KiTE by Bill Sears

Please note, while I was given a copy of this book to review it the opinions expressed are my own and not influenced by the gift of the book.

Today it is my turn to add my review to the blog tour of KiTE by Bill Sears.

Purchase link HERE

Authors website HERE

KiTE, by Bill Shears, is a science fiction novel set in Earth orbit. Mason Dash, operator of Kite, the flagship of Earth Orbit Maintenance Department’s debris sweeper fleet, suspects spacejackers on an abandoned space station may be using it as a platform for a terrorist attack on Earth targets. Sheila, his beautiful virtual companion, has been “enhanced” with an experimental free will module. Inside the computer system of Kite a digital uprising is under way. Sheila goes off on her own adventure and finds she’s forced to split her focus between Dash’s situation in the “real world” and an ambitious virtual tyrant who has also taken a fancy to her, and who wants to expand his empire beyond Kite. Meanwhile Dash finds the spacejackers are not what he suspected, maybe worse. And it’s just then that humankind’s first unearthly visitor appears in Earth orbit, who is none too pleased. Earth’s fate hangs in the balance.

I was intrigued as I read the promotional material about the book. Artifical Intelligence is something I write about myself and I was curious to see how others wrote about it. I am also a seasoned sci/fi reader and looked forward to reading about another adventure in space.

About ten pages into the book I paused and wondered if the writer was either trying to emulate Douglas Adams and Hitchhikers Guide or he was just heavily influenced by Adams writing style. Either way, it is pretty constant in the book. I don't blame him, (Douglas Adams is an awesome writer for those who like his style) I think the story would have been better told if Mr. Sears had developed his own voice.

While the story was unique and interesting, the execution lacked the profesionalism I am used to in published work. The manuscript needed a serious editing before being sent out to the masses. I also was very put off by the chauvanistic and abusive ideals of the male AI character in his regard to the females in his reach. I actually put the book down at that point and had a hard time picking it back up. This book would definately be rated PG 13 on my scale.

Critiques aside. The story was interesting. His science was well thought out and as someone who writes sci/fi I know that it is one of the hardest genres to write. You have to be smart to write science and technology. Mr. Sears knows his technology and his science. I also loved the MC Dash. I love his attitude and the deep characterization Mr. Sears gave this anti hero. Each of the characters is well drawn.

If you are wanting unique sci/fi, deep characterization and well executed science and technology, this is a book you might consider reading. However if grammar errors or abusive situations throw you out of a book then you'll probably want to pass on this one.