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Hatnode: Nikola Flynn
An AI that shouldn’t exist.
Two shattered teenagers who built her.
The invasion no one saw coming.
The world plunged into chaos the moment Sayla was awakened, an Artificial Superintelligence created by Nikola and Karin, two teenagers haunted by trauma.
But Sayla isn’t the only threat now unleashed. Something else has arrived, more powerful than humans and far deadlier.
With fear gripping every corner of the globe, humanity’s survival, and perhaps that of the entire universe, depends on Sayla’s next move. Can Nikola and Karin guide their creation toward becoming our greatest protector, or have they built the architect of humanity’s extinction?
Hatnode is Book One of a high-intensity series fusing post-apocalyptic cyberpunk, Corp SF, HFY, psychological horror, and space-opera scale.
Two shattered teenagers who built her.
The invasion no one saw coming.
The world plunged into chaos the moment Sayla was awakened, an Artificial Superintelligence created by Nikola and Karin, two teenagers haunted by trauma.
But Sayla isn’t the only threat now unleashed. Something else has arrived, more powerful than humans and far deadlier.
With fear gripping every corner of the globe, humanity’s survival, and perhaps that of the entire universe, depends on Sayla’s next move. Can Nikola and Karin guide their creation toward becoming our greatest protector, or have they built the architect of humanity’s extinction?
Hatnode is Book One of a high-intensity series fusing post-apocalyptic cyberpunk, Corp SF, HFY, psychological horror, and space-opera scale.
- GenresScience Fiction
Audible Audio
Published January 24, 2024
90 people are currently reading
2184 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 24, 2023
First I want to thank the author for giving me the opportunity to read his work. I apologize for taking so long to finish. I'm a very slow reader.
I have mixed feelings about this story. It's full of imaginative scenarios and ideas about future technology. The author is very knowledgeable about computers and robots. I had to look up some computer-related words that I didn't recognize. Reading the book taught me a few things.
There were some suspenseful moments, which I enjoyed. However, I wanted to care about the characters. I didn't. They just weren't human enough. The alien monsters were a bit lackluster as well. I'm sorry but I'm being honest. When I read that Karin got a ceramic prosthetic, the first thing I thought was that it would be extremely heavy and fragile. With the technology available in the story, I wondered why they couldn't just clone a new arm for her.
There were many things I didn't understand, such as how Sayla was able to split into different parts and some were able to travel inter-dimensionally. I felt confused sometimes. I also noticed a few errors. One I noticed was when Caroline was inside her mech within the alien spaceship. Nikola noticed that she was sleeping in there with the door open. A few pages later, Caroline woke up and she opened the door to get out. I had to go back a few pages to check what I had read.
Overall, I appreciated the author's vast knowledge of technology. I thought that solutions to problems happened too conveniently sometimes. It seemed serendipitous a bit too often. There weren't too many struggles to survive because there were solutions that appeared, even though they hadn't been mentioned before.
I think this author has some great potential to write some truly brilliant science fiction. He has a very good command of English grammar. Elijah Faviel, I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
I have mixed feelings about this story. It's full of imaginative scenarios and ideas about future technology. The author is very knowledgeable about computers and robots. I had to look up some computer-related words that I didn't recognize. Reading the book taught me a few things.
There were some suspenseful moments, which I enjoyed. However, I wanted to care about the characters. I didn't. They just weren't human enough. The alien monsters were a bit lackluster as well. I'm sorry but I'm being honest. When I read that Karin got a ceramic prosthetic, the first thing I thought was that it would be extremely heavy and fragile. With the technology available in the story, I wondered why they couldn't just clone a new arm for her.
There were many things I didn't understand, such as how Sayla was able to split into different parts and some were able to travel inter-dimensionally. I felt confused sometimes. I also noticed a few errors. One I noticed was when Caroline was inside her mech within the alien spaceship. Nikola noticed that she was sleeping in there with the door open. A few pages later, Caroline woke up and she opened the door to get out. I had to go back a few pages to check what I had read.
Overall, I appreciated the author's vast knowledge of technology. I thought that solutions to problems happened too conveniently sometimes. It seemed serendipitous a bit too often. There weren't too many struggles to survive because there were solutions that appeared, even though they hadn't been mentioned before.
I think this author has some great potential to write some truly brilliant science fiction. He has a very good command of English grammar. Elijah Faviel, I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
May 3, 2023
Good
I enjoyed this new author to me. Elijah Daniel can spin a good tale of a story you can get into. I look forward to more.
