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Artificial Intelligence
Computers can’t think for themselves…or can they?
Eleven years ago, a devastating earthquake hit the small town of Spurrsboro, Illinois, unearthing a cache of geodes with rare, multi-colored crystals inside. The town gradually rebuilt from the disaster but the scars and effects of that horrific day remain.
Sixteen-year-old Derek Dixon certainly didn’t cause the quake, but as far as he knew, he was the only person in Spurrsboro who'd actually benefited from it. His geode, with its beautiful purple and blood-red crystals, enhanced his own natural human abilities, making him smarter, faster, and stronger in every way.
But when a new student moves to town, will her own dark-crystal geode enable an ordinary desktop computer to fulfill her secret desire for revenge?
Eleven years ago, a devastating earthquake hit the small town of Spurrsboro, Illinois, unearthing a cache of geodes with rare, multi-colored crystals inside. The town gradually rebuilt from the disaster but the scars and effects of that horrific day remain.
Sixteen-year-old Derek Dixon certainly didn’t cause the quake, but as far as he knew, he was the only person in Spurrsboro who'd actually benefited from it. His geode, with its beautiful purple and blood-red crystals, enhanced his own natural human abilities, making him smarter, faster, and stronger in every way.
But when a new student moves to town, will her own dark-crystal geode enable an ordinary desktop computer to fulfill her secret desire for revenge?
158 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2014
1 person want to read
About the author
Vala Kaye
4 books1 followerGrowing up on the Gulf Coast, Vala was an avid reader of sci-fi, romance and history.
After graduating from college with a double major in Communications and History, Vala now works in advertising sales in southern California. In addition to her first passion, writing, she's addicted to movies, live theater, word games and salsa dancing.
Her latest novel explores a Faustian bargain gone terribly wrong. Dreams of the Muse is for mature readers only.
After graduating from college with a double major in Communications and History, Vala now works in advertising sales in southern California. In addition to her first passion, writing, she's addicted to movies, live theater, word games and salsa dancing.
Her latest novel explores a Faustian bargain gone terribly wrong. Dreams of the Muse is for mature readers only.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 4, 2015
Firstly I should say that I received a copy of this book as part of a read&review program.
Secondly, I hate to leave a low star review when I do these, but unfortunately I just can't quite go any higher. Though I would say it's more of a 2.5.
As the star rating suggests - it was OK, it wasn't bad, but it was only OK. Unfortunately, for me, it wasn't more than that. I wish it could have been. There was seriously so much potential to the idea which is why I wanted to read it in the first place. I'm a sucker for sci-fi and superheros so this seemed like a book I would enjoy.
And I did - up to a point. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had been written as a low middle-grade book as opposed to a high middle-grade/YA book. The characters were all supposed to be around 16 but not a single one of them acted like it. If they had been 12 or 13 I think I would have liked this so much more. Because then the length of the book, the way it was written etc would have made more sense. As it was it just didn't quite work for me. The dialogue, the way they interacted, none of it suggested teenagers to me.
The other thing I have to note is that the author must have watched more than a few episodes of Smallville prior to writing this. There are so many similarities that it just became a bit much in the end. It might not have been intentional, but it's definitely there.
All of that aside however, the reason this gets 2.5 stars and not one is that it was an easy, entertaining read. There was nothing wrong with the writing other than that I felt like it was targeting the wrong age group. And the characters were decent enough. As a middle-grade book with the characters ages dropped I think this would have gotten a 3 or maybe even a 4 star.
I thank the author for the chance to read and review it. Sadly it just wasn't for me.
Secondly, I hate to leave a low star review when I do these, but unfortunately I just can't quite go any higher. Though I would say it's more of a 2.5.
As the star rating suggests - it was OK, it wasn't bad, but it was only OK. Unfortunately, for me, it wasn't more than that. I wish it could have been. There was seriously so much potential to the idea which is why I wanted to read it in the first place. I'm a sucker for sci-fi and superheros so this seemed like a book I would enjoy.
And I did - up to a point. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had been written as a low middle-grade book as opposed to a high middle-grade/YA book. The characters were all supposed to be around 16 but not a single one of them acted like it. If they had been 12 or 13 I think I would have liked this so much more. Because then the length of the book, the way it was written etc would have made more sense. As it was it just didn't quite work for me. The dialogue, the way they interacted, none of it suggested teenagers to me.
The other thing I have to note is that the author must have watched more than a few episodes of Smallville prior to writing this. There are so many similarities that it just became a bit much in the end. It might not have been intentional, but it's definitely there.
All of that aside however, the reason this gets 2.5 stars and not one is that it was an easy, entertaining read. There was nothing wrong with the writing other than that I felt like it was targeting the wrong age group. And the characters were decent enough. As a middle-grade book with the characters ages dropped I think this would have gotten a 3 or maybe even a 4 star.
