ex-patriate British mother and a Southern Baptist former CIA father. As a child, she spoke in silly accents and recounted outlandish tales of fantasy over afternoon tea. To this day it remains her favorite activity. Born in Long Island, NY, she was raised in the suburbs of Washington DC and went to school for a ridiculous amount of time. She moved from Virginia to New Jersey to Philadelphia to Chicago to Detroit, and began her writing career once her children were old enough to reach for the goldfish themselves. SJ is an avid tea drinker, a stiletto aficionado, Doc Marten worshipper, punk rock listener, and lover of flip flops and cardigans. She has a terrible sense of direction, loves gummy bears, and is a Johnny Depp fangirl.
∞ ϟ 9¾ ♔ ⚯͛ △⃒⃘ ➵ ♆
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