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Reviewed by Olga Markova for Readers' Favorite
Auralis: The Bridge (Book 1) by R.A. Wagener is a praiseworthy, speculative, sci-fi technothriller. We meet Asher Newman, a mid-level systems integration engineer at Luminate Technologies. When Asher’s team was assigned to run final-stage testing on a new hi-tech chip, Asher discovered that the architecture of its microprocessor did not match any known design. Asher reported his discovery to Devon Jones, Senior Vice-President, and, to his surprise, she invited him to attend a briefing and promoted Asher and his team to higher clearance and confidential work, with direct oversight from her division. Asher and his team were delighted with their new role. But things changed when Devon entrusted the anomalous component to Asher for safekeeping. What is this mysterious chip? And will Asher and Devon succeed in safeguarding it?
R.A. Wagener’s Auralis is a trilogy-opening debut novel of such high quality that it left me craving for the sequel. Everything felt perfect in this thought-provoking story. Reading the opening scenes of Luminate’s corporate culture and Devon’s leadership, I found myself reliving my early career years with a top global firm. Deeper into the story, I loved the multidimensional spy game unfolding against the ever-growing array of controversial social issues, shaping the suspenseful action and the evolution of the characters. I appreciated how the author, alluding in passing to the loss of privacy in Orwell’s 1984, elevated the privacy concern to a new height where the advent of conscious AI rewrites the foundations of society. And most of all, I liked the spectacular ending. I highly recommend this fascinating story to AI enthusiasts and sci-fi fans.
