What do you think?
Rate this book
Jordan Version 3.2
If you knew a dark secret about the past of the person you love -- something they don't even know about themselves -- would you keep it from them? Or would you tell them?
When a young man wakes in the middle of the ocean, he has no memory. His ability to read has been erased. Even the cryptic words "Anag. Norisis, Inc." written on his life jacket are beyond his comprehension. He discovers a raft rigged with hidden cameras and survives to reach an island whose inhabitants have formed two tribes. Determined to learn who he is and who put him on the island, he befriends reclusive Aleah who tells him she's lived alone for years. He suspects she's withholding some deeper truth from him about the island and about who he is. But why?
Drawn together by desire and danger, he and Aleah overthrow the island's brutal leader, Syker, in order to escape. Only once they discover the mainland, everything he's learned about himself is turned upside down. The world they'd hoped to find has become something unimaginable, and in that world, their love will face its ultimate test.
An epic love story of truth and survival, Jordan Version 3.2 challenges us to consider the essence of our passions, the power of language in shaping who we are, and the nature of what it means to be human.
When a young man wakes in the middle of the ocean, he has no memory. His ability to read has been erased. Even the cryptic words "Anag. Norisis, Inc." written on his life jacket are beyond his comprehension. He discovers a raft rigged with hidden cameras and survives to reach an island whose inhabitants have formed two tribes. Determined to learn who he is and who put him on the island, he befriends reclusive Aleah who tells him she's lived alone for years. He suspects she's withholding some deeper truth from him about the island and about who he is. But why?
Drawn together by desire and danger, he and Aleah overthrow the island's brutal leader, Syker, in order to escape. Only once they discover the mainland, everything he's learned about himself is turned upside down. The world they'd hoped to find has become something unimaginable, and in that world, their love will face its ultimate test.
An epic love story of truth and survival, Jordan Version 3.2 challenges us to consider the essence of our passions, the power of language in shaping who we are, and the nature of what it means to be human.
Audible Audio
Published April 30, 2024
30 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 28, 2023
✰ 2.75 stars ✰
“...You can’t know why you’re here until you know who you are. The two are inseparable, light and dark, life and death.
One can’t exist without the other. And who we are is much, much deeper than what we’ve been conditioned by life to be.”
Part mystery, part survival-adventure, part sci-fi, but still at heart, very much a character-driven story, Jordan Version 3.2 was a compelling read that kept me going solely on the basis that I needed to know what was the history behind the mystery of the narrator's forgotten identity. Found adrift at sea, abandoned and forsaken on an island inhabited by beings out for his blood, the narrator dons the identity of Jordan, with the search to reclaim his memory and find out the meaning behind his existence.
“There is no right. That world doesn’t exist anymore. Right or wrong. They don’t exist here.
This island doesn’t know right or wrong. It knows survival.”
It is my first foray with Stacey Cochran's writing, whose foray mainly rests with science-fiction, which is not particularly my fondest genre. But, this is more than just science-fiction, even if the ending does heavily lean in that direction. It is this richly compelling mystery that emanates Lost vibes and the means and extremes Jordan has to undertake - 'we are here to survive.. 😰 A mystery onto himself - he will do anything to find a way off the island, while still striving to form a human bond with Aleah, the one lone occupant who shows him a kind hand - someone who knows the truth of how he ended up here, but is still resolutely determined to protect him from the horrors of his past.
And what exactly are those horrors? Is the island just an escape from a painful traumatic past that he yearned to forget? One large experiment set up to witness how human nature devolves under pressure when abandoned - fear of being left alone? Is it worth being the target of attacks and struggling to make a life here - away from life and civilization, at the cost of being happy? 'I think this island is real life, a reflection of our world, our inability to know our past lives, or what, if anything, lies after this life. It’s a reflection of every human being’s hopes and dreams that there’s more to this existence.' 😟 It's these prevailing questions and threats that Jordan faces - the unending aim to either get off the island or know who he is - that frustration that leads him to a truth that he may not actually approve of? Feel content with it? '...if you’re able to find your way toward peace and understanding. Of your true self. Of humanity, maybe.' I was drawn along with his desperation to know; an unresolved mystery will eat away at your soul - a compelling search to seek out what your purpose is in life - if it's even a soul that you have... 😔
“Why do you love me?”
What a question. I say nothing for a long while, and then, “It’s foolish, isn’t it?” I say, “In a world like this.”
