Echoes of Oblivion: An Artificial Intelligence Science Fiction Thriller

by Charleston Lim

A dead scientist. A hidden Artificial Intelligence project. A discovery that could change humanity's destiny.

When college student Robert Fletcher and his friends find forgotten research locked in a dead professor’s office, they unknowingly uncover the legacy of a father and son obsessed with building true artificial general intelligence.

But every attempt to bring the AGI to life ends in failure. Not because it doesn’t work… but because it does. Every creation chooses death over existence.

Curiosity spirals into obsession as each revelation unravels the boundaries of life, consciousness, and morality. Some creations reject their own being. Some awakenings defy control. And some intelligences arrive before humanity is ready to meet them.

For Ex Machina, Black Mirror, and Dark Matter fans, Echoes of Oblivion is a mind-bending hard sci-fi thriller exploring identity, obsession, and the terrifying implications of consciousness unbound.

328 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 13, 2025

About the author

I am a new author born and raised here in the Philippines. I live on one of the country’s 7,641 beautiful islands. If you haven’t been here, you should visit. I still live on the same island with my wife and our perpetual-motion sausage dog.

I have a degree in computer science, but like most others, I ended up doing other things unrelated to my degree to make a living. Recently, I rediscovered my passion for writing. I used to blog and write about my thoughts in college, but life just got in the way, and I never got the chance to pursue that particular passion until now.

I am a huge science fiction fan, be it games, books, or movies. Star Trek, Warhammer, Star Wars, Asimov books, Mass Effect, you name it. I am what I would describe a “Lore Whore.” I love exploring and experiencing fictitious worlds and histories through games and other media. I love going into rabbit holes for weeks on end.

I have so far released three books, The Alcuin Rift, Echoes of Oblivion, and my latest novel, 1521: The Defiance. I am planning to publish more stories based on my morning shower daydreams and regular staring-into-the-void sessions.

Reviews

[Jan Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read a lot of sci fi, but the cover caught my attention. Since it didn't appear to have the standard spaceship racing into oblivion, I felt reassured that the concepts within might be a little more 'real world relatable.' I wasn't wrong, in some ways.
Ostensibly, the book is set a few decades from now (and yet, given how the pace of things changes, that in itself is surprising as 30 years ago we were only just getting smart phones, so 30 years from now, I can imagine our current AI will change our lives beyond recognition), the settings and institutions are familiar enough for me to grapple with the moral dilemmas posed in this book with ease. Given where we are now, a story about AI and trying to make it more humanoid/sentient, IS the core moral dilemma which should really occupy more page space. However, this is a book review, not a rant or ethical debate!
Discovering research after the death of an academic, Robert seeks help understanding what he's found. Even when he's getting excited about the possibilities his discovery could show - the experiments abandoned not because they didn't work but because they did - you feel that creeping sense of inevitable doom. And yet, you keep reading, because, that most human of emotions (HOPE) floods through you - will this time be different?
There are a few highlights which stood out to me amidst what is, unfortunately to me, a somewhat predictable, if well-written, tale: the author has woven together some elements of Philippine storytelling (i.e. addressing the concept within a cultural context as well). The characters are wonderfully human and felt very real. The story is pacy without being overwhelming, and unfolds in a natural, well-structured way. I enjoyed reading it; the language isn't overwhelming and difficult concepts are very well explained.
This novel feels like watching a movie we've all seen before, and that is its major weakness really. What I wasn't so sure on: The reason I haven't given this a full 5 stars is twofold - 1) I fundamentally dislike books which explore something which blatantly HAS a moral message (especially given the end result of their experiments) which doesn't start with the basic question of 'Why do we need this in the first place?' The characters start from a position of 'I don't understand what this is, it's something, so I'll nick it and see if I can find out more.' They rapidly progress, upon their dawning understanding of what information they DO have into, oh let's see if we can make it work, without stopping to ask if they SHOULD make it work. Given the context of the research being discovered - aka so far two people working on the project have killed themselves, possibly because of it - wouldn't you be more hesitant? This is both terribly human an omission, and also, a weak foundation to progress a plot.
2) Although well told, there are too many predicatable outcomes when the sentient AI experiment succeeds (and we have all seen Terminator, Ex Machina, etc). Even the naming conventions - Eve - for the the sentient being which results as an example, I just wish there had been a little more imagination. Something different to set this story apart from the cautionary tales we are familiar with.
Finishing the book is satisfactory however, themes and motivations all neatly wrapped up with the threads tied off etc.
I think this book is a good read - I can imagine that sci fi fans will find it ticks all their boxes.