I thank the author for the chance to read and review it. Sadly it just wasn't for me.
May 21, 2016
I received a copy of this book through the Read It & Reap program.
From the moment I read the synopsis of this book I knew that I wanted to read it. The idea of artificial intelligence has always be intriguing to me. So this book was very quick to interest me. The idea that someone could get abilities/super powers from a geode was a very inventive! I found it to be much more realistic than the way that comic books and most stories based on super heroes have the heroes obtain their powers.
I went into reading this story with no prior knowledge about the authors style of writing and I quite enjoy the way that Vala presented her story to the reader.
All in All I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a twist on the normal super hero story. It is a quick read and it is well worth you time. Although I would have liked to have heard more about the artificial intelligence.
I really hope that Vala decides to continue on with this series!
From the moment I read the synopsis of this book I knew that I wanted to read it. The idea of artificial intelligence has always be intriguing to me. So this book was very quick to interest me. The idea that someone could get abilities/super powers from a geode was a very inventive! I found it to be much more realistic than the way that comic books and most stories based on super heroes have the heroes obtain their powers.
I went into reading this story with no prior knowledge about the authors style of writing and I quite enjoy the way that Vala presented her story to the reader.
All in All I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a twist on the normal super hero story. It is a quick read and it is well worth you time. Although I would have liked to have heard more about the artificial intelligence.
I really hope that Vala decides to continue on with this series!
July 8, 2015
I would like to thank the author for offering this book to our read it and reap group in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed the novel very much. I would have no problem seeing this in a middle school library or high school. It was a fun read with minimum violence. The characters were clean wholesome kids from the midwest(Illinios) easy going and friendly who had suffered a major hardship when an earthquake hit their town. Though some incurred hardships, others were given a second chance when mysterious geodes were found. Unfortunately not all the geodes were benevolent, as the main problem and title of the book,proof to be. The story flowed well, with a brief introduction, character build up, crises and a tidy conclusion. A few themes floating around in the story that could lend to discussion such as divorce, moving to a new school, revengeful feelings. I would definitely recommend it to any 12 and older kid.
I enjoyed the novel very much. I would have no problem seeing this in a middle school library or high school. It was a fun read with minimum violence. The characters were clean wholesome kids from the midwest(Illinios) easy going and friendly who had suffered a major hardship when an earthquake hit their town. Though some incurred hardships, others were given a second chance when mysterious geodes were found. Unfortunately not all the geodes were benevolent, as the main problem and title of the book,proof to be. The story flowed well, with a brief introduction, character build up, crises and a tidy conclusion. A few themes floating around in the story that could lend to discussion such as divorce, moving to a new school, revengeful feelings. I would definitely recommend it to any 12 and older kid.
July 7, 2015
I received this book from Read It and Reap free in exchange for a review. This was an easy, quick read about some teens/young adults who develop super powers. What I liked most about this story was the unique way the people got their powers - through crystals found after an earthquake. I did think the characters could have been more developed they seemed a little underdeveloped but perhaps because the author plans this to be a series with more character development. I'm interested in reading more to see where the author takes the characters.
July 21, 2015
I received a copy of this book through the Read it & Reap program.
First off I liked the book a lot.. I thought it was quite cute and it had a great childhood-Summer feel to it. The main characters seemed like a great group of friends, and as I tend to enjoy stories about artificial intelligence I felt confident that I would enjoy this book a lot. Obviously, I had a change of heart. IMO the kids ended up being overly polite and perfectly boring.. I would have liked for the A.I. part of the story to be explored more and I would have enjoyed it if the pacing had been less slow.. The story explained a bit too much and it was repetative at times. It didn't really pick up until about 75% in and then the conclusion ended up being a bit rushed.
For me the story came of as too "fictional" in the sense that I didn't find it very believeable and/or engaging, I guess, because the focus of the story tended to be more on the perfectly polished behavior of the characters and less on the A.I.
This is quite possibly a story one could refer to as a clean (YA) book. From a parental perspective there is nothing in this book I wouldn't expose children in middleschool to, and as the teenagers in the story are all on their best behavior at all times, and also very helpful in general, they would even be peer rolemodels. In fact a good part of the story revolves around positive values, as well as how to deal with issues regarding light anxiety/guilt and unfounded fear of parents breaking up, and thus it offers several topics for discussing in class or at home, other than the obvious A.I. I don't find the characters believeable as actual teenagers though, I would much rather accept the MC as a preteen, or at least not yet old enough to drive. The MC, Derek, could easily be a very young Spiderman type, juggling the hardship of great power and great responsibility.. The teenagers are a bit too polite for my taste.. Not that I mind polite teenagers exactly, It's just that a good part of the book is spend displaying said politeness... And to much of a good thing makes a good thing.. Boring.. I really wish the A.I. had been explored more..
