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ab initio: a novel
Raza Mugabi, a biologist turned software engineer, is not sure why this particular tech startup hired him. His track record is far from stellar. In fact, he’s not certain what the company ultimately even does. Sometimes it’s better to keep your head down and your mouth shut, he figures. At least, until his curiosity gets the better of him.
Eight years later, Raza finds himself as a defendant and key technical witness in a high-profile court case. A world-class prosecutor and a woefully inexperienced defense attorney go head-to-head against each other, their clients, and their consciences in an effort to answer the question on everyone’s
Is the startup’s invention, legally speaking, human?
The arguments leap between the technical, political, ethical, and philosophical consequences of the decision, and as the trial progresses, the many, many secrets of the startup are laid bare in this hilarious cross-genre thrill-ride.
Eight years later, Raza finds himself as a defendant and key technical witness in a high-profile court case. A world-class prosecutor and a woefully inexperienced defense attorney go head-to-head against each other, their clients, and their consciences in an effort to answer the question on everyone’s
Is the startup’s invention, legally speaking, human?
The arguments leap between the technical, political, ethical, and philosophical consequences of the decision, and as the trial progresses, the many, many secrets of the startup are laid bare in this hilarious cross-genre thrill-ride.
- GenresScience Fiction
365 pages, Paperback
Published September 30, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 20, 2026
A brilliant book about the humanity and morality of AI
I’ve got a lot to say about this book but my take home is that this is an impressive science fiction novel by any standard. The fact that it is self-pub and a debut novel only adds the accomplishment of Ab Initio. If you had told me Neal Stephenson wrote this book I wouldn't have doubted it for a moment. This book does everything right and I immensely enjoyed it. Make no mistake: Jacob Terracina is a talented author and knows exactly what he’s doing.
This book is about a group of tech researchers who develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) and the social and philosophical implications. So what? Aren’t books like that a dime a dozen? Yes, but rarely do they succeed with such engrossing story telling, characterization, tension and impact on not only the reader but that real life implications of such a technology being unleashed. The story is told through several POVs but only two timelines: the events leading up to AGI being developed and the inevitable court aftermath of the social implications of the AGI, namely the AGI’s question of civil liberties. These two timelines were a great choice to explore AGI from two ends of this spectrum.
The characters are the crowning achievement of the book. Every character matters, has depth, personality and actually drives the plot. Raz, the evolutionary biologist turned engineer, is an endearing and inviting character and I loved his relationship with Mei—there was some serious and thoughtful development that went into the complex relationship between these two characters. Getting to know Mei and Markus (wow what a character) through the eyes of Raz was also a delight. The dynamic developed between these developers, their achievements and neurosis was all masterfully done. And then the other POVs—the dueling lawyers of the prosecution and defence—were also such a treat to read. A lazier author would’ve made these characters little more than plot devices. But not Terracina. He fleshed out the lawyers and even more—he made their personalities and struggles a major factor in the climax and resolution of the book. I can’t stress it enough: this is a character driven plot.
This book is also funny.
Work Chat was for communication. Speaking was apparently just an audio alert signal for the chat.
Chemistry existed well before you Plancks and your Bohrs and your Heisenbergs and you Schrodinger’s dropped a heavy quantum turd on the party.
Every page seethes with a dry and self-deprecating humor. The humor brings the characters to life and makes the reader sympathetic. This is particularly well done with Raz who steals the show with his neurosis.
The plot is compelling. You want to know how the AGI is being developed and it’s just so cool how quantum computing paired with the ab initio development of a real simulated brain is laid out here. The suspension of disbelief was very well done and the thrust of the book is always moving with wit, tragedy and complexity on every page. Not only do you get great science fiction writing from someone who understands science and engineering but you get great storytelling as well. If all of that weren’t satisfying enough, the climax and ending were profound
SPOILIES:
The main conflict of the book is if the AGI, a little girl named Abbi, should have autonomous rights. The matter is handled in a trial of the century. The prosecution is about to win at the end but the lawyer grows a conscience and realizes that if the AGI loses civil rights, it will be subsumed but a tech overlord company and she will be copied and enslaved for eternity.