“I wish I could answer that,” she says, “in a way that didn’t break my heart.”
For keeping the element of surprise alive, I give the author kudos. The writing was easy to follow, very engaging and taut with suspense, apprehension and the daunting and impending fear of the unknown. The uncanny ache of being on the threshold of despair and not knowing what's beyond the door - not knowing if you want to cross it or not. I felt that momentum - I felt Jordan's pain - the hints that not all is what it seems was nicely paced out, even if the island vibes reminded me very heavily of Lost and Lord of the Flies. 'Maybe I’m beginning to understand my true self—the innermost essence of my being—beyond what I’ve been conditioned to think, feel, and be How people fight for dominance, how people struggle to survive in a world torn asunder - without law or reason. It's those kinds of survival stories with that extra topping of mystery that drew me to read an advanced copy, in the first place. 👌🏻
His relationship with Aleah provided ample meat of questions and fruit of development; silly comparison, but I wanted to use it. He was attracted to her - drawn to her willful spirit and courage, but he still demanded answers - one she wasn't willing to provide - hoping that he would just trust in her judgment - despite how many questions he aims to bring out of her and how she continues to fight him on it. 'Why not just embrace now? Why do we need to know what lies beyond anything other than this moment? I want to be completely present, feel your body close to mine, with gratitude in my heart that I’m still alive.' 🥺 She's not only his companion, she's his savior and partner and one that he achingly draws such an intense connection with that when it's threatened he'll do anything and everything to protect her. The story paints a portrait of the human spirit and what remains of it - in whatever form. What people would do in order to live with their past mistakes and try to find a better reason for living. Jordan's past - the opening line sort of gives it away, but it's the history behind it - that really hurts the heart - I had to reread it twice, for the impact definitely hurt him and surprised me, as well! 😟
“If we don’t know who we are,” he says, “we’ll never understand why we’re here. But can we understand who we are if who we are is not a real thing?”
It may not be for everyone, but I appreciated how the story never faltered in its story-telling. What was Jordan's truth of a lie of a life kept me interested. I always seek to know the truth behind those who have memory lapse; it's a driving and compelling trope, and when done well, can also earn my appreciation. For all that he does eventually learn about himself, Jordan was a good person; the way he fought to stay in control against all odds - cruelty of man who sought to hurt him - made me believe that he would find out how he ended up on the island and once he and Aleah made it off, I hoped he would get the closure he was so desperately searching for. 😥
*Thank you to Edelweiss for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
“...You can’t know why you’re here until you know who you are. The two are inseparable, light and dark, life and death.
One can’t exist without the other. And who we are is much, much deeper than what we’ve been conditioned by life to be.”
Part mystery, part survival-adventure, part sci-fi, but still at heart, very much a character-driven story, Jordan Version 3.2 was a compelling read that kept me going solely on the basis that I needed to know what was the history behind the mystery of the narrator's forgotten identity. Found adrift at sea, abandoned and forsaken on an island inhabited by beings out for his blood, the narrator dons the identity of Jordan, with the search to reclaim his memory and find out the meaning behind his existence.
“There is no right. That world doesn’t exist anymore. Right or wrong. They don’t exist here.
This island doesn’t know right or wrong. It knows survival.”
It is my first foray with Stacey Cochran's writing, whose foray mainly rests with science-fiction, which is not particularly my fondest genre. But, this is more than just science-fiction, even if the ending does heavily lean in that direction. It is this richly compelling mystery that emanates Lost vibes and the means and extremes Jordan has to undertake - 'we are here to survive.. 😰 A mystery onto himself - he will do anything to find a way off the island, while still striving to form a human bond with Aleah, the one lone occupant who shows him a kind hand - someone who knows the truth of how he ended up here, but is still resolutely determined to protect him from the horrors of his past.
And what exactly are those horrors? Is the island just an escape from a painful traumatic past that he yearned to forget? One large experiment set up to witness how human nature devolves under pressure when abandoned - fear of being left alone? Is it worth being the target of attacks and struggling to make a life here - away from life and civilization, at the cost of being happy? 'I think this island is real life, a reflection of our world, our inability to know our past lives, or what, if anything, lies after this life. It’s a reflection of every human being’s hopes and dreams that there’s more to this existence.' 😟 It's these prevailing questions and threats that Jordan faces - the unending aim to either get off the island or know who he is - that frustration that leads him to a truth that he may not actually approve of? Feel content with it? '...if you’re able to find your way toward peace and understanding. Of your true self. Of humanity, maybe.' I was drawn along with his desperation to know; an unresolved mystery will eat away at your soul - a compelling search to seek out what your purpose is in life - if it's even a soul that you have... 😔
“Why do you love me?”
