Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

This was another great tech-based futuristic novel by Charles Soule.
I will never get tired of the interesting themes and plenty of food for thought.

Another sucess.

Charles Soule vuelve a utilizar elementos de ciencia ficción para escribir unas novelas especulativas sobre la sociología y cómo cambiarían las relaciones interpersonales y la sociedad en general si cambiaran las reglas. Mientras que en The Oracle Year la premisa era el conocimiento de ciertos sucesos que iban a suceder en el futuro, en Anyone es la tecnología para cambiar mentes entre cuerpos la que dará lugar a toda la trama. Esta premisa, bastante utilizada en la ciencia ficción como en Carbono Alterado sin irnos muy lejos, viene aquí constreñida por ciertas limitaciones que Soule se impone para explorar las consecuencias de la aplicación de una tecnología desconocida hasta ahora.


La narración está dividida en dos momentos temporales, el momento en el futuro muy cercano cuando tiene lugar el descubrimiento casual de la tecnología y el otro unos 20 años después con una sociedad totalmente transformada por los cambios.

Anyone tiene muchos elementos de thriller, pero me interesa más el aspecto especulativo que deriva de la tecnología. La capacidad de cambiar de cuerpos podría acabar con el racismo y el sexismo, ya que nunca se sabría cómo es en realidad la persona con la que se está hablando. Se hace referencia de pasada al ahorro energético que supondría la posibilidad de evitar los viajes «en persona» a otros lugares del mundo cuando se podría hacer ocupando el cuerpo de otro ser. Pero al final, se queda un poco corto en este sentido y no se mete en la profundidad que a mí me hubiera gustado en este aspecto.

Afortunadamente, ambas tramas están bastante equilibradas y el autor mantiene cierto nivel de intriga sobre quién es quién en cada momento utilizando perfectamente el propio recurso que es el eje central de la novela, el intercambio de mentes. Aunque a partir de cierto momento la personalidad de la protagonista de la segunda parte de la trama resulta bastante obvia, el autor todavía se reserva un as en la manga para dar ese último giro, es vuelta de tuerca que acaba por cerrar la novela de un modo más que correcto.

❊ an impressive story line that doesn't shine through the characters ❊

⇾ an accidental invention that creates a technology one can use to transfer oneself into another body through a quick flash + two narratives set decades apart to show the beginning of this innovation and the effects, particularly darker, of this tech—an admirable plot.

⇾ fast-paced, thrilling undertone that leaves the reader hooked enough for the surprising twist at the end, but irregular pacing at certain places can make the experience a little unbearable at times.

⇾ despite legalisation of this tech years later, a lawless underground market allows dark purposes to be fulfilled using this flash for a prize—this aspect provides an opportunity to create fascination around the characters but isn't successful at all. I sadly don't care about either protagonists.

⇾ dual timelines during a narration is always difficult and for me, personally, it can make or break the entire reading experience; safe to say, it didn't completely frustrate but did pull me out during some instances.

⇾ centring a certain theme of the story around a Black woman, the main character, inventing this technology but keeping herself under the wraps (until later when her desires change) and particularly pointing out the different treatment she receives when not in her Black body—indirectly addressing racism and slightly implying that this technology can change the way some judge people on their skin colour—is understandably important but when it comes from a male white author, it doesn't feel the most appropriate connotation.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review! I really slogged through this one in part due to the year that is 2020 getting the best of me, but I think also in part due to pacing issues. I really enjoy the concepts explored in Anyone and it has enough of a blend of science-fiction and thriller to keep me engaged based on premise alone. I liked the characters and the flipping between past and present (which I found to be smooth transitions for the most part) but did lose interest in peaks and valleys. A really interesting look into a fresh and strange notion of becoming ‘anyone’ and what that would mean on a larger scale. Definitely food for thought and a wild ride and that!

I absolutely LOVED this book.

A brilliant concept of anyone being able to 'flash' or move into another's body.

After an accidental discovery by Gabrielle White in her barn, she realises that she has invented a whole game changer.

But the rights to her discovery doesn't belong to her, it belongs to the man who's been paying her to discover a cure for Alzheimer's.

