What a scream - I absolutely loved this! Yes, it's a bit farcical, and there's satire, and yes, there's lots of irony, but it's such a fun read.

So, it's 2040 in the US and the electoral race is between PresiBot, an AI and a fake native american chief who's 1/2054th Lakota and want's to abolish America The opening scene is the presidential debate betweeen the two candidates and works as an excellent introduction to the main characters, plot and the policical/social attitudes of 2040

As the book progresses, PresiBot's creators are coming up with more and more desperate attempts to make PresiBot credible, at the same time fighting off a buyout bid and for one of the main characters, Presibot creator and tech startup CEO, Ethan Burnswagger, escape from a ghetto in dystiopian San Francisco.

I was prettyt sceptical when I saw the write up, then I clicked on the link to a sample of Chaper 1 and I was instantly hooked. The novel moves on at a fast pace, has a cast of characters that are often hilarious and I'm sure are based on real people, although libel laws stop me from saying who. I read some of the book before going to bed, then tore through the rest before starting work the next day - it's just so funny. I'd say you shouldn't take it seriously, but looking over the pond at the moment...

I'll leave you to judge for yourself. Final verdict - very, very, highly recommended, and a hilarious antidote to the mad world we're living in - I just hope 2040 doesn't turn out the way it's portrayed in this book

I picked this up purely on a whim, and honestly, it was better than I expected. That said, it’s certainly not for everyone, as some - admittedly ridiculous - current trends are turned up to 11, while other parts of the story seem to take a step back from satire to portray something more genuine. While I personally would prefer the satire to be subtler, I didn’t mind the over-the-top tone as such, but the switch between the two was at times jarring.

The ending was swift - if we can call it an ending rather than the beginning of a new chapter, and in my opinion raised more questions than it gave answers. Overall, this was certainly entertaining and did a decent job painting a picture of what a technologically advanced yet polarized society might look like.

3.5 rounded up to 4, for the sheer amount of laughs.

This was a really clever idea which I was excited to read. A dystopian political campaign with some promising dissection of both right-wing and left-wing American politics. I enjoyed the elements of what had come to pass hypothetically between now and 2040, such as animal rights and AI recognition, both topics debated nowadays.

The political set up at first felt too parodied (though arguably American politics feels that way in real life at times) and I found I had to suspend disbelief a little too often whilst reading. The lack of context felt jarring, we do not know who is currently president in this story and so it was hard to decide which party would be to blame for the living conditions and segregation described in the book.

The story itself felt a little rushed towards the end, with a neat ending which did not feel like it did justice to the concept. I would have liked to see more about the personal relationships within the book, the triangle between Emma, Arvind and Ethan for example. Knowing more about the motivations for these characters would have added a lot to the story or explained behaviour beyond just 'going mad'.

This was a quick read and was thought provoking but overall it felt too rushed for the ambition of the initial idea.

Free review copy provided by netgalley.