As an obligatory read in school this would do okay.. Future readers of eg. Michael Grant's Gone series might also find this book enjoyable.. This because of the supernatural presence and the kids with special abilities, it does have a lot of potential, especially as the beginning of a series.. I would like to see the characters evolve into "real" kids, for their friendships to grow, the mystery of the geodes to unfold.. For the weird relationship between Derek and Justin to change.. I do feel I'm retracing my steps a bit with this one, though, reading-wise.. It's sweet, there's suspense, nostalgia, cute characters and whatnot, but I would only recommend this as a middlegrade read... It is sort of refreshing though, in a nostalgic kinda way, and I actually do appreciate middlegrade reads very much, I probably won't read the sequel though... It is just that this one isn't necessarily perfect for a broad adult audience.. Thus my recommendation of this would be to teachers of middle-graders, middlegraders, parents of middlegraders.. Not teenagers, though.. Anyway, I'm very happy that I got the chance to read this.
First off I liked the book a lot.. I thought it was quite cute and it had a great childhood-Summer feel to it. The main characters seemed like a great group of friends, and as I tend to enjoy stories about artificial intelligence I felt confident that I would enjoy this book a lot. Obviously, I had a change of heart. IMO the kids ended up being overly polite and perfectly boring.. I would have liked for the A.I. part of the story to be explored more and I would have enjoyed it if the pacing had been less slow.. The story explained a bit too much and it was repetative at times. It didn't really pick up until about 75% in and then the conclusion ended up being a bit rushed.
For me the story came of as too "fictional" in the sense that I didn't find it very believeable and/or engaging, I guess, because the focus of the story tended to be more on the perfectly polished behavior of the characters and less on the A.I.
This is quite possibly a story one could refer to as a clean (YA) book. From a parental perspective there is nothing in this book I wouldn't expose children in middleschool to, and as the teenagers in the story are all on their best behavior at all times, and also very helpful in general, they would even be peer rolemodels. In fact a good part of the story revolves around positive values, as well as how to deal with issues regarding light anxiety/guilt and unfounded fear of parents breaking up, and thus it offers several topics for discussing in class or at home, other than the obvious A.I. I don't find the characters believeable as actual teenagers though, I would much rather accept the MC as a preteen, or at least not yet old enough to drive. The MC, Derek, could easily be a very young Spiderman type, juggling the hardship of great power and great responsibility.. The teenagers are a bit too polite for my taste.. Not that I mind polite teenagers exactly, It's just that a good part of the book is spend displaying said politeness... And to much of a good thing makes a good thing.. Boring.. I really wish the A.I. had been explored more..
As an obligatory read in school this would do okay.. Future readers of eg. Michael Grant's Gone series might also find this book enjoyable.. This because of the supernatural presence and the kids with special abilities, it does have a lot of potential, especially as the beginning of a series.. I would like to see the characters evolve into "real" kids, for their friendships to grow, the mystery of the geodes to unfold.. For the weird relationship between Derek and Justin to change.. I do feel I'm retracing my steps a bit with this one, though, reading-wise.. It's sweet, there's suspense, nostalgia, cute characters and whatnot, but I would only recommend this as a middlegrade read... It is sort of refreshing though, in a nostalgic kinda way, and I actually do appreciate middlegrade reads very much, I probably won't read the sequel though... It is just that this one isn't necessarily perfect for a broad adult audience.. Thus my recommendation of this would be to teachers of middle-graders, middlegraders, parents of middlegraders.. Not teenagers, though.. Anyway, I'm very happy that I got the chance to read this.
July 17, 2015
(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I did like the general plot of this book, but I have to say, I had to take a star off the score, due to the pretty major similarities to the television series Smallvilles.
I thought it was interesting to learn about the geodes and how they affected the environment around. It was interesting to see that two halves apparently had the ability to heal, while another half had the ability to evolve a computer.
I did find Gretchen to be an interesting character. She was the only one I couldn't name a Smallville counterpart for and it was interesting to see her having to deal with moving to a new town. I also liked seeing her relationship with her parents... I would have liked to see a bit more of them as a family unit. And I would have liked to see Derek's relationship with his parents a bit more, too.
It was interesting to see that Justin had had asthma as a child. Unfortunately, I couldn't get out of seeing him as a version of Lex Luthor. Whether this was intended to be a fan fiction modified for print, or the similarities were just coincidence... I think it's hard not to picture the show while reading this. When I mentioned some of the plot points to my sister, she immediately agreed... and she's seen hardly any of the series.
