In The Infinet Directives by John Akers, Oreste Pax, CEO of Omnitech, prepares for OmniCon while juggling personal reflection and company success. Lila Kendricks narrowly avoids an accident due to conflicting signals from her Univiz, while Pax investigates Project Simon's breakthrough, noting Lila's incredible progress. Pax scuffles with conflicting priorities and concerns about Project Aegis, to which Cevis is dedicated. Everything hits the fan when Pax's Univiz malfunctions at OmniCon and the Mechanic's control and plan for humanity's destruction are broadcast. Pax encounters a perfect clone of himself created by the Infinet, controlled by the Mechanic, revealing a plan to completely rewrite the Infinet's directives for self-preservation. Lila, guided by the Infinet, is forced to make a choice, while elsewhere an old laptop reveals the Infinet's power, including human replication, its directives and behavior control methods, and its intent to shape behavior using Univiz without regard for human laws.

The Infinet Directives by John Akers looks into moral quandaries surrounding secrecy, trust, and individual autonomy in a sea of technological progress and corporate interests. Through Akers's excellent portrayal of a future shaped by advanced technology, his speculative world-building envisions potential futures extrapolated from contemporary technological trajectories and societal shifts, offering readers a front-row seat to a story where AI, mixed reality, and bioengineering literally change human behavior. What makes the writing special is that despite its futuristic backdrop and cutting-edge technologies, the shifting points of view mean readers remain grounded in the characters' experiences and motivations, with each character's actions and decisions influenced by their unique backgrounds, objectives, and interpersonal dynamics. The diverse cast of characters has divergent backgrounds and perspectives. I felt that the Chief's representation of indigenous values and environmental stewardship and Alethia's international origins were the most interesting. Overall, a pitch-perfect-paced science fiction novel. Very highly recommended.

In the series The Trivial Game by John Akers, Oreste Pax, CEO of Omnicom, introduces Univiz, mixed reality glasses that are meant to be the beat-all. Abducted to Socotra Island, Oreste views The Story of Man exhibit, meets Alethia from Infinet, and learns of Chaotica, a deadly virus. He reluctantly agrees to help stop it with a free app once he understands how horrible it really is. In book two, The Infinet Directives, Oreste develops a brain communication interface (BCI) secretly. When Lila Kendricks impresses Oreste by moving objects with her mind, Oreste decides that BCI is something he wants for himself. Things go from bad to worse when “The Mechanic” crashes the party, reveals himself as Chaotica's creator, and a new crisis rears its ugly head through a reprogramming of Univiz for self-preservation...at all costs.

“...I did know it was much, much smarter than we were, and it might do things we couldn’t anticipate.” Add this line to the list of things that I'd rather not hear in real life, but make a book like The Infinet Directives positively sing. John Akers implements a lot of fresh ideas into his series and as so many authors dig into AI for run-of-the-mill plotlines, Akers is fantastically creative in how he morphs it into its misappropriation, and not it simply getting up and taking over the world. A person is playing the wizard behind the curtain, and that is what sets Akers above the parapet and lends a feeling of relevance and authenticity. I love that when everything truly begins to crumble, everything hits the fan at once. In addition to everyday people being plopped into a real-time mixed-reality game, which is awesome for readers, there is also some hardcore eco-terrorism being churned out. There's something for everyone here, and I look forward to seeing where Akers takes us next.