What do you think?
Rate this book
The Coruscant Series #1
Deep Core
AJ is a maintenance tech at Sol Vista care facility. He likes the quiet life. Visiting with his ma. A burger at Fatty's. Surfing the Shifting Sea. Staying in flow. But his flow gets sorely disrupted when a new resident moves into Sol Vista and AJ soon finds himself on the run from an interplanetary assassin, trying to track down a hacker otherwise known as Destroyer of Worlds, all so he can save the life of his new girlfriend, who turns out NOT to be the laid back, Territorian skater girl he thought she was. Sometimes the flow is hard to find, even for a cyber.
- GenresScience Fiction
Paperback
First published July 31, 2019
448 people are currently reading
1929 people want to read
About the author
F.X. Holden
22 books190 followersFX Holden writes action thrillers (The 'Aggressor' and 'Future War' Series) and Science Fiction (The 'Coruscant' and 'Red Legion' Series). He has been awarded two US Publishers' Weekly Stars (the Michelin Star of publishing), the US Readers' Favorite award for Best Political Thriller (twice, including in 2025), and the US Book Excellence award for Best Military Fiction!
FX Holden is a pen name for author Tim (TJ) Slee, winner of the HarperCollins Banjo Prize for Australian fiction and the US Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize for Fiction.
FX Holden is a pen name for author Tim (TJ) Slee, winner of the HarperCollins Banjo Prize for Australian fiction and the US Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize for Fiction.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 25, 2019
Author's (no spoilers) notes: not a review!
Deep Core is the story of AJ, a maintenance tech at Sol Vista care facility on the moon of Tatsensui. He likes the quiet life. Visiting with his ma. A burger at Fatty's. Surfing the Shifting Sea. Staying in flow. But his flow gets sorely disrupted when a new resident moves into Sol Vista and AJ soon finds himself on the run from an interplanetary assassin, trying to track down a hacker otherwise known as Destroyer of Worlds, all so he can save the life of his new girlfriend, who turns out NOT to be the laid back, Territorian skater girl he thought she was. Sometimes the flow is hard to find, even for a cyber.
DEEP CORE was a manuscript I started playing with during 2018 when the first of the big data leaks/hacks/thefts from multinational internet giants struck. I began to imagine a world where there was no privacy, where your every thought, feeling and sensation was uploaded to the cloud, in real time. Analyzed for learnings. And stored, forever. Around the same time I started reading a lot of articles about the future of AI, mostly in the context of advanced weaponry, but also from the point of view of scientific research, medical research and climate control.
I imagined a benign planetary AI, tasked with protecting the citizens of a planet by optimizing its habitat and managing their health and welfare. How far might it go to carry out such a directive? And how vulnerable could that society be if the AI itself were attacked by outside actors? So I started DEEP CORE not by building a storyline, but by building a world: the system of Coruscant. A system of moons, far from Earth, reliant on each other for the resources needed for their survival. Mutually dependent, but far from at peace. A habitat which was stable, but still evolving too – plagued by unsolved environmental issues. For this purpose, I created the idea of Transient/Permanent Global Amnesia; memory issues caused by solar radiation from the Coruscant system sun.
As a political backdrop, I played with the idea of ‘AI theology’; competing beliefs about how to implement and govern the deployment of AIs, given their enormous and somewhat frightening potential. In one theology, the belief was that a central AI under the control of the government and its citizens was both the most powerful, and safe. It would develop and evolve more slowly, but it could be more easily directed and controlled. In the second theology, the belief was that such a system was vulnerable to attack, or catastrophe, and too slow to learn and adapt. Tatsensui and PRC were adherents to this theology. The alternative path, followed by New Siberia, was to create thousands of independent AIs – cybers - all learning and evolving at their own pace and contributing to planetary development, distributed across at least two moons (NS and Orkutsk) so that an attack on one, would not mean the destruction of all.