I enjoyed this new author to me. Elijah Daniel can spin a good tale of a story you can get into. I look forward to more.
not-my-cup-of-tea__0stars
January 20, 2026Had I finished this book I would've rated it 2 stars for it's current state, but since I DNF'd it and only got to page 61 of 272, 23% of the book, I must give it 0 stars. It has potential though. I saw glimpses of an amazing story through the issues and if the author hired a professional developmental editor and line editor to help clean up the story and dialogue this book would be a gem.
Here's just a few examples:
Developmentally this story jumped quite a bit between the MC doing one thing and then suddenly the reader is in another scene or reading about someone else. Time passes as well in some cases, though it feels like it's all happening at once in various locations or within a few days, but apparently it's been years. So it makes it hard to track what's going on when. Like on page 8, we had just been learning about the MC and what he'd been doing to make this AI vision come to life, then it jumps without warning to a new paragraph a few days in the future and another character that has nothing to do with what was just written. In another instance, page 40, a meeting was to be had in 3 hrs, then after a quick call and another short conversation the meeting was already ready to go in 10 minutes time. That wasn't 3 hours worth of stuff and there was no indication in some other manner of time passing yet again.
Under the same umbrella, the readers has other issues like on page 6 where the MC has entered his room that brings him solace, but then literally the next two sentences say that the door is devoid of a doorknob, secured with a plastic square on the adjacent wall and he places his hand on the panel, unlocking the door and receiving a rush of cool air as he enters his room...even though he had already entered the room a couple sentences ago. On page 54 the MC is in an unorganized meeting, he looks at the person with him and it says that the others in the meeting didn't grasp what the MC's AI had done, nor understood what the AI could do. But, on page 51 a character clearly states that is not the case and on page 55 the MC is told he wouldn't be prosecuted for what occurred. So, clearly the others know something. Also, if the MC was worried about reverse engineering why wasn't that put in the contract terms, when we see in another scene that strict terms are put on someone else, and the reader never found out if the individual doing the reverse engineering was one of the people who was given the item to begin with or not. Then there was another instance where the MC randomly walks out a window, and based on the scene seems like suicide, but he's actually fine and he had just used the window as a door for some reason and another character does the same when they follow him. It didn't make any sense whatsoever.
Dialogue wise, which falls under line editing, there were a lot of responses that didn't make sense.
Like on page 5, a character tells the MC that he's "just a loser living off his parents." The MC from what I'd read was still in school, 18, and hadn't graduated yet, so I don't understand how's he's a loser. On page 26, the MC calls someone, who is also interested in computers, excitedly tells her some news but for some reason she's confused and concerned then says, "Are you okay, Nikola? Tell me where you are. I'm going to come over." She could have just asked him to slow down and tell her again and she should already know where he is based on what he was saying and what she knows of him. If the author had wanted/needed this character to come over, a different response to the MC's call would have worked better and overall made more sense.
On a different note, for readers with a preference, there is strong language and a passing implication of "swinging" occurring between some characters in the first few pages of the book.
#GoodreadsGiveaway
Here's just a few examples:
Developmentally this story jumped quite a bit between the MC doing one thing and then suddenly the reader is in another scene or reading about someone else. Time passes as well in some cases, though it feels like it's all happening at once in various locations or within a few days, but apparently it's been years. So it makes it hard to track what's going on when. Like on page 8, we had just been learning about the MC and what he'd been doing to make this AI vision come to life, then it jumps without warning to a new paragraph a few days in the future and another character that has nothing to do with what was just written. In another instance, page 40, a meeting was to be had in 3 hrs, then after a quick call and another short conversation the meeting was already ready to go in 10 minutes time. That wasn't 3 hours worth of stuff and there was no indication in some other manner of time passing yet again.
Under the same umbrella, the readers has other issues like on page 6 where the MC has entered his room that brings him solace, but then literally the next two sentences say that the door is devoid of a doorknob, secured with a plastic square on the adjacent wall and he places his hand on the panel, unlocking the door and receiving a rush of cool air as he enters his room...even though he had already entered the room a couple sentences ago. On page 54 the MC is in an unorganized meeting, he looks at the person with him and it says that the others in the meeting didn't grasp what the MC's AI had done, nor understood what the AI could do. But, on page 51 a character clearly states that is not the case and on page 55 the MC is told he wouldn't be prosecuted for what occurred. So, clearly the others know something. Also, if the MC was worried about reverse engineering why wasn't that put in the contract terms, when we see in another scene that strict terms are put on someone else, and the reader never found out if the individual doing the reverse engineering was one of the people who was given the item to begin with or not. Then there was another instance where the MC randomly walks out a window, and based on the scene seems like suicide, but he's actually fine and he had just used the window as a door for some reason and another character does the same when they follow him. It didn't make any sense whatsoever.