But she's can't hand over this, it's too valuable and he's a monster who will use it for his own evil gain.

But things turn out alot different than she planned....

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for ARC

This was an interesting sci-fi thriller where people could transfer their consciousness to different bodies. I loved the concept and reading about it. It was thrilling as well.
I'd recommend it if you like fast-paced sci-fi thrillers.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

Be anyone with Anyone. That’s the catchy line wheeled out by NeOnet Global, the company affectionately known as Anyone. After a freak accident occurs whilst working on an Alzheimer’s cure, Gabrielle White realises she has invented a technology that could change the world, allowing people to transfer their consciousness to other bodies. The applications are staggering, but it’s not long before we advance 25 years into the future to see the effect the technology and the company that wields it has had on the world. And it’s not what Gabrielle was hoping for.

Whilst it has indeed revolutionised the world, it’s also brought with it a number of problems. The darkshare, for one, where people can rent out their bodies for any illicit purpose that can be imagined. It’s here we first meet Annami, as she undertakes her first darkshare run, coming to in a compromising situation which she - having been merely a vessel for someone renting out her body - has no awareness of whatsoever, her consciousness dormant beneath that of the person who rented her. It’s not long before Annami is on the run, desperately seeking sanctuary and attempting to make sense of her situation. It’s the first of many action-packed scenes, all of which zip along nicely; no surprise, given Soule’s background in comic book writing.

This structure is retained throughout the novel, as we hop back and forth between Gabrielle’s discovery of the technology and Annami’s attempts to put her complex plan in motion and bring those who wronged her to justice. This works well from a pacing perspective, with various dramatic reveals, twists and turns mounting up in both protagonists’ stories. Given the nature of the technology, it can be a little bit of an exercise in mental gymnastics trying to keep in mind exactly who is who. The technology itself is also given a lot of explanation early on, as are the systems which regulate it. Ideally this exposition would be communicated more subtly, through conversations between the characters for example, which might have made it feel a little less intrusive.

That plan of Annami’s is also, as mentioned, rather complex. This complexity isn’t in itself an issue - there might be a lot of variables and moving parts to it, but looked at as a whole it wouldn’t be fair to label it confusing. However, it’s only really in the final third (or even quarter) of the book that we actually get enough insight into the purpose of her plan to discern what it is that she’s actually trying to accomplish. A drip feed of information is fine, but these drips come a little too slowly, and we’re left feeling like we’re in the dark and - presumably unintentionally, but perhaps appropriately - just being carried along for the ride. Whilst this can occasionally frustrate, there are just enough hints and clues dropped that a payoff seems tantalisingly possible.

Sharing the stage with Annami, Gabrielle’s side to this story shows us how the technology came to be, as well as the events that led up to Anyone getting their hands on it. A lot of these sections of the novel have their fair share of tense moments, although not with the same levels of action that Annami’s often do. Gabrielle’s altruistic and optimistic hopes for “the flash” (as the technology comes to be known) are admirable, but this mindset seems at odds with her oft-displayed callous disregard for human life. Reconciling her reckless decision-making with her supposedly noble ideals is at times difficult, and occasionally results in struggling to empathise with her, especially when she’s doing things that could put her family in harm’s way. She is a likeable character in many respects though, with enough individual quirks to make her feel well-realised and distinctive. Other readers might well find her more endearing.

Anyone is an entertaining thriller, with plenty of thought-provoking ideas. It earnt more than a few appreciative nods as I worked my way through its elaborate plot, and the fast-paced action and breathless desperation of some scenes can’t fail to quicken the pulse. Some exposition-heavy sections suck the wind out of its sails a little, and the moral ambivalence of the protagonists can make them at times difficult to root for, but the core concept is intriguing enough that it will no doubt have you planning your own body hopping holiday by its end.

When I first read the synopsis of this book, I was intrigued, The idea of transferring consciousness from one body to another sounds thrilling! Gabrielle was a very strong main character. She was hardcore, strong and remained determined, despite running out of money for funding her project. When she accidentally creates this new technology, it is life-changing, and the story follows the consequences of it.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a sci-fi that is page turner. I couldn't read fast enough! The writing was easy to read yet powerful in its own way! Pick this up if you want thrills and a racing heart!