I reasoned that even a central AI like The Core would see the value in having independent self-directed learning systems and would implement the idea of ‘cyber’ agents itself, but within the confines of Core idealogy, these would remain ‘chained’ to the central AI. Free to learn, but not entirely free to act. And with a lifespan limited by The Core’s desire to learn and evolve by retiring old generations and birthing new ones. It led to some interesting thought games: how would a TS cyber feel about this? Would they just accept it as their fate, or would they question it? Would they regard re-integration as death, or more like reincarnation. And what about love between two individuals, where one or both had an expiry date?
Given these dilemmas, the next piece in the storytelling was to create the ethical and moral code about relations between cybers and humans. Should they relate as equals, when cybers were clearly physically and intellectually superior? Should they have rights, given that they were essentially quantum computers in bioware shells? Should they feel? Care? Love? Between cybers alone, or between cybers and humans? To inform these questions I created the concept of the Charter of Cyber Rights, and the movement for cyber equality that lays behind it, for AJ to subscribe to.
Which led to the question of whether a cyber should just sell its labor, either intellectual or physical, or instead, could alternative economic models exist? I realized that if a cyber had the right to freely choose whatever job it wanted (within limits), it might well choose a job that didn’t use all of its computational capacity. Should that capacity then just go to waste? Surely not. The idea of the ‘bandwidth economy’ – cybers selling their excess computational power back to The Core – flowed from this. Together, these things gave AJ the freedom of movement he needed to be the protagonist I wanted, but within a complex social and legal structure that he would constantly have to navigate.
Finally, based on this universe, I created the plot: setting cyber, AJ, on a collision course with politicians, hackers, assassins and interplanetary AIs. I felt quite bad putting him through all that - all the poor guy wanted to do was surf.
There you have the process for how Deep Core came to be.
Deep Core is the story of AJ, a maintenance tech at Sol Vista care facility on the moon of Tatsensui. He likes the quiet life. Visiting with his ma. A burger at Fatty's. Surfing the Shifting Sea. Staying in flow. But his flow gets sorely disrupted when a new resident moves into Sol Vista and AJ soon finds himself on the run from an interplanetary assassin, trying to track down a hacker otherwise known as Destroyer of Worlds, all so he can save the life of his new girlfriend, who turns out NOT to be the laid back, Territorian skater girl he thought she was. Sometimes the flow is hard to find, even for a cyber.
DEEP CORE was a manuscript I started playing with during 2018 when the first of the big data leaks/hacks/thefts from multinational internet giants struck. I began to imagine a world where there was no privacy, where your every thought, feeling and sensation was uploaded to the cloud, in real time. Analyzed for learnings. And stored, forever. Around the same time I started reading a lot of articles about the future of AI, mostly in the context of advanced weaponry, but also from the point of view of scientific research, medical research and climate control.
I imagined a benign planetary AI, tasked with protecting the citizens of a planet by optimizing its habitat and managing their health and welfare. How far might it go to carry out such a directive? And how vulnerable could that society be if the AI itself were attacked by outside actors? So I started DEEP CORE not by building a storyline, but by building a world: the system of Coruscant. A system of moons, far from Earth, reliant on each other for the resources needed for their survival. Mutually dependent, but far from at peace. A habitat which was stable, but still evolving too – plagued by unsolved environmental issues. For this purpose, I created the idea of Transient/Permanent Global Amnesia; memory issues caused by solar radiation from the Coruscant system sun.
As a political backdrop, I played with the idea of ‘AI theology’; competing beliefs about how to implement and govern the deployment of AIs, given their enormous and somewhat frightening potential. In one theology, the belief was that a central AI under the control of the government and its citizens was both the most powerful, and safe. It would develop and evolve more slowly, but it could be more easily directed and controlled. In the second theology, the belief was that such a system was vulnerable to attack, or catastrophe, and too slow to learn and adapt. Tatsensui and PRC were adherents to this theology. The alternative path, followed by New Siberia, was to create thousands of independent AIs – cybers - all learning and evolving at their own pace and contributing to planetary development, distributed across at least two moons (NS and Orkutsk) so that an attack on one, would not mean the destruction of all.
