If you're looking for perfect heroes and clear villains, move right along. Who's pulling on Shadow's heartstrings? Are their intentions malign or benign? It's all a matter of perspective, and Shadow has none left.Īn epic tale spanning across six days-one per book-and forty past decades of life lived across ten worlds and two universes. Now, a young goddess-Estelle Ngoie-has been appointed to replace him, and unlike Shadow, Stella takes no prisoners, and her heart bleeds for no one. None of the sticky stories that steer his life end well. Estranged from the love of his life-the activist poet Nathan Storm-Tom fails to realize the biggest threat comes from within. Humans and bots fight for his heart, but their aims differ: some want to own it, some to dissect it, and others to end its foolish beat. His journey from an optimistic, joyful Tom to a gloomy Shadow is paved with heartache and sinister interference from emerging technology. The worlds suffer as a sentimental Tom descends into his own personal hell, becoming the embodiment of everything he despises and a shadow of his former self. The benevolent manipulation platform turned the two unelected leaders into beloved gods, but now everything is failing. Together with Henry Nowak, an AI expert, Tom created heaven on earth by inventing a Jungian simulated reality that helps humans confront their dark sides. He used to be Thomas Astley-Byron, an affluent young screenwriter whose creativity and idealism saved a world from the brink of collapse. Shadow is a reluctant god with a broken mind and a death wish. As AI consumes the world, intelligence is nothing but the appetizer the human heart is the main course.ġst Place - Reader Views Literary Awards - Gold Award - Science Fiction

Weaving near-future sci-fi elements with social commentary and queer romantic suspense, the SPIRAL WORLDS series explores the nature of consciousness and how it's connected to a not-so-secret ingredient-story. UNANIMITY is a literary, sci-fi novel for the fans of Becky Chambers's A Closed and Common Orbit, Alex Garland's DEVS, and Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror.

Unanimity by Alexandra Almeida