Ravenhawk

by Lexy Wolfe

Why? The simple question asked by Ravenhawk, the creation of a corrupt corporation used to covertly infiltrate and steal data—or lives—at her creator’s orders resulted in the synth escaping their control. Unsure what her purpose for existence was, she nevertheless wielded her considerable combat abilities to cost those hunting her dearly.

Viktor Chernovich, in desperate need of a webrunner to keep his reputation as a fixer from utter destruction, reaches out to the infamous "murder-bot" to hire her. With embedded technology so ubiquitous that lacking it is considered treasonous, Ravenhawk is perplexed confronting her first pure human. Together, they discover something even more terrible than the insidious corruption of the world governments by corporations.

Genres: Science Fiction

236 pages, Hardcover

Published October 24, 2019

About the author

Lexy Wolfe is a fantasy and science fiction author from Lebanon, PA. Her previously published works are Doom and the Warrior and the five-book series of The Sundered Lands Saga. After many years focusing on fantasy worlds, a writing drought was relieved after delving into a futuristic, alternative Earth where Ravenhawk was spawned. She is currently working on the continuing story in the world of Ravenhawk..

Reviews

[meghann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the Nook serial read for August. It was definitely interesting seeing Ravenhawk, one of the deadliest murder bots created and controlled by a corporation, start to question things, think for herself and make her own choices. Concepts like friendship are foreign for her, but despite her best efforts to push everyone away, a support system of outcasts form around her. She uncovers some surprising things along the way and is starting to figure out what or who she really is. I did feel like this ended abruptly and was expecting more to happen with one particular storyline before the end.

[Jayde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely one of my favorite sci-fi reads thus far. Normally I stick to the fantasy heavy but this one was greatly enjoyable and definitely worth rereading

[Beverly Laude · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as a serial read through Nook. That being said, they did a horrible job of posting each day's reading! Near the end of the month's reading, they posted continuations of several earlier chapters. I had wondered as I read what I had missed, then found out it was Nook's fault.

The book had an interesting premise and some engaging thoughts about it, but it was too disjointed (even without Nook's mess up). The ending was very abrupt and I in fact, I went looking to make sure that it was truly the end.

I know that this is the first book in a series, but I won't be continuing it. I just didn't find it interesting enough to care about what happens next.

[Janet Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the Barnes and Noble serial read for August. It was not my cup of tea. It was kind of hard to follow. There were 4 or 5 chapters that were continued but not listed in order. They bring up chapters for eac day and the contin ued ones were listed near the bottom so I didn't see them right away. I would try to read them with the first part of the chapter but it made it too confusing . One of the continued chapters was the last chapter even though there were other chapters that would come after it. Not a fan.

[Craig Leimkuehler · Rating 3 out of 5]

The setting was not terribly original or unique. Society is controlled by an “evil” corporation (that’s redundant) Ravenhawk was their tool for keeping the masses in line. She has a revelation and begins to make friends with the mere “humans”. The common people live in dire poverty while a handful of elites live in shining towers. For Nook freebie it was very good.

[Dee Renee Chesnut · Rating 4 out of 5]

This ebook was Barnes and Noble's Serial Read for August 2021. I enjoyed the themes explored in this ebook. The next one in the series was offered for $1.99 for a limited time, and I continued this series.

[Anthony Philosophos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wolfe has written a spell binding masterpiece. It's a believable tale about a cyborg future we could easily go towards. I enjoyed the characters and the plot development. I look forward the the sequel.

[Tena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of action with laugh out loud moments. My first SciFi read. Liked all the characters. I totally enjoyed it. Discovered it on B&N August 2021 Serial Reads.

[Christina Snyder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of interested in the sequel. Kinda not. Story line seems good but very chaotic and not in sequence on B&N serial reads.

[Jeanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I often struggle with science fiction, more than maybe any other genre I read. So much of the world building necessary in many science fiction books can feel more like an information dump than an immersive experience, and that was the case for me here. The premise of this book has the potential to be intriguing— Ravenhawk, a cyborg so advanced that its consciousness is actually part human, not fully synthetic, and all the moral and ethical questions raised by the idea of blending AI technology with actual people. However, much of the book is lengthy description of how Ravenhawk’s technology/interface works, which quickly became dull, repetitive, and tiresome for me. While the ethical implications of such technology were brought up, the book misses an opportunity to really develop and expand the topic beyond a few basic points, which is unfortunate as that’s the part that most interested me. If you regularly read and enjoy science fiction, you might like this one, but there was too much explanation for my liking.

