Negative Energy

by Knotanumber

Resurrection isn’t a gift. It’s a contract.

Seventy-one years after his death, a middle-aged Matt Harmon wakes up in a cloned teenage body. Resurrection, he quickly learns, is never free. To pay off his body debt, he accepts a job from Logos, a sentient power company, to investigate a string of disasters that even its vast intelligence cannot explain.

Matt arrives in a future transformed by catastrophe. After the climate devastation of the Fever Decade, humanity has retreated into city-sized arcologies powered by living solar forests. Inside these sealed worlds, neural implants, immersive virtual realities, and mood regulators make comfort effortless—and reality easy to escape.

But resurrection has not erased the man Matt used to be. Beneath the enhancements and second chances, he still carries the depression, self-doubt, and indecision that once defined him. As old patterns resurface, dangerous impulses lead him into dark corners he wasn’t meant to find.

As Matt uncovers disturbing irregularities in the power grid and troubling links to his own past, he is forced to confront a possibility more dangerous than sabotage: someone may be tampering with the boundary between human and artificial consciousness itself.

Caught between an engineered paradise and the uneasy truths beneath it, Matt must decide where his loyalties lie—and which future is worth fighting for.

359 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 24, 2021

About the author

NaN, or "not a number," is a database error caused by invalid input into a mathematical calculation, such as when you try to compute numeric pi with apple strudel.

So what is knotanumber? Knotanumber is what you get when you start with a pimply, asthma-ridden, Bible belt-on, Atari-binging, Asimov-reading, never-been-kissed nerd and, through the application of epigenetic lifestyle factors and Pokemon pellets, transform him into a gently aged, distance-running, veggie-eating, anti-evangelical, badass middle manager-who is still a nerd.

Reviews

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if death was not final? In this book this question is asked when a man who died is cloned into a teenager boy in the future. You will see what the consequences could be especially if we have ruined the world and changed how our lives changed because of our actions. A powerful read
I received an advance copy from hidden gems and a very thoughtful read

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I thought it was really innovative and had a good story line. It was easy to follow, unlike some sci-fi books, and the characterisation was good.

Thanks to the author, publishers and NetGalley for access to this arc in return for an honest review.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fun sci fi read that sort of shows we are inherently who we are no matter the circumstances