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Book Review: The Superflare by Andrew G. Berger

The Superflare novel pushes me to believe that the world in the future may be controlled by machines enabled by AI. Being a person who plays by data for predictive analysis, this novel perfectly suited my intuition. I fear AI robots and bots may grip the lives of our future generations as in the novel Julia and her friends suffer.


The entire theme of the novel is dystopian and apocalyptic. But before that they were divided, living separate in their own zones, some were technologically advanced and some were free from weapons and digital services. As I read, the EMP rendered everything useless in the Clean City, people had no choice but to come out and find a route for their lives. The most affected ones are the City people, considered themselves god of technology. However, little did they realize that Tron – the super AI machine – took over them post EMP crises?

The story has many PoVs, it has to be as it has mini worlds on the planet that confront each other when everything goes down. Amy the president of the Clean City is taken prisoner by Tron.

Julia and her teenage friends like Orhan, Fatma, Bian, etc. have to rummage through the streets for food and safety from wolves and vile factors. These children don’t know anything, earlier their life was controlled by system. I was fascinated to observe them learning basics of life that comes up automatically to our kids and children today.

Andrew has composed a novel with various elements. He is not spoon feeding but showing how machines can affect us if we continued to be their slaves. Such stories I have often experienced on Netflix…a post-apocalyptic world…teenagers struggling for everything…higher commands tussling for political influence. Before I conclude the review, I would also shed light on Winston – a bold great character from the Free People zone. He is a brave hunter who saved Julia and her friends.

The story shuttles between various narrative arteries. There is family drama, rivalry of catchers and free settlers, Amy is searching for Richard who possibly can save her people from Tron, the soldier Agnieszka leading with her crew for their own sustenance.

It’s clear when the world is on the verge of break down, barriers don’t matter, people come close, they confront and accost to one another and test out whether they can live in harmony with basic needs covered. It’s one such great novel that will surprise you with its ever-increasing cast of characters that you will meet at every alternate page. It’s full of drama, emotional upheaval, action & adventure and much more.

Also with barbarism and chaos at the back of its hand, the novel has snatches of romance too. Julia and Winston in a bid to rise above the crises are gradually pulled to one another. They have love bond that they acknowledge later on. Both characters are young, they are developed and sketched slowly but surely with circumstances they encounter. However, Wintson being a hunter is literally a well-sketched out, brave, and charming character.

Will the world lay destroyed? Or someone can restore everything and set people free? Or is it just a comeuppance of excessive use of AI? The author kept the narration lucid, and very clearly pinpointed the social differences that create conflicts of interests in any riveting dystopian novel.

Buy the novel from Amazon/Kindle.

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