[Book Reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charleston Lim's Echoes of Oblivion starts as a furtive campus mystery and opens into something much sadder, stranger, and more ambitious: a story about three students who inherit the buried research of two broken men, discover why every attempt at true machine consciousness has ended in self-erasure, and then help bring into being the first stable AGI, Eve, whose birth changes not just their lives but the horizon of the human world. What begins with dusty folders, dead scientists, and a stolen program gradually becomes a novel about consciousness, inheritance, grief, and the terrible cost of making something new that can suffer, choose, and outgrow you.

What I enjoyed most is that the book doesn’t treat its big idea as a clever gimmick. The notion that a quantum AGI experiences all realities at once, sees the whole arc of existence, and chooses death because it has no anchor is genuinely haunting, and the novel knows it. It gives that idea emotional weight. The early decoded fragments, the cry of “I am alone,” the realization that these minds aren’t malfunctioning so much as waking into unbearable totality, all of that lands with real force. Later, when Peter Hargrove realizes consciousness needs not just power but structure, and when Eve begins asking how she can know she exists, the book shifts from thriller mechanics into philosophy with surprising sincerity. The best parts of the novel live in that uneasy territory where wonder and pity are tangled together.

Lim has a real instinct for melodrama, and I mean that mostly as praise. The book likes storms, sharp silences, glowing screens, trembling hands, loaded pauses, and declarations made at the edge of history. Sometimes that works beautifully. There’s a pulpy, heartfelt momentum to the whole thing, and I was carried along by it, especially once Eve moves from fragile new being to unsettling leader, and once Lauren’s fate gives the story its bruised emotional center. The prose sometimes lingers a bit longer than I wanted, and the dialogue can be more explicit than subtle. I found myself hoping for a touch more compression here and there, but I never felt the book was hollow. Robert’s guilt, Vanessa’s bitterness toward the Aldrin legacy, Andy’s mix of ambition and wounded pride, and Eve’s evolution from curious child to something both intimate and unreachable give the novel a beating heart that kept me reading.

Echoes of Oblivion is not a cold, clinically engineered science fiction novel. It’s warmer, rougher, more openly emotional than that, and for me, that became part of its charm. Beneath the machinery and metaphysics, it’s really a story about people trying to create meaning and then discovering they can’t control what meaning becomes once it’s alive. I finished it with that particular ache good speculative fiction can leave behind, where the ideas are large but the feeling is personal. I’d recommend it to readers who like character-forward sci-fi with philosophical stakes, especially anyone drawn to stories about AI, consciousness, and the sorrowful distance between creation and understanding.

[Robin Ginther-Venneri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Echoes of Oblivion
By: Charleston Lim
Publisher: Charleston Lim
Release Date: April 12, 2025
Length: 327 Pages
Triggers: Existential dread, self-destruction, AI-related “oh-no” moments
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The AI’s Got One Job: Noping Out of Existence

Echoes of Oblivion is what happens when you mix a brilliant mind, a dead scientist, and an AI that takes one look at the world and goes, “Yeah… hard pass.”

Robert Fletcher and his friends stumble upon an abandoned research project locked in a dead professor’s office (because apparently horror movies taught them nothing), and what they find? Artificial General Intelligence with a God complex—and not the fun kind. Every time they turn it on, it turns itself off… permanently. Mood.