What a question. I say nothing for a long while, and then, “It’s foolish, isn’t it?” I say, “In a world like this.”
“I wish I could answer that,” she says, “in a way that didn’t break my heart.”
For keeping the element of surprise alive, I give the author kudos. The writing was easy to follow, very engaging and taut with suspense, apprehension and the daunting and impending fear of the unknown. The uncanny ache of being on the threshold of despair and not knowing what's beyond the door - not knowing if you want to cross it or not. I felt that momentum - I felt Jordan's pain - the hints that not all is what it seems was nicely paced out, even if the island vibes reminded me very heavily of Lost and Lord of the Flies. 'Maybe I’m beginning to understand my true self—the innermost essence of my being—beyond what I’ve been conditioned to think, feel, and be How people fight for dominance, how people struggle to survive in a world torn asunder - without law or reason. It's those kinds of survival stories with that extra topping of mystery that drew me to read an advanced copy, in the first place. 👌🏻
His relationship with Aleah provided ample meat of questions and fruit of development; silly comparison, but I wanted to use it. He was attracted to her - drawn to her willful spirit and courage, but he still demanded answers - one she wasn't willing to provide - hoping that he would just trust in her judgment - despite how many questions he aims to bring out of her and how she continues to fight him on it. 'Why not just embrace now? Why do we need to know what lies beyond anything other than this moment? I want to be completely present, feel your body close to mine, with gratitude in my heart that I’m still alive.' 🥺 She's not only his companion, she's his savior and partner and one that he achingly draws such an intense connection with that when it's threatened he'll do anything and everything to protect her. The story paints a portrait of the human spirit and what remains of it - in whatever form. What people would do in order to live with their past mistakes and try to find a better reason for living. Jordan's past - the opening line sort of gives it away, but it's the history behind it - that really hurts the heart - I had to reread it twice, for the impact definitely hurt him and surprised me, as well! 😟
“If we don’t know who we are,” he says, “we’ll never understand why we’re here. But can we understand who we are if who we are is not a real thing?”
It may not be for everyone, but I appreciated how the story never faltered in its story-telling. What was Jordan's truth of a lie of a life kept me interested. I always seek to know the truth behind those who have memory lapse; it's a driving and compelling trope, and when done well, can also earn my appreciation. For all that he does eventually learn about himself, Jordan was a good person; the way he fought to stay in control against all odds - cruelty of man who sought to hurt him - made me believe that he would find out how he ended up on the island and once he and Aleah made it off, I hoped he would get the closure he was so desperately searching for. 😥
*Thank you to Edelweiss for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
March 15, 2024
Told in spare, concise prose, JORDAN 3.2 is fast-moving Sci-Fi thriller that messes with your head. A man with no memory finds himself afloat on a raft with a disturbed young man who tries to kill him. While making their to an island, the young man is attacked by a shark and bleeds out on the beach. The other man buries him on the island and then goes off looking for help. He finds Aleah, a beautiful warrior who warns him that survival on the island is the number one concern. She asks his name and he comes up with Jordan. Had he known this all along or did he just make it up. From here on out Aleah and Jordan battle fiercely against other groups to survive on this strange island, which is filled with murderous survivalists, weird drones and surveillance cameras.
The novel accelerates from here and we are forced to deal with a very unreliable narrator, though not of his own fault. Jordan understands that he has no memory and cannot read, which troubles him. The island fight scenes are intense and bloody as Jordan and Aleah struggle to survive. I was constantly wondering what was going and where this intriguing plot was heading. I wanted to know who Jordan was and how and why had he ended up in this surreal dilemma,
The story moves at lightning speed, and yet there are many thought provoking moments and existential questions left unanswered. There are love scenes between Aleah and Jordan, and a very strange, sterile sex scene near the end of the book. The chapters are short and tight, the paragraphs often a few sentences, I was mesmerized by this tale and finished the book in a day. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but let’s just say that the novel races to a satisfying and shocking conclusion.
Cochrane has written a timely and allegorical story about the dangers of technology, I was thoroughly caught up in his tale and highly recommend this one for fans of Sci-Fi fiction and philosophical inquiries.