[Igor Veloso · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited for this one. I love corporate war, the effect on the lower class and how these rebel.
Came out utterly disappointed.

It started pretty decent (though Prologue unnecessary). A traumatic event triggered Ravenhawk to stop following corporate directives and find solace in the slums. Eventually she befriends people, or rather, they befriend her.
And that’s pretty much what the book is about.

Elon Musk's Neuralink comes immediately to mind. It does raise some questions about what happens when you merge machine with human brains.

The whole story is about Ravenhawk finding her own humanity amongst people that stand up for themselves, unlike the dystopian rest of the world ruled by CEO’s and shady policies. The growth its enjoyable to read and finds some interesting characters along the way.
Unfortunately it appears to reach its threshold pretty quick.

I thought there’d be more world building and corporate action but was willing to forgive the deception. Character stories can be great. This one however, gets pretty repetitive dialogue. I thought after about 100 pages there would be something to pick up steam but it didn’t happen. It went into some form of “same old” but with a different background. The conversations Ravenhawk has are almost the same with every character she meets.

Its all about inserting a defective corporate wild card into society. The moral and philosophical rants start up interesting but then get to be a bore. Its more of the same.
Some of the more scientific stuff justifying human behaviour also seem to be surprisingly idealogical instead of following the more (bio) logical paths of neuroscience. And it hurts more when it comes from the supposed qualified people. Alas, you don’t really want to be too logical with a deadly machine that can flip on you and those you love.

The plot has its twists and shows a couple new personal dilemmas, but any progress you think Ravenhawk has made turns out to be just superficial. Annoyingly so.

As usual in these situations where there’s struggle to progress, the ending was rushed with oddly convenient change of point of view, just to “force” the character to reach their moral objective.

Honestly, I guess I was hoping for more nuance and the only way to fix the pace would either to give it more pages to flesh things out, give Ravenhawk more room to grow, or just take more time with the characters around her with their point of view. The whole story feels like she is in an unbearable limbo of self loathing. All the time what she gets is street moral advice appearing to not have much effect until some random epiphany.

Can be relatable when you’re the one kicking away any attempt to get you help, but when you’re reading sci- fi, not so much.

Very grateful to BHC Press for gifting the ARC and allow me an early review and Lexy Wolfe for writing the piece.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ravenhawk by Lexy Wolfe is a Sci-Fi robot story with a lot of action. Ravenhawk is a robot that has been constructed as a weapon that searches and kills. She also, unknown to her, has a piece of a human brain! When her "handler" is killed, Ravenhawk begins to assimilate knowledge and free will into her makeup.

This is a story that will keep you guessing and wondering if this could really happen! The plot and characters are well developed and the ending lends itself to a follow on book. However, this can be read as a stand alone. This book was part of a B&N serial read where a few chapters are delivered each day to my Nook reader until the book is completed. This is a great way to find out about authors that I might not read or genres that are different for me. I always review every book that I read. This was an interesting premise.

[Brenda Mcallister · Rating 3 out of 5]

What it is that makes us human? The writer set out to take an AI and give it self awareness. What would be the reaction and how would it deal with this new set of values . Ravenhawk
went from just following orders to having to make choices about her actions.. This book concentrates on her development as a person rather than action. It is well written and edited, but just a bit slow in places. Most of the time it held my interest and I finished it in one sitting.
In a world ruled by corporations, where experiments on people are the accepted rule, the balance between haves and havenots is about to change. Welcome Ravenhawk.
I received this book from the publisher and chose to honestly review it.

[TSN ☮ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a story set in a rather dystopian future almost totally ruled by corrupt and ruthless corporations. Ravenhawk is the main person, and when we first meet her, she is this intensely feared murderously humanoid android belonging to a one of those rather evil corporations.

She manages to escape, and while being hunted, she meets people from outside the corporation and while doing so, she manage to discover a new and more human sides of herself.



☛ I requested an advanced copy of this title from NetGalley, and I'm voluntarily making this review.