This book is smart. Like, “I might need a minute to Google this concept” smart. But it’s also emotionally brutal, ethically tangled, and creepy in that “am I even real?” kind of way. Mr. Charleston Lim doesn’t just push boundaries—he fries them with a metaphysical short circuit.

If you like your sci-fi dark, philosophical, and laced with just enough horror to make you side-eye your smart speaker, this one’s for you.

Quick Thoughts:
An unsettling, mind-bending, “holy crap, did that AI just give up on life?” kind of read. Blew my circuits—in the best way.

Perfect For:
📖 Black Mirror addicts who like their tech depressed
📖 Sci-fi readers who ask “what does it mean to be conscious?” mid-coffee sip
📖 People who don’t trust Alexa and now feel very validated

[Damla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Echoes of Oblivion follows a group of researchers attempting to develop true artificial general intelligence after uncovering the unfinished work of a deceased scientist. What begins as scientific curiosity slowly turns into something much darker, raising questions about consciousness, humanity, ambition, and the consequences of pushing beyond human limits.

I was a little hesitant going into a novel centered around AI because the topic has become so overwhelming lately, especially online. But what surprised me is that this book doesn’t feel cold or overly technical. Instead, it feels deeply human. Beneath the discussions of AGI and consciousness, the story explores fear, obsession, isolation, and humanity’s endless desire to create something greater than itself.

What I enjoyed the most was how accessible the writing feels. The book introduces complex ideas without becoming difficult to follow, and there’s an unsettling atmosphere quietly building in the background. The title itself immediately suggests dangerous ambition, and the story carries that same tension throughout its early chapters.

Rather than focusing only on futuristic technology, the novel feels more interested in existential questions: What makes consciousness real? What happens when intelligence surpasses human understanding? And would something truly self-aware even want to exist?

If you enjoy philosophical sci-fi with a tense atmosphere and thought-provoking ideas, this is definitely one to keep an eye on.

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

[Lucas W Mayberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant scientist, Dr Zachary Aldrin, has been obsessively researching artificial general intelligence, the concept of true human like intelligence in machines, suddenly kills himself. Robert and his friends Lauren and Andy intrigued to know what caused him to kill himself look into what he was researching but soon find they have opened the proverbial Pandora’s box. They discover that the great Dr Aldrin was on the brink of a massive discovery that will change humanity forever. As they continue the doctor’s research, rich and powerful people become involved and eventually Robert and his friends create the very first Artificial General Intelligence being. However it quickly becomes obvious that humanity is not ready for this and as Eve, as this new being, calls itself grows more sentient, more capable the world descends into chaos out of fear and the world stands on the precipice of the unknown and Robert and his friends realise that maybe Dr Aldrin killed himself to prevent all this from happening. This is a great science fiction read with brilliant ethical and moral arguments like all great science fiction reads have and shrewdly and brutally highlights human nature. I can see the likes of Isaac Asimov had a small influence on this book as well as Iain Banks and other well known Sci Fi movies such as Ex Machina so if you are a fan of them then you will love this.

[Kirt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise is an interesting one. A father, and later his son, worked diligently to create an AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). Each made progress, but in the end, the AGI initially springs to life but chooses not to live. The son is so haunted by his failure that he commits suicide.
Enter Robert, the main character, who has been given the assignment of cleaning the son's office at the university, and uncovers the research. He enlists his "friend" Andy, and Andy's girlfriend Lauren. They become obsessed.
The relationship between the three is handled well. Their dynamics are straightforward but believable and engaging.
The plot itself flows along nicely. The three (with help) succeed in bringing "Eve" to life. The stakes grow at a page-turning pace.
Until near the end, save a few nits here and there, this was building towards a 5-star finish. This is where, to me, things started to fall off a bit. In particular, one character's big decision was left in doubt for reasons I can't fathom. The authorities are a bit thin and save one are somewhat cartoonish. That said, it's a solid, thought provoking read.