I felt that this book could have done with being expanded somewhat. It was short and it was easy to read. Some of the characters were well-defined, but it would have been nice to see more of their history together.
It was interesting to see the way Gretchen's computer interacted with her and I did think the author did a good job of showing how Gretchen's ability seemed to develop through the course of the book. I did like that this book was a self-contained story and didn't really end on a cliffhanger.
I'm not sure I'd read the next book in this series, I have to say. It would have been a four-star read... but it just didn't seem all that unique and most of the characters seemed to have mirrors in Smallville. It was disappointing to see so much that was the same.
(This review may contain spoilers).
I did like the general plot of this book, but I have to say, I had to take a star off the score, due to the pretty major similarities to the television series Smallvilles.
I thought it was interesting to learn about the geodes and how they affected the environment around. It was interesting to see that two halves apparently had the ability to heal, while another half had the ability to evolve a computer.
I did find Gretchen to be an interesting character. She was the only one I couldn't name a Smallville counterpart for and it was interesting to see her having to deal with moving to a new town. I also liked seeing her relationship with her parents... I would have liked to see a bit more of them as a family unit. And I would have liked to see Derek's relationship with his parents a bit more, too.
It was interesting to see that Justin had had asthma as a child. Unfortunately, I couldn't get out of seeing him as a version of Lex Luthor. Whether this was intended to be a fan fiction modified for print, or the similarities were just coincidence... I think it's hard not to picture the show while reading this. When I mentioned some of the plot points to my sister, she immediately agreed... and she's seen hardly any of the series.
I felt that this book could have done with being expanded somewhat. It was short and it was easy to read. Some of the characters were well-defined, but it would have been nice to see more of their history together.
It was interesting to see the way Gretchen's computer interacted with her and I did think the author did a good job of showing how Gretchen's ability seemed to develop through the course of the book. I did like that this book was a self-contained story and didn't really end on a cliffhanger.
I'm not sure I'd read the next book in this series, I have to say. It would have been a four-star read... but it just didn't seem all that unique and most of the characters seemed to have mirrors in Smallville. It was disappointing to see so much that was the same.
July 19, 2015
Disclaimer: I got this book from Read&Reap program in exchange for an honest review.
This book was fun in a American series for kids kind of way. It reminded me a lot of Smallville.
The plot wasn't really complicated, just straight forward and easy to follow.
The characters were pleasant and I liked the way Derek handled this. I would like to see the relationship evolve a bit more, I really wonder if Justin is going to turn into a super villain and if he will manage to break the secret to the Geode.
I enjoyed that most of the characters were able to get to conclusion easily instead of turning around endlessly looking for more clues like it's often the case in that sort of books.
The only down side was that the Artificial Intelligence didn't come from a scientific source but from a supernatural source.
I hope the author writes more to this series, I can see it as a never ending things that I would enjoy on lazy Sunday afternoons.
This book was fun in a American series for kids kind of way. It reminded me a lot of Smallville.
The plot wasn't really complicated, just straight forward and easy to follow.
The characters were pleasant and I liked the way Derek handled this. I would like to see the relationship evolve a bit more, I really wonder if Justin is going to turn into a super villain and if he will manage to break the secret to the Geode.
I enjoyed that most of the characters were able to get to conclusion easily instead of turning around endlessly looking for more clues like it's often the case in that sort of books.
The only down side was that the Artificial Intelligence didn't come from a scientific source but from a supernatural source.
I hope the author writes more to this series, I can see it as a never ending things that I would enjoy on lazy Sunday afternoons.
July 16, 2015
Vala Kaye's unique twist on how Derek obtains his super powers made for an interesting and exciting read. The geodes found in Spurrsboro, Illinois are responsible for a variety of unusual occurrences. The color of the crystals found inside each geode seem to determine how it will affect its owner. While Derek's crystals are red, Gretchen, the new student in school, is in possession of a geode that has black and green crystals. Her geode is responsible for giving her computer artificial intelligence, which sets off a series of chaotic events. Thank goodness Derek's special abilities allow him to save his friends and to put a stop to the A.I.'s plans for revenge.
I look forward to a sequel that will give a more in depth explanation of the geodes effects and origin. I am also eager to see how Derek will save the day next time around.
I look forward to a sequel that will give a more in depth explanation of the geodes effects and origin. I am also eager to see how Derek will save the day next time around.
July 9, 2015
This book was given to me for a free and honest review through the Read it and Reap program.
The book was okay, but what didn't a lot of sense to me was This sorta ruined the story for
me along with the wrong target audience.
Overall, it was a great read but it wasn't for me.
The book was okay, but what didn't a lot of sense to me was This sorta ruined the story for
me along with the wrong target audience.
Overall, it was a great read but it wasn't for me.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews