This book was SO GOOD. It was the perfect combination of future tech, climate change, and political drama. I did not appreciate the ending but that is a personal take. It really made me think about the implications of AI and also how easily everything in this book could actually happen. The author dumbed down the tech explanations enough so I had no problems following along and I really appreciated that. Would absolutely read more by this author!

I found Artificial Wisdom to be a pretty interesting read. The thought of AI becoming so prominent and eventually ending up in leadership roles was thought provoking and kind of fun and honestly pretty scary to think about, but also important. I liked most of the characters, but found a couple of them to be kind of frustrating/annoying. I felt like some of the reactions didn't really make sense to me, but all in all, didn't really make or break it for me. I found it, in the long run, to just be fine, but also mostly enjoyable.

Thank you to Del Rey for the advanced copy!

In 2040, a heatwave killed 400 million people across the Persian Gulf, including the wife of our main character, journalist Marcus Tully.

Still wracked by grief a decade later, he can't help but be drawn in when a whistleblower hints that they can give Tully answers about what happened. It just might involve a former U.S. President who's running for the position of global protector, tasked with preventing a climate apocalypse. His opponent? An AI politician called Solomon.

In his search for answers, Tully ends up in the midst of a murder investigation, and solving this crime just might help him figure out what really led to his wife's death.

I'm going to jump right into my main issue with this book: the characters. They felt so incredibly flat. None of them were ever really physically described, so I was just imagining blank faces in my mind. Sometimes, a character would be introduced, then hundreds of pages later, we'd get a small tidbit, like, they're Australian American. It wasn't really 100% confirmed that the main character was English until the last few chapters.

So, we got no real background on anyone. It seemed as though the main character's life began and ended with his wife. There's absolutely no identifying characteristics for any of the side characters, so they kind of blend together. Like, I'm really struggling to say what my issue with the characters was, because there was just nothing.

Plus, the synopsis of this book made it really seem as though we were going to get a ton of Solomon, the AI. Going into it, I thought a lot of the focus would be around the political campaign and the arguments Solomon and the former U.S. President would make. Nope! The AI was barely present. The main focus of this book was the murder mystery, which is not really what I was signing up for.

I will say, the whole climate disaster portion and the state of technology does seem really believable, but I fear that's more due to the grim direction the world seems to be taking, not really due to the author's efforts. I also think this is a really original topic, though I won't be surprised if we see more books about AI in the future. I also haven't read a ton of climate fiction/climate disaster novels, as the topic is really depressing to me, but I think this book did it pretty well.

But besides that, this book was just so terribly dull. I don't mind mystery, and I don't mind sci-fi, but what I do mind is when a book can't decide what it wants to be. Throw in a random romantic sub-plot that's then glossed over and never resolved, and it's just a mess. This book seemed to be set up to have a sequel, because almost nothing was wrapped up. Like, I really don't even know if we know for sure who committed the murder. Characters who were central to the story just kind of faded away around the 50% mark and never appeared again. It was just very, very messy all around.

I was highly anticipating this one, so I feel bad I don't have more to say, especially because I don't have anything else positive to say. It just didn't do what it said it would do, and what it did do, it didn't do well.

If someone recommends a techno thriller to you, and it isn’t this book, they are sorely doing you a disservice! This story told from multiple POV‘s follows a cast of characters, most notably a journalist and a cop as they join forces to solve a mystery - full of political intrigue, global disasters, and a supercharged political race.

I couldn’t put this one down. This is such a well crafted novel. If you were a fan of the political intrigue of Stieg Larsson, or perhaps wished 1984 could be brought into the modern era, then add this to your TBR! My heart was beating out of my chest reading about dystopian ecological disasters, and the cascading consequences of 1% lifestyles and privileges. All alongside concerning predictions of technology and information dispersion tactics - fake news, influencers , conspiracy theorists, and more. Overall an extremely good read, and a compelling warning of what’s to come! Thank you to Thomas Weaver, NetGalley and Del Rey for a copy of this eARC!

I can't believe this is a debut novel.

This was quite a story. Science fiction, mystery thriller, political intrigue... all blended together to take us on an amazing journey.

What terrifies me most about this book is that, seeing as things are progressing, it might come to pass in the future for us. It wouldn't surprised me at all.

I loved this story. I was hooked from the start (how could you not?), and I can't wait for book two.

Cannot recommend this enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review!