The novel accelerates from here and we are forced to deal with a very unreliable narrator, though not of his own fault. Jordan understands that he has no memory and cannot read, which troubles him. The island fight scenes are intense and bloody as Jordan and Aleah struggle to survive. I was constantly wondering what was going and where this intriguing plot was heading. I wanted to know who Jordan was and how and why had he ended up in this surreal dilemma,
The story moves at lightning speed, and yet there are many thought provoking moments and existential questions left unanswered. There are love scenes between Aleah and Jordan, and a very strange, sterile sex scene near the end of the book. The chapters are short and tight, the paragraphs often a few sentences, I was mesmerized by this tale and finished the book in a day. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but let’s just say that the novel races to a satisfying and shocking conclusion.
Cochrane has written a timely and allegorical story about the dangers of technology, I was thoroughly caught up in his tale and highly recommend this one for fans of Sci-Fi fiction and philosophical inquiries.
May 20, 2024
As I said in the opening to my review of Cochran's previous novel, Eddie and Sunny, take off one star if you think knowing the writer biases me. Maybe it does. But that still leaves a solid 4--star review of a taut, concisely written, compelling novel. It's back cover denotes this narrative as "Speculative Fiction/Science Fiction" and while it may be that, it transcends genre in that it is a love story, a metaphysical speculative investigation, and a suspenseful mystery.
I won't review the set up... the young man with no memory of who he is and how he came to be where he is (questions like this permeate the story and its clear -- at least to me -- that Cochran welcomes us to consider that this particular situation for "Jordan" is the human existential situation we all are embedded within. That a large part of the narrative takes place on an island reminded me of the 1955 classic sci-fi movie This Island Earth which features scientists playing with technology and a love story involving amnesia!
It's a tale of survival and when Jodan and his lover make it to the mainland, the quick pace goes into overdrive and I found myself as compelled as Jordan to "get some answers". I have only just finished it and already have a sense that this story will be sticking with me for some time. And that is always a mark of good art.
I won't review the set up... the young man with no memory of who he is and how he came to be where he is (questions like this permeate the story and its clear -- at least to me -- that Cochran welcomes us to consider that this particular situation for "Jordan" is the human existential situation we all are embedded within. That a large part of the narrative takes place on an island reminded me of the 1955 classic sci-fi movie This Island Earth which features scientists playing with technology and a love story involving amnesia!
It's a tale of survival and when Jodan and his lover make it to the mainland, the quick pace goes into overdrive and I found myself as compelled as Jordan to "get some answers". I have only just finished it and already have a sense that this story will be sticking with me for some time. And that is always a mark of good art.
March 23, 2024
A man awakens with no memory of the past and no idea who he is or where he is. All he knows is he’s floating in the ocean. He makes landfall at an island where there are a strange mix of people. Worse, it’s a hostile environment. A stranger takes him under her wing and teaches him how to survive. She names him Jordan. Cameras abound on the island. All Jordan can think about is escaping this horrible place. His focus on escape fuels his fears, anxieties, and desperation.
Jordan’s struggles to make sense of it all kept me turning the pages. I admired the way he intuitively relied on his moral compass to make decisions instead of reacting first. By book’s end, we learn he’s been asking the wrong questions of himself. Instead of “who am I” and “where am I,” the real question is “what am I?”
Author Stacy Cochran explores what might happen in an alternative Earth scenario. This story made me ponder how I’d react if this situation happened to me. Would struggling to survive in harsh conditions change my core personality? Overall, the story was compelling and thought provocative.
Jordan’s struggles to make sense of it all kept me turning the pages. I admired the way he intuitively relied on his moral compass to make decisions instead of reacting first. By book’s end, we learn he’s been asking the wrong questions of himself. Instead of “who am I” and “where am I,” the real question is “what am I?”
Author Stacy Cochran explores what might happen in an alternative Earth scenario. This story made me ponder how I’d react if this situation happened to me. Would struggling to survive in harsh conditions change my core personality? Overall, the story was compelling and thought provocative.
October 6, 2024
Wonderful in so many ways
I don't want to spoil this for anyone, so all I will say is do yourself a favor and read this book. I can think of no one who won't at least like it if not love it.
I don't want to spoil this for anyone, so all I will say is do yourself a favor and read this book. I can think of no one who won't at least like it if not love it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews