Limbo

The Last Humans #2

by Dima Zales, Anna Zaires

Yesterday, I learned all of Oasis’s secrets—or so I thought. As a new danger arises, the long-awaited Birth Day celebration turns into a nightmare, and this time, there may be no escape.

In Oasis, nothing is what it seems.

Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Young Adult, Fiction, Fantasy, Apocalyptic

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 5, 2016

About the author

Dima Zales is a full-time science fiction and fantasy author residing in Palm Coast, Florida. Prior to becoming a writer, he worked in the software development industry in New York as both a programmer and an executive. From high-frequency trading software for big banks to mobile apps for popular magazines, Dima has done it all. In 2013, he left the software industry in order to concentrate on his writing career.

Dima holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from NYU and a dual undergraduate degree in Computer Science / Psychology from Brooklyn College. He also has a number of hobbies and interests, the most unusual of which might be professional-level mentalism. He simulates mind-reading on stage and close-up, and has done shows for corporations, wealthy individuals, and friends.

He is also into healthy eating and fitness, so he should live long enough to finish all the book projects he starts. In fact, he very much hopes to catch the technological advancements that might let him live forever (biologically or otherwise). Aside from that, he also enjoys learning about current and future technologies that might enhance our lives, including artificial intelligence, biofeedback, brain-to-computer interfaces, and brain-enhancing implants.

In addition to his own works, Dima has collaborated on a number of romance novels with his wife, Anna Zaires. The Krinar Chronicles, an erotic science fiction series, has been a bestseller in its categories and has been recognized by the likes of Marie Claire and Woman’s Day. If you like erotic romance with a unique plot, please feel free to check it out, especially since the first book in the series (Close Liaisons) is available for free everywhere. Keep in mind, though, Dima Zales's books are going to be much more PG 13 . . . at least that’s the plan for now.

Anna Zaires is the love of his life and a huge inspiration in every aspect of his writing. She definitely adds her magic touch to anything Dima creates, and the books would not be the same without her. Dima’s fans are strongly encouraged to learn more about Anna and her work at http://www.annazaires.com/

Reviews

[Najah Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg

I loved loved loved this book! It might be betts than the first, although that was wonderful! I'm so sad I finished it, I wanted to continue reading it for days, weeks even, I can not get enough. I'm so looking forward to Haven, especially now that I know what it is, trust that I pre-ordered Haven before even reading Limbo. Although I'm traditionally a fan of erotic books, I became a fan of Dima Zales though his collaboration with his wife in the Krinar books with Mia and Korem. You'll definitely love this book, as it has romance, though not detailed eroticism, and it has the other world component. Waiting these three months was difficult and I know waiting three more months for the next installment is going to be killer. This is a must read, so thought provoking, had me literally laughing out loud at times, and made me think of my reaction to moral dilemmas.

[Tajana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book to me. Now, I got to tell you that this is not my genre, not what I normally read. I wanted to try something different and picked up Dima's book (I have read both books in the series), as I love all of his wife's work and I know they collaborate on their books together. Well, I wasn't disappointed. I will say that I think this book is more geared toward younger audience (my opinion) but it kept me interested. Story is very interesting and Dima goes into a lots of details describing everything that is happening. He makes it seems so real, you can pictured it clearly in your head.
I am looking forward to last book and conclusion of the story. I want to see what will happen with the last humans!
I am recommending this book, specially to younger readers as I think they will enjoy it very much.
Happy reading!

[Stacy Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this part of the story difficult to get into. It’s taken me much longer to read because I lost interest in chunks of the storyline. It started to feel repetitive and I found that sometimes there were scenes that were described in far too much detail. I tended to skim read many of the fight scenes because much of the detail was unnecessary and repetitive. I enjoy the theory behind the storyline, but it was slightly too long winded for my liking.

[John Loyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Humans book 2. Theo learned in Oasis that Oasis isn't the last remnant of Earth not turned into goo, because of runaway technology. It's a spaceship. Phoe regained many resources but not enough to know sense where they are.