I reasoned that even a central AI like The Core would see the value in having independent self-directed learning systems and would implement the idea of ‘cyber’ agents itself, but within the confines of Core idealogy, these would remain ‘chained’ to the central AI. Free to learn, but not entirely free to act. And with a lifespan limited by The Core’s desire to learn and evolve by retiring old generations and birthing new ones. It led to some interesting thought games: how would a TS cyber feel about this? Would they just accept it as their fate, or would they question it? Would they regard re-integration as death, or more like reincarnation. And what about love between two individuals, where one or both had an expiry date?
Given these dilemmas, the next piece in the storytelling was to create the ethical and moral code about relations between cybers and humans. Should they relate as equals, when cybers were clearly physically and intellectually superior? Should they have rights, given that they were essentially quantum computers in bioware shells? Should they feel? Care? Love? Between cybers alone, or between cybers and humans? To inform these questions I created the concept of the Charter of Cyber Rights, and the movement for cyber equality that lays behind it, for AJ to subscribe to.
Which led to the question of whether a cyber should just sell its labor, either intellectual or physical, or instead, could alternative economic models exist? I realized that if a cyber had the right to freely choose whatever job it wanted (within limits), it might well choose a job that didn’t use all of its computational capacity. Should that capacity then just go to waste? Surely not. The idea of the ‘bandwidth economy’ – cybers selling their excess computational power back to The Core – flowed from this. Together, these things gave AJ the freedom of movement he needed to be the protagonist I wanted, but within a complex social and legal structure that he would constantly have to navigate.
Finally, based on this universe, I created the plot: setting cyber, AJ, on a collision course with politicians, hackers, assassins and interplanetary AIs. I felt quite bad putting him through all that - all the poor guy wanted to do was surf.
There you have the process for how Deep Core came to be.
May 15, 2020
I won this book as a Goodreads give away for my honest opinion.
This is my first book by this author. Not my genre that I would normally read, but this book was perfect. I loved everything about it. Fast and easy read, that gives a glimpse into what the future might hold. Can't wait to read more books from this author.
This is my first book by this author. Not my genre that I would normally read, but this book was perfect. I loved everything about it. Fast and easy read, that gives a glimpse into what the future might hold. Can't wait to read more books from this author.
May 21, 2020
Excellent read, one of the best books I've read in a long time. Great mix of sci-fi and intrigue, pace was perfect and the writing painted a picture of what life is like on Tatsensui. Can't wait for F X Holdens next book, keep them coming
October 13, 2021
Incredible
Loved the plot, characters, action, love, science fiction and the twist snd turns - thoroughly recommended- looking forward to the next book
Loved the plot, characters, action, love, science fiction and the twist snd turns - thoroughly recommended- looking forward to the next book
September 26, 2019
One of my favorite topics in science based speculative fiction has always been what’s now called artificial intelligence, especially where an evolution to sentience happens. This story has taken that concept to one of the highest levels I’ve read. Not only is the core computer sentient and powerful to the point of near-omnipotence, it has thousands of sentient independent organic/silicon “hybrid” splinters of itself out there among the humans, downloading and reporting back to it on a frequent basis. Not only do the cybers, as their called, have access to the mainframe computer’s powers, they also have organic brains of their own, independent of the electronic one. AJ, the story’s protagonist, is one of those. He’s chosen a pretty quiet, low key but useful life for himself as a maintenance tech in a care facility. The work is easy but vital to the facility, and doesn’t take up much of his time, but still gives him a living wage with plenty of time for surfing the Shifting Sea. He’s very happy, and with the flow.
As an aside, how AJ surfs is fascinating, and is a small vignette of the excellent world building in the story. Three moons with settlements, all independent but interdependent on each other for survival, while remaining not-so-friendly. I chose to reread those sections to get a full concept, which did enhance my appreciation of the story. (The author used acronyms for the longer names of the various settlements, which did make for a more compact novel. Unfortunately, I don’t speak acronym well! :-) )
AJ likes his life to go with the flow, but things happen to disrupt his peaceful well ordered live. A new interesting girlfriend, who turns out to not be the hip, sarcastic skater girl she appears to be. A plot to disrupt the core computer and the delicate balance of politics. Evil enemies and unexpected friends, murders. Classic “get your butt in a bear trap and have lots of adventures getting it out” story plot, which always works so very well. And all poor AJ wants to do is surf.
As an aside, how AJ surfs is fascinating, and is a small vignette of the excellent world building in the story. Three moons with settlements, all independent but interdependent on each other for survival, while remaining not-so-friendly. I chose to reread those sections to get a full concept, which did enhance my appreciation of the story. (The author used acronyms for the longer names of the various settlements, which did make for a more compact novel. Unfortunately, I don’t speak acronym well! :-) )
AJ likes his life to go with the flow, but things happen to disrupt his peaceful well ordered live. A new interesting girlfriend, who turns out to not be the hip, sarcastic skater girl she appears to be. A plot to disrupt the core computer and the delicate balance of politics. Evil enemies and unexpected friends, murders. Classic “get your butt in a bear trap and have lots of adventures getting it out” story plot, which always works so very well. And all poor AJ wants to do is surf.
December 20, 2019
Excellent scifi!
Really liked this plot and the characters. I couldn't put the book down. This story explores AI in a way I hadn't experienced yet, and I highly recommend reading it. Very tight story with concise writing and a fast pace. It's never boring.
Really liked this plot and the characters. I couldn't put the book down. This story explores AI in a way I hadn't experienced yet, and I highly recommend reading it. Very tight story with concise writing and a fast pace. It's never boring.
August 22, 2019
Very good worldbuilding, and interesting characters.
The story did not need the in-depth description of the system's history, but it definitely made it richer. The back history of the system deserves a book of its own.
The story did not need the in-depth description of the system's history, but it definitely made it richer. The back history of the system deserves a book of its own.
Read
April 6, 2021It was an interesting story. I must admit I prefer the Future War series, but it was worth the time to read it
May 29, 2021
I have read the first two books of the authors Future War series & then discovered he also writes sci-fi. Oh, I had to try out this other side of his writing.
A very interesting set of worlds the author has constructed. Three interdependent moons & AI, where humans and cybers mix. It is a tale of a maintenance tech cyber who gets caught up in conspiracy. All he wants to do is to be left alone and surf.
Within the world building, the author places his characters to explore multitude of social issues. Discrimination for being different, as cybers are still considered 2nd class citizens. AI control of the environment that keeps everyone alive. A lack of privacy as everything is uploaded to the Core AI.
While I liked AJ’s surfer vibe, it was Cassie that really struck a cord with me. She has spunk. Think of her as a sci-fi version of Bunny, from the Future War series. It was always jazz reading the interaction of her and AJ, their styles clashing and melding in a continuous dance, like waves.
It is a “who do you trust” story and AJ has a heck of a time trying to analyze his way out of situations. I’ll leave it at that, as once AJ starts his day, it is a whirlwind ride from there.
A very interesting set of worlds the author has constructed. Three interdependent moons & AI, where humans and cybers mix. It is a tale of a maintenance tech cyber who gets caught up in conspiracy. All he wants to do is to be left alone and surf.
Within the world building, the author places his characters to explore multitude of social issues. Discrimination for being different, as cybers are still considered 2nd class citizens. AI control of the environment that keeps everyone alive. A lack of privacy as everything is uploaded to the Core AI.
While I liked AJ’s surfer vibe, it was Cassie that really struck a cord with me. She has spunk. Think of her as a sci-fi version of Bunny, from the Future War series. It was always jazz reading the interaction of her and AJ, their styles clashing and melding in a continuous dance, like waves.
It is a “who do you trust” story and AJ has a heck of a time trying to analyze his way out of situations. I’ll leave it at that, as once AJ starts his day, it is a whirlwind ride from there.
January 23, 2021
Page Turner
Well written, interesting characters, and plot twists. Well worth reading.
This is the fifth book by this author that I’ve read. Pretty much everything he writes is well done.
Let me get Something off my chest that has been bugging me since the first book of his that I read: revolvers don’t have safeties.
Well written, interesting characters, and plot twists. Well worth reading.
This is the fifth book by this author that I’ve read. Pretty much everything he writes is well done.
Let me get Something off my chest that has been bugging me since the first book of his that I read: revolvers don’t have safeties.
February 22, 2024
Not sure when I first started reading this, but after several pages, I got into enjoying it. Have now started on #2. Seems like it's following a similar trend as #1, so I expect this will be just as good.
My opinion is that Mr Holden is a pretty good writer of any fiction, as I've already read several of his books.
My opinion is that Mr Holden is a pretty good writer of any fiction, as I've already read several of his books.
August 25, 2020
Great read
It's been a long time since I read Carl Sagan and art Clark I like their work and yours is similar because you don't talk about vegetable people stupid stuff everything seems to be somewhat within the balance of physics we know it to be
It's been a long time since I read Carl Sagan and art Clark I like their work and yours is similar because you don't talk about vegetable people stupid stuff everything seems to be somewhat within the balance of physics we know it to be
March 2, 2021
Slow start and middle had very few intriguing spots
This was a booked I would have closed and left unread. Hoped for interesting plot but they all had weak threads.
Would not recommend to a friend
This was a booked I would have closed and left unread. Hoped for interesting plot but they all had weak threads.
Would not recommend to a friend
March 10, 2021
Just boring
I have read a few of FX Holden books and enjoyed them but I could not get into this one struggled to get 40% read before I finally give up just boring really disappointed.
I have read a few of FX Holden books and enjoyed them but I could not get into this one struggled to get 40% read before I finally give up just boring really disappointed.
February 9, 2022
Core depth uncovered
Very fine characterization. Lots of surprises. I found the characters interesting and engaging. I had a little trouble sorting out who was the bad guys. All sorted.
Very fine characterization. Lots of surprises. I found the characters interesting and engaging. I had a little trouble sorting out who was the bad guys. All sorted.
May 4, 2022
Intelligent and intriguing
After reading the author's "future of war" series (which I highly recommend) I decided to check out his science fiction. Not sorry I did. The plots were ingenious and the characters present and real.
After reading the author's "future of war" series (which I highly recommend) I decided to check out his science fiction. Not sorry I did. The plots were ingenious and the characters present and real.
May 22, 2022
That's a pretty good rate
I'm back to book over over a period of maybe 10 days 10 day. It started out a little slow and got more exciting as the story developed. Probably worth giving a try.
I'm back to book over over a period of maybe 10 days 10 day. It started out a little slow and got more exciting as the story developed. Probably worth giving a try.
January 30, 2023
I loved Holden's Future War series.
I read the first 5% of this novel, and there was absolutely nothing that interested me. Slow moving, with almost no characterization.
I stopped reading the novel. If it can't interest me after this much reading, it's not for me.
I read the first 5% of this novel, and there was absolutely nothing that interested me. Slow moving, with almost no characterization.
I stopped reading the novel. If it can't interest me after this much reading, it's not for me.
August 21, 2023
IN A FUTURE TIMELINE....
Another excellent work by FX Holden. Great plot, intriguing, some twists a!long the way, and sometimes funny. Cassey and AJ are excellent characters. Why all inhabited worlds in science fiction are moons?
Another excellent work by FX Holden. Great plot, intriguing, some twists a!long the way, and sometimes funny. Cassey and AJ are excellent characters. Why all inhabited worlds in science fiction are moons?
May 18, 2022
A glance into the future; AI
Really liked the storyline and vision of what AI could others too in the future. Never a dull read with Holden.
Really liked the storyline and vision of what AI could others too in the future. Never a dull read with Holden.
October 9, 2022
As Good as Heinlein
A well crafted tale.
Has very interesting and entwined plot.
I willing read further future,fandangels, fascinated for final finalized finish
.
A well crafted tale.
Has very interesting and entwined plot.
I willing read further future,fandangels, fascinated for final finalized finish
.
April 13, 2025
out of this world!
I loved this so much! One of the best books I read. Everything is absolutely possible and had me enamored the whole time. Can’t wait to read the next one!
I loved this so much! One of the best books I read. Everything is absolutely possible and had me enamored the whole time. Can’t wait to read the next one!
May 25, 2020
Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews