A debut sci-fi novel with addictive pacing that needs more book love.
5 / 5 Stars
The year is 2100. The lack of trust that characterized the early Internet era is long behind us. Mathematical proof ensures neural implants can’t be hacked, and the Board of Reality Overseers blocks false information from spreading.
When undergraduate Sergei Kraev, who dreams of becoming a professor, is accepted into the Technion’s computer science graduate program, he throws himself into his research project: making it possible for neural implants to transmit information directly to the brain. If he succeeds, he’ll earn a full professorship.
But Sergei falls under the influence of Sunny Kim, the beautiful and charismatic leader of a K-pop dance cult. Sergei believes in Sunny’s good intentions and wants to protect her from critics, leading him to perform a feat of engineering that leaves billions of brains vulnerable to attack.
With the clock ticking towards catastrophe, can Sergei see the truth about Sunny and undo what he’s done?
Weaving together compelling characters and spanning decades and continents, The Insecure Mind of Sergei Kraev is a classic tale of love, ambition, and self-interest building to a shattering finish.
Wow. How have more people not read (or listened to) this book?! I became addicted to it the more the plot progressed. As far as debut novels go, this one is pretty darn good.
I think one of the blurbs I read when trying to decide what book I was going to listen to next described The Insecure Mind of Sergei Kraev as a mashup of Cixin Liu’s The Three Body Problem and Michael Crichton. I think that’s a fair, on-the-surface click-bait description of this book. It certainly intrigued me enough to download the audiobook.
a bRIEF oVERVIEW
The core of the story is a 20-year span of time in the near future framed by a journal style narrative 100 years after that. At first, I was confused with how the story started, but by the time I was more than halfway through I realized what they author had done. Upon completion, I now really appreciate the opening. All of that to say this story starts out a little slow, but the “A-Ha” moment is well worth the wait.
The story follows a core group of characters whose lives all intersect at one point or another. Their very human decisions end up rocking the entire future of humanity. That all sounds very convenient and contrived from a writing standpoint to move the plot forward, however Eric Silberstein does an excellent job of making all the interactions plausible and reflecting on how the cliche “It’s a small world” is still true in a hyper-connected future – maybe even more so.
tIGHT, UNDERSTANDABLE hARD sCI-fI
As for the comparisons to The Three Body Problem and Michael Crichton, I think it is supposed to be a comparison on the sci-fi element of this story and the addictive pacing. Silberstein does a fantastic job of taking a highly specialized and technical topics like quantum computing, AI algorithms, and technology-to-biological implant interfaces and makes them digestible and understandable in the context of the story without lengthy, heavy explanations that don’t do anything for the plot or characters except show how smart and how much research the author did. What an accomplishment for a first-time author and kudos to the editor!
The sci-fi is tight and very believable. You get an understanding of the commentary on our current society’s reliance (and continued developing reliance) on technology. Silberstein illustrates a very possible future, but I also felt that it was judgement free. He is depicting the dangers of our current path because we’re all human, but without a preachy agenda that makes the reader do some critical thinking as to what we want the future to look like. The story actually ends on a pretty hopeful note.
cAN’t-pUT-IT-DOWN pACING
The pacing is probably my favorite aspect of this story. This is an avalanche of a plot. While each decision by the main cast of characters over a course of 20 years could have gone differently, and the outcome was preventable not only from the start but up until the countdown ends, the emphasis is on the human element – the emotional decision making in analytical minds and situations, the perception that people with all the facts will make a logical decision, the cold calculation that goes into manipulation and exploitation.
Oh yes, that countdown. That little detail at the beginning of each chapter upped the stakes exponentially as the conclusion grew closer and closer. There is quite a bit of character building and moments in the story that take their time, but ultimately you are getting ever closer to 4/17. And at some point, you can see that avalanche coming and there is a mad dash to take cover. I literally drove around an extra 30 minutes on my way home finishing this book because I hit the climax of the story right as I was leaving work and had to ride it out to the end. Silberstein definitely nailed that addictive pacing of best-selling thrillers like Michael Crichton and Dan Brown.
aLL THE tHEMES
There is so much to unpack in this book – the well-developed and relatable (and hate-able) characters, the commentary on education level, geopolitics, technology, the flow and control of information, and cults of personality, the futurism, and the clear, compelling writing style. This is truly a book where you just need to read it and draw your own conclusions. I don’t think this book is for everyone, but this is a stand-out example of where sci-fi in the vein of Neal Stephenson, Philip K. Dick and Isaac Asimov has progressed – understandable science with excellent characters and a compelling plot while still reflecting on the values of society at this current moment in time.
5-sTAR rECOMMENDATION
I would highly recommend The Insecure Mind of Sergei Kraev as a sci-fi book club choice, to anyone who enjoys classic science fiction, to fans of stories like Altered Carbon or Snow Crash, to fans of near-future sci-fi, and even to those who enjoy alternate histories because sometimes that is what this story felt like. Pick it up! Download it! Listen to it! This book should get some more love!
This review originally appeared on my Goodreads account on May 13, 2022.
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