Immortality minus the protections we seek here today will be a living, truly inescapable hell.
The dubious solution? The AGI must have mortality. Programmed death is the only way for the AGI to obtain the same rights as a human being and I got to say: WOW. What an incredible conclusion. It was a great resolution that also felt right. How could a sentient being expect the same human rights when they live forever? So the trade off is the AGI is either an eternal slave or lives a fleeting but free existence. Really awesome stuff. The thought that went into the morality of AGI is astounding. Bravo.
Like the author says in his afterward: It takes guts to read a self-published debut from some no-name dipshit I would say the gamble here paid off. I highly recommend this book.
I received a free copy as a judge for the SPSFC5 competition. This review has no bearing on the book’s standing in the competition.
I’ve got a lot to say about this book but my take home is that this is an impressive science fiction novel by any standard. The fact that it is self-pub and a debut novel only adds the accomplishment of Ab Initio. If you had told me Neal Stephenson wrote this book I wouldn't have doubted it for a moment. This book does everything right and I immensely enjoyed it. Make no mistake: Jacob Terracina is a talented author and knows exactly what he’s doing.
This book is about a group of tech researchers who develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) and the social and philosophical implications. So what? Aren’t books like that a dime a dozen? Yes, but rarely do they succeed with such engrossing story telling, characterization, tension and impact on not only the reader but that real life implications of such a technology being unleashed. The story is told through several POVs but only two timelines: the events leading up to AGI being developed and the inevitable court aftermath of the social implications of the AGI, namely the AGI’s question of civil liberties. These two timelines were a great choice to explore AGI from two ends of this spectrum.
The characters are the crowning achievement of the book. Every character matters, has depth, personality and actually drives the plot. Raz, the evolutionary biologist turned engineer, is an endearing and inviting character and I loved his relationship with Mei—there was some serious and thoughtful development that went into the complex relationship between these two characters. Getting to know Mei and Markus (wow what a character) through the eyes of Raz was also a delight. The dynamic developed between these developers, their achievements and neurosis was all masterfully done. And then the other POVs—the dueling lawyers of the prosecution and defence—were also such a treat to read. A lazier author would’ve made these characters little more than plot devices. But not Terracina. He fleshed out the lawyers and even more—he made their personalities and struggles a major factor in the climax and resolution of the book. I can’t stress it enough: this is a character driven plot.
This book is also funny.
Work Chat was for communication. Speaking was apparently just an audio alert signal for the chat.
Chemistry existed well before you Plancks and your Bohrs and your Heisenbergs and you Schrodinger’s dropped a heavy quantum turd on the party.
Every page seethes with a dry and self-deprecating humor. The humor brings the characters to life and makes the reader sympathetic. This is particularly well done with Raz who steals the show with his neurosis.
The plot is compelling. You want to know how the AGI is being developed and it’s just so cool how quantum computing paired with the ab initio development of a real simulated brain is laid out here. The suspension of disbelief was very well done and the thrust of the book is always moving with wit, tragedy and complexity on every page. Not only do you get great science fiction writing from someone who understands science and engineering but you get great storytelling as well. If all of that weren’t satisfying enough, the climax and ending were profound
SPOILIES:
The main conflict of the book is if the AGI, a little girl named Abbi, should have autonomous rights. The matter is handled in a trial of the century. The prosecution is about to win at the end but the lawyer grows a conscience and realizes that if the AGI loses civil rights, it will be subsumed but a tech overlord company and she will be copied and enslaved for eternity.
Immortality minus the protections we seek here today will be a living, truly inescapable hell.
The dubious solution? The AGI must have mortality. Programmed death is the only way for the AGI to obtain the same rights as a human being and I got to say: WOW. What an incredible conclusion. It was a great resolution that also felt right. How could a sentient being expect the same human rights when they live forever? So the trade off is the AGI is either an eternal slave or lives a fleeting but free existence. Really awesome stuff. The thought that went into the morality of AGI is astounding. Bravo.
Like the author says in his afterward: It takes guts to read a self-published debut from some no-name dipshit I would say the gamble here paid off. I highly recommend this book.
I received a free copy as a judge for the SPSFC5 competition. This review has no bearing on the book’s standing in the competition.
August 27, 2025
Move over War And Peace. Kick rocks, Gatsby. Take a hike, Ulysses. I can say without bias that this is the best book.
July 2, 2026
Book Review: ab initio by Jacob Terracina, as part of SPSFC-5
4.5/5 stars, rounded up. This novel, set in the near future, about a small startup company that is working to develop a sentient machine learning ‘brain,’ is the debut novel from Terracina, a Silicone Valley tech employee. I am certain that some of this story is about his own experiences, but there is so much more. This novel is about relationships, mental and cognitive illnesses, how age affects the human body, and what the consequences of developing a true A.I. brain might mean for humanity.
I read this story as part of the Fifth Annual Self-Published Science Fiction Contest (SPSFC-5) that was originally started by Hugh Howey as the sci-fi equivalent to Mark Lawrence’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) competition. It is one of the best hard sci-fi novels that I have read in some time and is similar in some ways to the writing of Greg Bear, but with a decidedly modern flourish. Terracina’s writing skill is well-developed, especially for someone writing their debut novel.
This story contains two distinct timelines, one about the people/company working on development of the new machine learning model, using evolutionary biology as their primary target path to A.I. sentience; and the other about a court case involving the company and their proprietary hardware & software models. The back and forth of the two timelines was at first a bit hard to enjoy, but after about the 10% mark, I started to enjoy both timelines and looked forward to returning to each one. The company timeline counts down from three years before the court case to eight months prior, as we follow the process that led to court. A unique storytelling technique that I readily enjoyed by the end.
I highly recommend checking out ab initio, especially if you enjoy sci-fi and are interested in the consequences of continued A.I. development! I also look forward to more novels from Jacob Terracina.
4.5/5 stars, rounded up. This novel, set in the near future, about a small startup company that is working to develop a sentient machine learning ‘brain,’ is the debut novel from Terracina, a Silicone Valley tech employee. I am certain that some of this story is about his own experiences, but there is so much more. This novel is about relationships, mental and cognitive illnesses, how age affects the human body, and what the consequences of developing a true A.I. brain might mean for humanity.
I read this story as part of the Fifth Annual Self-Published Science Fiction Contest (SPSFC-5) that was originally started by Hugh Howey as the sci-fi equivalent to Mark Lawrence’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) competition. It is one of the best hard sci-fi novels that I have read in some time and is similar in some ways to the writing of Greg Bear, but with a decidedly modern flourish. Terracina’s writing skill is well-developed, especially for someone writing their debut novel.
This story contains two distinct timelines, one about the people/company working on development of the new machine learning model, using evolutionary biology as their primary target path to A.I. sentience; and the other about a court case involving the company and their proprietary hardware & software models. The back and forth of the two timelines was at first a bit hard to enjoy, but after about the 10% mark, I started to enjoy both timelines and looked forward to returning to each one. The company timeline counts down from three years before the court case to eight months prior, as we follow the process that led to court. A unique storytelling technique that I readily enjoyed by the end.
I highly recommend checking out ab initio, especially if you enjoy sci-fi and are interested in the consequences of continued A.I. development! I also look forward to more novels from Jacob Terracina.
January 6, 2026
Really cool story about the creation of humanlike intelligence, told through the lenses of courtroom drama and the hearts of the humans working on it.
Read for: A solid marriage of interesting character writing and sci-fi
Avoid if: You aren’t in the mood for a slow book
Read for: A solid marriage of interesting character writing and sci-fi
Avoid if: You aren’t in the mood for a slow book
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews