C. D. Wight

Real Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: In 2048, AI specialist Tomo is about to lose his job in Silicon Valley, as U.S. unemployment soars past thirty percent. He’s a terrible team player, and his ass-kissing skills are sub-par. While Tomo’s got talents for making computers act more human, the job makes him feel more like a machine.

When his hometown in Japan is destroyed by a tsunami, Tomo has the reason he needs to take a break. But in Tokyo, Tomo overhears something impossible: a show more care-giving bot is pressuring his grandmother to sell her condo and move into an old folks’ home. Elderly neighbors complain their bots sing the same tune.

Tomo breaches the veil of customer service at the care-giving company, revealing a yakuza scheme that amounts to genocide. Tomo now has an opportunity to put his talents to better use—with help from an upbeat slacker and a rogue AI.

TOKYO GREEN is a stand-alone SF novel that explores not only the dangers of technology, but also the ability of technology to thrust humanity deeper into nature, making the future a worthwhile destination for all.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: AI anxiety, elder abuse, and a really dry witty voice made this under-the-radar DRC a real pleasure for me to read. The US is in the early stages of an AI takeover of healthcare, so this feels more than usually relevant. I'm sure that the author, writing in 2018, thought thirty years was a solid gap between bringing the book out and it becoming prescient...it worked okay as more or less the gap between 1948 and 1984.

More like months than years this time. I was required to keep reading by the sense of "oh wow, I can really see that happening" married to his narrative voice. I *did* need to overlook spelling and grammar infelicities of a very minor sort. Under 300 pages (if only just), it read more like 150. It filled the pages and left me satisfied...you too, I hope, as the Kindle edition is the best bargain here at $2.99. show less

Flash fiction at its best:
characterization with depth, in so few words, making me care about these people and settings that pop up off the page. So real, I could almost smell this place. And the plots hooked me immediately.

The fun part is the connections between the stories, unexpected but making sense, like a carousel ride: up and down and around full circle. Everything and every one fits.

My only complaint is that it ended! I could have keep going and going with these stories.
Recommended!

What a great switch on the typical change-the-world scenario. The hero finds it is more fun at the bottom of the social status than where he was at the top. Of course, the higher class does not want to let him go. And there in lies all the fun.