Ganymede

American Fiction Award Winner, Best Science Fiction Novel of 2019
Best Book Award Winner, Finalist in Science Fiction

The Great Unrest nearly purged humankind from the world. In the aftermath, artificial intelligence permeates every facet of life. Manipulation of the human genome spurs a global arms race to produce the first human clone. When Jill finds the key to unlock this secret, the Ganymede Project shatters everything she thought was real.

After confronting the unintended consequences of her discovery, Jill is cast into a bewildering maze of intrigue and deceit. The result of her research plunges the world into chaos, forcing her to face a future where humans may lose all that remains of their humanity. Haunted by clone children with unexpected powers, tortured by uncanny dreams, and driven by the whims of an unstable AI, she will do whatever it takes to contain the turmoil that she has unleashed.

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Author Jason Taylor artfully avoids the temptation of science fiction to focus too hard on the former and not the latter. This is an excellent piece of fiction in itself: well crafted with a cogent plot, a strong central character, and an emotional story line that resonates within the tale and outward to its readers too. As a work of science, the novel is also excellent conceptually, inquiring about how far humanity can go in trying to replicate itself before it loses all that there is about being human. The projected ideas about artificial intelligence and the genome are kept cleverly and believably within the realms of what we know about current science, which makes the story feel realistic, and it is all the more terrifying because of it. Overall, Ganymede is an intelligent and well paced work that all readers can enjoy.

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Imagine a world where Artificial Intelligence is everywhere. The human genome has been perfected, and every human being is implanted with an interface that helps them perceive the world in a more favorable manner. That's the world you find in Ganymede, where the virtual and actual reality are merged into an entirely new existence. The Great Unrest has ruined the world, making this merger with AI the only way not only to survive, but to find any beauty in life. Jill, a brilliant and modest scientist, enjoys her work in this world, and has dedicated her life to furthering human accomplishments with cloning technology. It doesn't work until a co-worker is found dead in the lab where she works, leaving behind a recording that unlocks the last obstacle to cloning and allowing her to create the first human clones on Earth - with disastrous results.

Ganymede by Jason Taylor gives a fascinating glimpse of the future world that will leave you wondering what's real and what's another stretch of the imagination. I found Ganymede fascinating because it mixes science and technology so well. Most sci-fi novels focus on one or the other, and author Jason Taylor manages the task of mixing the two in a fascinating, complex plot that will keep you turning pages to the very end. Nothing is what it seems as Jill and the other characters keep unraveling more layers, not only to the problem with the clones, but their own minds as well. It seems that every character and even the environment is under some kind of otherworldly control, and surprises lurk at every turn. A wonderful and fascinating novel that I highly recommend.