Phoe needs more resources and finds a flaw in the Test. The one the adults take to become Elders. Her idea is to have Theo take the test to exploit the flaw. It turns out that what they a council meeting was called and Jeremiah, the Keeper, has forgotten it. This alerted the envoy and they investigate, starting with the people who knew Mason. Which means Theo and there's no way he can lie his way out of it.

Phoe and Theo get creative. Chase scenes on flying disks. Theo takes the Test, which could be a whole story. The plot is very clever, I love the characters, it is so smoothly written you can't put it down. I love when Phoe, the AI, says she's more human than Theo, who in a society that crams people into conformity. It's really cool. If I had to nitpick, maybe the chase scenes are a little long, but that's building tension. 5 of 5 stars.

[Shawnee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author obviously knows real science because all the AI shenanigans in this book seem mostly believable and yet so far away from our current reality. Having been to MIT, and seen computers interfaces that can learn behaviors however, I know Zales world is not far off. Maybe not in my lifetime, but I can dream. This is where the book gets good. It portrays a puritanical society who distances themselves from AI and yet they use parts of it, almost neutering it-if you will, until a bored young man starts messing with the allegedly normalcy of everyday living and voila, more resources are allocated to the AI. No more hints. Excellent books. Read all in one sitting...get your drink and munchies ready...

[Carole Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed Oasis, but I enjoyed Limbo even more. I feel like I'm getting to know the main characters better, and I have several thoughts about where the story is going from here, and I can't wait to see where it actually goes.

I thought the pacing was good, and I like the balance of action and philosophical musings. The interaction between Theo and Phoe is very realistic and believable, and at times had me laughing out loud.

I find this series to be very creative and imaginative (just like everything else Dima writes!), and I'm very much looking forward to book three, and finding out how things turn out for Theo and Phoe.

[Ryan Ohashi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too narrative

Monotonous narrative that didn't create an image of anything but what the main character or the do called AI was actually experiencing. Go here. Do This. Do that was this whole book and it made no sense! For what? To take a test of morals by breaking all the rules... What a waste of money!

[Kira Curtin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dissappointing

The first book in the series was great but Book 2 was just a lot of running around and being chased. Not a lot of connection with other characters - focus was really between the 2 main characters only. I kept reading thinking it would get better, but was quite disappointed so will not continue this series.

[Kirundo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do not read this book without reading the first one! This book and the story is confusing as it is already! I have no idea how anyone could come up with something so complex and weird like this, funnily enough, I actually quite liked it after reading the third book.

[Ryan S. Helgesen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Just as good as the first if not better. Hard to put down from the first page. Looking forward to the next book!

[Samantha Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 1 (oasis) had me interested, had great world development, and honestly once I start a series no matter how terrible I usually will finish. I was honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Of course jumped right into Book 2 (Limbo). This was still a good read but I just wanted more from it. Not a total bust, but didn’t carry the series forward much. It felt repeated and stale, alas I still wanted to “complete” the series so of course went on to Book 3 (Haven). After finishing it I was disappointed in its ending. Again the first book, as well as some of the second had interesting twists that kept me intrigued in the story but by this final installment it lost all momentum and felt rushed and disoriented. It’s like 1/2 way through the story was done but the author kept writing to meet a certain word count or length. Not a waste of a series but pretty disappointed in the final installment.

[Carole Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed Oasis, but I enjoyed Limbo even more. I feel like I'm getting to know the main characters better, and I have several thoughts about where the story is going from here, and I can't wait to see where it actually goes.

I thought the pacing was good, and I like the balance of action and philosophical musings. The interaction between Theo and Phoe is very realistic and believable, and at times had me laughing out loud.

I find this series to be very creative and imaginative (just like everything else Dima writes!), and I'm very much looking forward to book three, and finding out how things turn out for Theo and Phoe.

[Mahari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the first book, but still entertaining to read..

So in the second entry of this series, a lot of questions from the first book were answered and provides more detail as to how things have progressed to where the protagonist is currently. Must admit, some of the situations were beyond comical, but it wasn't bad enough to force me not to read further. The first book was really intriguing, this one was more background info, but as I said in my review of the first book, I'm fully invested into this story and plan to see it through to its conclusion.

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining

The sequel, like book 1, is entertaining and an interesting story, but I can’t help feeling like something is missing. Perhaps the characters aren’t fleshed out enough or the plot is lacking a bit. Regardless I am eager to read book 3 and see where this story ends.

[Dave T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing

The author seems to be very adept at creating complex scenarios of simultaneous planes of existence that wind up making complete sense in the end. All in all a really good book.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall story seems ok, not that much different that would rate it better than Oasis.

[Ricosrage · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really very sorry I read this second book. The first was just ok but I have this thing about finishing series. No amount of OCD will convince me to finish this series.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just a fun series. I'm enjoying the hell out of it, even though I'm not much into AI (often badly done in fiction) and certainly not gaming. And yet . . .

[jill hopkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love

Had me hooked from chapter one.but the books in the series are so short I don't understand why all 3 weren't just one book.great story though

[Larry Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

This is a book worth the read. One not to miss. I found this by pure chance but glad I did.

[Milton H · Rating 3 out of 5]

The interesting ideas of the first books are in this one too as well a decent few new ones, so are most of the good things about it. Theo also gets some much needed character development that is much needed… only for it to be removed from him. Theo lacks a lot of the Phoe he had in the first book, as he comes to trust Phoe more and considering that she is supposedly incredibly smart with the resources gained in the previous book it’s not unintelligent for him to do so, but it makes for a bit of a boring main character. However those resources that are so strong she previously appeared godlike and lets her render extremely advanced and realistic AR, as well as do tasks incredibly quickly? Well it amounts to very little, she can fiddle with Theo’s brain a little more and do some AR and VR stuff, but she obviously needs restrictions on her power otherwise she would be too strong to face any adversity, but it does end up feeling a little arbitrary and random when she can and cannot do certain things that makes it hard for me to keep up my suspension of disbelief. Also a lot more romance between Phoe and Theo, I’m not the biggest fan but I don’t much mind either, just that it feels like it gets a lot of attention since other than once it’s pretty much the only thing that is going on when there is a break in the action, rather than the variety in the previous book.

[Mark Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I said in my review of Oasis, I would read the next book by Dima Zales. I reached out to the author and requested a review copy of Limbo. I suspected that Limo wouldn’t be as good as Oasis, and I was correct insomuch that I was wise to the trickery in the writing. As a self-proclaimed trickster myself, I was on alert for red herrings and the like.

I enjoyed Limbo nonetheless. The writing seemed a bit stronger in this book than it did in the previous. I knew I wouldn’t be surprised again, but I wanted to. The insight and the ramifications into what the hero and his AI friend offer about the world in which they reside read like tried and true dystopian adventure.

I look forward to reading Haven, the third and final book in the series, and am not opposed to checking out his Mind Dimensions series when I finish The Last Humans. I knocked it out in two nights, and like its predecessor, I rank Limbo at four stars. Read the entire series, and you will not be disappointed.

[Lagarto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first volume of this series, and was at the end, not disappointed with the second... however, I was dismayed at a couple of long passages with plot holes, and one long-winded scene that had me almost giving up on the book entirely. But I stuck with it, and the payoff was worthwhile. The long/boring passage redeemed itself in the end. If you find yourself at the mid point and ready to toss it, I highly recommend you think twice and give it the chance it deserves.

I'm really curious to see how it finishes up in book 3.

[Coleman Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, full of funny scenarios.

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Theo and Phoe

I have enjoyed reading both books and can't wait until book 3 comes out! This is worth your time the writing is exquisite and keep up the good work!

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Good books... well written, different and interesting. .. but I can't quite connect as well as I would like... so 3.5

[Curtis Weldon]

Enjoyed the book

[Shelley Des Forges]

part 2 and I'm still not sure about this.