Anyone is a sci-fi thriller written by Charles Soule.

I’ve first read Soule through his works on comic books. His experience as an attorney led him to write, for example, memorable runs on Daredevil and She-Hulk for Marvel. In spite of having heard a lot of good things about The Oracle Year, it seems I never made the time to get to it before his new novel came to my attention.

Anyone has nothing to do with law and attorneys. There are some attorneys in it, and a few harsh negotiations of rather brutal contracts, but it’s foremost a speculative sci-fi thriller, narrated through different timelines, mainly two, and the third person point of view of several characters.

Fifteen minutes into our future, Gabrielle White is a neuroscientist. She obtained funds from a venture capitalist, on not very good terms, to research a cure for Alzheimer through light waves. She wants to change the world. The money is almost gone, and she has nothing to show for it. She spends the last of it in a final Hail Mary experiment, and it fails. The seal of the tube containing Wilbur, the diseased lab rat, isn’t perfect. Light from her high power laser filters out, drawing mesmerizing patterns on the ceiling of her makeshift lab/barn... and she wakes up in the body of her husband, holding their infant girl.

Gabrielle White changed the world.

25 years in the future, the flash has been made commercially available by a company nicknamed Anyone. As their marketing states, anyone can now be anyone for a few minutes or for days. Consciousnesses jumping into vessels on a pay per minute basis. Endless possibilities. Society has been utterly transformed by this innovation. The planet has been saved in the process. However, any technological advancement can be abused. If most people use the legal « lightshare » network system, anonymous renting of bodies also happen through the way less legal « darkshare ». Servers and nodes not owned by the NeOne Net corporation. Crime has changed, as well. Light or Dark, two rules are embedded in the system : if one dies, both die, and you have to return to your prime body before being able to do another share.

Annami is a young girl who starts using the darkshare after having quit her job at NeOne Net. She knows secrets about the flash. She has revenge in her mind. And, even if chased by Neone’s security goons, she has a plan. To enact it, she needs a large sum of money. Renting her body on the darkshare is a good way to get it. However, after her very first share, she wakes up in a room with a dead body, and a killer after her.

Charles Soule does a great job at weaving two thrillers together, set in two different timelines. One directly following Gabrielle White’s invention and her efforts to steer it in the right direction, and the other following Annami on her revenge quest. Of course, as we learn more about the events of the past, the two timelines converge towards an explosive finale. Each alternating chapter is written with fast pacing, and are equally fascinating. You never feel the need to skim over a timeline to get back to the other. The writer creates a compelling gallery of three dimensional characters, with well defined motivations, even if some of the antagonists can be comic-booky at times. But, we all love to hate a good villain.

This is a book that also brings quite a few philosophical and societal questions. What would entail the sudden appearance of such a technology in our lives ? Charles Soule guides us towards a variety of topic to ponder, both good and bad, while never losing the plot and pace of his story. The ending is perfect.

Now, I really have to make time for The Oracle Year.

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for the ARC provided in exchange for this unbiased review.

Charles Soule chooses to tell his story in two parts. A woman researcher in the present, so it seems, is interspersed with a young woman twenty-five years into the future, who is clearly in some sort of disturbed frame of mind.

The younger woman is intriguing. Each episode feels like we're mapping how she got to where she is now. Yet she is moving through a disconcertingly violent lifestyle in order to achieve some aim. It reminded me strongly of Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along where the scenes work backwards, so you discover how things changed.

The older woman is clearly brilliant, and you quickly realise her role in the invention of the technology. For a long time she seems pretty much an innocuous character, and the reader is sometimes left wondering why we have to go back to her. Indeed, several times I felt reluctant to do so. There is no pull to her story... well, not until I'd more or less worked out the key to the plot. It's another one of those books where I struggle to get through the first half, only to read the last third in one sitting.

Soule's writing is imaginative and heavy with science (which you can skip if you like). It's brilliant world-building for the societal changes brought about by the NeoNet technology/company. Irritatingly, I insisted on reading it as Neo-net, even though everyone has changed it as a brand to N-e-One (Anyone). It's dark, gritty, and diverse. So diverse you will have difficulty believing it can happen. I'm not sure whether the technology is at all practical or has any basis in real neuroscience, but accidents do happen.

I think it's brilliant, and I sort of enjoyed it. I might have to read it again to decide which. And that's something you don't often hear me say. Worth adding to your list, especially if you like gritty urban futures.

There are HUGE SPOILERS in this review, I'm spoiling the WHOLE ENDING because I have to talk about it to explain how I feel about this book. I'll put my general reactions first, then there will be a LARGE BREAK followed by SPOILERS. Be warned now.

This is a really clever, well thought out spec fiction story. Charles has thought through every aspect of how the new technology described in this novel would affect the world. Every chapter brought something that I hadn't considered, but made absolute sense within the novel. Even tiny details dovetailed perfectly.

However, the novel is told is two time frames, and there's no indication of when they are in relation to each other. Each chapter is headed with the physical location, but no time reference, and it makes it harder to parse what's going on in the future time frame - it wasn't until right at the end that I understood how much time separated the two story lines. It's important to note that I was reading an ARC and things may be different in the final product.

Now we're coming to the SPOILERS, so if you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading here with the knowledge that I really enjoyed reading this tautly written, exciting, thought provoking story.



























































LAST CHANCE



























Right. As you read in the summary, the novel is about a new technology that allows people to be lifted out of their own bodies and into someone else's. Normally, this is done with the full permission of the person being taken over, who retains no memory of what happened while someone else was in control.

In the final moments of the novel, the inventor of the technology uses her understanding of it and the painstaking records of the company administering it to randomly switch everyone who's ever used it with someone else who's used it. There's a montage of people suddenly being somewhere else, surrounded by other confused people who may not speak their language or know where they are. This is presented as a triumph, because her vision of the tech was a world where no one could be judged on appearance, since you didn't know who was inside that skin.

This woman has just torn apart every family in the world, trapped adults in baby's bodies and babies in adults', killed countless people - there's less planes flying, but there's still some, and now the pilots aren't in them; power stations need monitoring and now there's no one doing that; at any given time there are thousands of surgical procedures happening, now they have no doctors attending, and that's just off the top of my head - but it's ok, because now people can't judge others by their skin, and she nobly sacrificed herself to do it!

I really enjoyed the story. I don't want to seem like I didn't. But - just...ergh. Please tell me it's not just me?

Although I loved the premise of this story, I found the writing style exceptionally hard to follow and keep up with. Unfortunately, it's just not for me, so it's a DNF.

Not as good as the Oracle Year, but still an exciting read. I would recommend this one if the person had read the former book first

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
As long as it’s taken me to read it, I really enjoyed Anyone by Charles Soule (I think it took me so long due to having it as an ebook which I always find harder to read for some reason). Such a good book and surprisingly I found it very easy to keep track of each character and their perspectives. Can not recommend this book enough to anyone who hasn’t read it! Will definitely purchase The Oracle Year soon too. And I won’t lie, I’d like to experience the flash 🤷🏼‍♀️ #book #books #bookstagram #bookish #booklove #booklife #goodbooks #goodreads #greatauthors ##booksof2020 #bookaddict #readeveryday #reads #currentreads #tbr #toberead #booksbooksbook #booklover #bookworm #booksofinsta #booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #readersofinsta #booknerd #instabooks #bookcommunity #netgalley #anyonecanbeanyone #charlessoule

Como lector de comics que soy y siempre he sido, Charles Soule no es un nombre desconocido para mí. Guionista de tebeos de Daredevil, Superman, Wonder Woman o Lobezno, así como otras obras como La Carta 44 recogida en seis tomos publicados por Norma Editorial en España, Soule es un autor que tiene algunos momentos álgidos como, por ejemplo, el de este último caso que comentaba y otros menos como la etapa a cargo del cuernecitos, en la cual apenas tuve interés una vez leídos unos pocos números.
Su faceta como novelista, sin embargo, sí era desconocida para mí. Cuando me enteré de pura casualidad de la publicación de Anyone rebusqué en las fuentes habituales y encontré no solo que ya había publicado una primera novela en 2018, sino que ésta había sido publicada en castellano en 2019 por parte de Grijalbo, El Año del Oráculo. Por lo que veo en su sinopsis, Soule también utilizó la fórmula de la ficción especulativa con aquella novela, aunque con una base algo más mágica que la de la que nos ocupa.
Anyone nos lleva un futuro cercano, apenas veinticinco años del actual, donde existe una tecnología llamada El Flash que permite a la persona sobre la que se ejecuta mover su mente a otra entidad física. No es un intercambio al uso, dado que el cuerpo de origen quedará desmayado sin alma mientras que la mente del anfitrión quedará sustituida por la nueva persona. La personalidad y pensamientos del anfitrión quedan perdidos mientras dure el Flash. Es un proceso reversible y con aplicaciones infinitas ya sea en el campo militar, científico, social, etc.
La novela tiene dos líneas temporales. La primera está situada en este futuro cercano, la cual recuerda enormemente a lo que Richard Morgan escribía en su Carbono Modificado (Gigamesh, 2016). La tecnología está en manos de una empresa privada llamada Anyone, que gestiona sus recursos a su antojo. El eslogan para esta herramienta: Anyone can be anyone (“Cualquiera puede ser cualquiera”). Como toda tecnología perteneciente a una empresa privada cuyo uso tiene un coste, existe un lado oscuro de la misma. Esto nos sitúa en Annami, una trabajadora de Anyone que a su vez se adentra en esta darkshare para conseguir ganar un dinero extra con un objetivo que no conoceremos hasta avanzada la novela.
La segunda línea temporal es la actual, el día de hoy. Donde conocemos a Gabby, una investigadora a la que una empresa privada le concede una especie de beca de investigación para lograr una cura del Alzheimer. Durante sus investigaciones en el granero de su casa logra crear una tecnología que provoca el traslado de su mente a la de su marido. Esta línea temporal nos permitirá conocer como El Flash fue creado y cómo su creadora hizo todo lo posible para que no cayera en manos de Anyone.
Aunque la premisa principal es algo que ya hemos leído en otras novelas, Anyone tiene el suficiente balance entre el thriller, la investigación, la especulación y la distopía como para que me mantuviera interesado hasta su final. Hay una gran cantidad de referencias al trato humano entre personas y empresas, los contratos que los que los investigadores se ven obligados a firmar a cambio de nada con tal de hacer realidad sus sueños, las implicaciones sociales y el cambio que surge en las relaciones humanas a causa de este tecnología… en definitiva, un sinfín de posibilidades que en mayor o menor medida Soule menciona en esta novela.
Uno de los problemas que le encuentro a Anyone, aparte de la clarísima influencia que comentaba anteriormente y que resulta casi imposible sacar de la cabeza durante gran parte de la lectura, es que sus dos tramas se muestran absolutamente independientes durante casi la totalidad de la novela, y no es hasta muy al final cuando ambas se relacionan dando como resultado la cohesión que se esperaba. No es un gran problema en sí mismo, pero no terminaba de ver la relación entre ambas aparte de lo evidente.
Por otro lado, la línea temporal situada en el presente resulta en su mayor parte bastante previsible. Es cierto que se da cierto juego en la parte final al hecho de cambiar la mente entre cuerpos, pero buena parte de la trama es bastante estándar.
En cualquier caso, Anyone de Charles Soule es una novela que recomiendo como un buen entretenimiento con el balance adecuado entre todos sus elementos. Una de esas novelas que especulan con un futuro cercano donde el capitalismo sigue a sus anchas y los avances tecnológicos quedan nuevamente solo en manos de aquellos que se lo pueden pagar. Las dos líneas temporales de la novela muestran que desgraciadamente las cosas podrían no cambiar lo suficiente en las próximas décadas.

I thought this book sounded really interesting,and different.I think now it was too different, for me anyway.I just couldn't get into it, I didn't like any of the characters, and it would have made a difference if I had.Sorry but not for me.