Book Review #89: M.A.I.A. by W.D. Shipley

Hello Dear Reader!

Welcome to my first book review in a LONG time. Coupled with a huge reading slump was a couple months full of highs and lows, so it’s taken a while to get back on my feet in the world of reading. I’m back now and ready to enjoy and review the books this world has to offer, starting with this book by a coworker of mine!

But before I begin, here is the back-cover summary (from Goodreads):

New York City's entrails are evidence of World War III battles hard lost, but it's not over yet.

M.A.I.A. (Manufacturing Artificial Intelligence Agency) emerges from the bunkers of Governor's Island fostering elite A.I. soldiers whose mind chips read thoughts and controls memories with the 19-84 Vanishing Sequence.

When Sniper Alix Basil recovers a forbidden memory, he threatens Supreme Reader, Albert Rankin's totalitarian ambitions for dominating the minds of men. Veterans, opposing 19-84, scheme to extract Alix before his mind is erased and ignite a new war-against A.I.

Will Alix, his love for Anna, a sharp shooting medic, their simulation training be enough to resist M.A.I.A.'s memory erasing program and survive a bullet-riddled world where they don't return if they die?

End synopsis! Now, let’s get into the review!

M.A.I.A is a dystopian novel set in a world where World War III occurred and follows the stories of multiple people, namely Alix Basil. In this world, everyone born after a certain time on a secret training facility called Governor’s Island has chips installed. These chips assist with instilling certain skills, such as combat and speaking language, at birth, speeding the process to create top soldiers to take back the U.S.

The cast of characters featured in M.A.I.A. are wildly different from each other. From the absolute disgusting and power-hungry intentions of main villain Albert Rankin to the purer intentions of Alix Basil and his romantic Partner, Anna, the motivations of the characters within the book differ from each other, even in the smallest of ways. Some are obsessed with having all power to themselves, others simply want to have their freedom back, and others still are just concerned with their own lives and the ones they care about.

I found this dystopian version of the world to be really interesting. It incorporates sci-fi elements really well with the use of the chips installed into soldiers in order to pre-program them from birth into the types of units their military needs. I also liked how it incorporated the concept of humanity and free will. A lot of the younger characters who are soldiers were raised from birth to fight within a facility completely separate from the outdoors. Many had never seen the sky or the sun or breathed in outside air. They also were never really given a choice to think for themselves or consider what they want in life until the events of this book.

I also really liked M.A.I.A., the supercomputer who is connected to all the chips and technology of the world. She started off as just an advanced A.I. being but morphed into having her own train of thought and conscious by the end of the book.

Though I liked the story and loved the world of M.A.I.A., there were a few things that poked at me while reading, and I think it’s because of my personal preferences when reading a book. The one thing I personally didn’t prefer was the fact that almost none of the characters had any kind of distinct physical feature I could remember them by, at least ones that stuck in my mind while reading. I had a hard time envisioning what Alix and Anna looked like, and I had a harder time picturing the faces of their teammates and other important characters of the book. If I recognized a name, it was because of their personal character sub-story within the main one. Funnily enough, the villain, Rankin, was the one I could picture most clearly because of the fact he needed a device in order to move around since he couldn’t walk.

I also thought Alix and Anna’s relationship to be more at the forefront but personally didn’t find it to be the case. Their relationship also wasn’t as fleshed out as I personally would have liked, but they were really cute and were an absolute power couple on the battlefield!

I will say that there are a few content ratings I’d like to point out if you are considering reading this book! The steam is in the sauna. I repeat: the steam is in the sauna, and the spice level is definitely above black pepper. People are also killed in this book, so if you don’t like reading violent scenes and deaths, this book might not be for you. Finally, there are definitely depictions and mentions of S.A., and I found it so sad. If you avoid topics like these in your reading, please keep that in mind for this book.

So, M.A.I.A. rating:

3/5 and recommend if you like quick, action-packed reads that take place in a sci-fi dystopian society where technology and knowledge is power.

Thanks for reading!