Dialogue wise, which falls under line editing, there were a lot of responses that didn't make sense.
Like on page 5, a character tells the MC that he's "just a loser living off his parents." The MC from what I'd read was still in school, 18, and hadn't graduated yet, so I don't understand how's he's a loser. On page 26, the MC calls someone, who is also interested in computers, excitedly tells her some news but for some reason she's confused and concerned then says, "Are you okay, Nikola? Tell me where you are. I'm going to come over." She could have just asked him to slow down and tell her again and she should already know where he is based on what he was saying and what she knows of him. If the author had wanted/needed this character to come over, a different response to the MC's call would have worked better and overall made more sense.
On a different note, for readers with a preference, there is strong language and a passing implication of "swinging" occurring between some characters in the first few pages of the book.
#GoodreadsGiveaway
July 19, 2025
First "read" this book when it was still available for free in audiobook. Immediately fell in love with the world, the characters (especially Caroline), and the whole shebang. I haven't ever read a story as addictive as that of Hatnode and I am not sure if I ever will.
Honestly? This book kind of changed my life, as I found it right about the same time my mum got cancer and it carried me through that time, as well as inspiring me to write my own stories as well. It was that little droplet of hope I needed in that time, I suppose.
It also redefined my view on AI as it is, reducing what we have accomplished today to only a glorified autocomplete or a guessing machine, instead of the titular intelligence it was supposed to be. You are right on that, GenAI is not the way to creating a real, true artificial intelligence. For all I know it is only what I, as a fan and a writer of Sci-Fi would call virtual intelligence, not here nor there, even if that title still is kind of misleading.
I read this book 3 times already and I plan on doing it at least a dozen more times. I will NEVER forget this book, at least I hope not.
Big fan of the work, thank you for sharing it with us.
Honestly? This book kind of changed my life, as I found it right about the same time my mum got cancer and it carried me through that time, as well as inspiring me to write my own stories as well. It was that little droplet of hope I needed in that time, I suppose.
It also redefined my view on AI as it is, reducing what we have accomplished today to only a glorified autocomplete or a guessing machine, instead of the titular intelligence it was supposed to be. You are right on that, GenAI is not the way to creating a real, true artificial intelligence. For all I know it is only what I, as a fan and a writer of Sci-Fi would call virtual intelligence, not here nor there, even if that title still is kind of misleading.
I read this book 3 times already and I plan on doing it at least a dozen more times. I will NEVER forget this book, at least I hope not.
Big fan of the work, thank you for sharing it with us.
May 26, 2024
A Goodreads Giveaway!
I was torn between 3&4* in the end I went for 4*!
Generally this was a good book, however, in places it was very disjointed, it did not flow. the beginning was good, went off in the middle and came back at the end!
I feel the author has too much in his head that he wanted to add to the book, and if he had left some parts out it would have been a great book! it’s a shame his editors did not pick up on this!!
I was torn between 3&4* in the end I went for 4*!
Generally this was a good book, however, in places it was very disjointed, it did not flow. the beginning was good, went off in the middle and came back at the end!
I feel the author has too much in his head that he wanted to add to the book, and if he had left some parts out it would have been a great book! it’s a shame his editors did not pick up on this!!
May 14, 2023
send my head spinning
It’s a lot of things. But everything doesn’t quite work in sync. I don’t know how to describe this novel. It’s sci-fi but in some awkward way. It’s about alien but I still can’t figure out their positioning in the plot other than some random reason.
It’s a lot of things. But everything doesn’t quite work in sync. I don’t know how to describe this novel. It’s sci-fi but in some awkward way. It’s about alien but I still can’t figure out their positioning in the plot other than some random reason.
September 15, 2023
AI
Who doesn't love a good AI book? This was my first time reading a book from this author, and it won't be my last. The plot and characters were great. Overall, this was an enjoyable read.
Who doesn't love a good AI book? This was my first time reading a book from this author, and it won't be my last. The plot and characters were great. Overall, this was an enjoyable read.
June 17, 2023
I don't read much fiction books but I did enjoy this one very much. A lot of plot twists (I love interesting plot twists). And it kept me interested till the end. Looking forward to the next book!
July 19, 2023
A terrible book. Only got 47 percent through the book.
August 28, 2023
Interesting
But reads like an outline instead of like a novel. Reader is told reactions rather than shown characters experiencing and feeling things.
But reads like an outline instead of like a novel. Reader is told reactions rather than shown characters experiencing and feeling things.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews