What do you think?
Rate this book
Thresholds: Entangled
Inner demons destroy modern society through the divorce of spirit and soul. This bane afflicts all humans, and it has a name—Distortion, a widespread, severe, and revamped form of neurotic anxiety leading to psychosis.
ENTANGLED occurs in Montreal between 2019 and 2039 during which a group of strong minds defy what is considered to be the greatest threat in human history—the complete loss of meaning. In the world of THRESHOLDS, this period marks the ascension of artificial intelligence and the rise of a new state of Distortion—the Gone state.
Stewart Dykins, a brilliant politician, joins a project that challenges him: he helps The Last Resort cure humanity of Distortion. His dauntless daughter Agnes is reluctantly pulled into his legacy to change the world. She is inspired by her friend Edvard Wolstenholme, a paraplegic whose courage allows him to reach the higher end of fame—he is key to Baltazar, the AI responsible for saving humanity.
ENTANGLED occurs in Montreal between 2019 and 2039 during which a group of strong minds defy what is considered to be the greatest threat in human history—the complete loss of meaning. In the world of THRESHOLDS, this period marks the ascension of artificial intelligence and the rise of a new state of Distortion—the Gone state.
Stewart Dykins, a brilliant politician, joins a project that challenges him: he helps The Last Resort cure humanity of Distortion. His dauntless daughter Agnes is reluctantly pulled into his legacy to change the world. She is inspired by her friend Edvard Wolstenholme, a paraplegic whose courage allows him to reach the higher end of fame—he is key to Baltazar, the AI responsible for saving humanity.
300 pages, Paperback
Published December 10, 2021
1 person is currently reading
1 person want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 8, 2022
This book sadly didn't quite hit the mark for me despite an incredibly interesting premise.
The world has been surrounded by a form of psychosis called 'Distortion' for many decades. It is easy to trigger and causes a number of symptoms, including loss of reality. In order to tackle it, Stewart Dykins (former Canadian politician) teams up with tech start-up Artify to develop an AI which would help cure this disease. He attempts to recruit his daughter, Agnes to the project (her life has been laid out for her and her aspirations of activism fall further away from her daily). Her best friend Edvard is an internet sensation who made his fortune by writing a book about his disability after being paralysed in an accident (and never turning 'Distorted' as a result which is incredibly unusual), but his role to play in the world is much larger than he could have imagined.
This story very much has two elements to it - the AI (named Balthazar) and Distortion. Though the two are entwined (... entangled, you might say!) I felt the stories felt somewhat disconnected.
I had some issues with the formatting such as thoughts being displayed in the same format as dialogue, the third person narration not quite working in the way I would have expected it to in the story and people essentially 'talking to the camera' on many occasions which created the most unrealistic dialogues I have ever read.
My main issue however was that the characters were majorly unlikeable. Agnes was not someone I connected with at all despite her being the most obviously relatable character, Stewart Dykins wasn't particularly likeable, Edvard was AWFUL and I truly hated him. The dynamic between Edvard and Agnes was something I didn't quite understand because they seemed to despise each other despite the fact they were supposed to be the only friends the other had. I didn't really feel much friendship between them at all and their relationship just seemed ... kinda off?
Another (more minor) issue was the constant references to things that landed the book squarely into 'our time'. From constant in-depth references to the political structure of Canadian government to referencing BitCoin and very specifically named social media networks such as Facebook/Instagram etc. There was even a Naruto reference (which, as a fan made me very happy, but the reference was so unexplained, I don't think I would have understood it had I not watched the anime).
Overall this book kind of fell flat of the execution I think it could have had and I found it a bit disappointing. Given this was indie published I think I have to respect the effort that has gone into writing it because it definitely wasn't unreadable by any stretch so do take this with a grain of salt.
I received an ARC of this novel via VoraciousReadersOnly in exchange for an honest review.
The world has been surrounded by a form of psychosis called 'Distortion' for many decades. It is easy to trigger and causes a number of symptoms, including loss of reality. In order to tackle it, Stewart Dykins (former Canadian politician) teams up with tech start-up Artify to develop an AI which would help cure this disease. He attempts to recruit his daughter, Agnes to the project (her life has been laid out for her and her aspirations of activism fall further away from her daily). Her best friend Edvard is an internet sensation who made his fortune by writing a book about his disability after being paralysed in an accident (and never turning 'Distorted' as a result which is incredibly unusual), but his role to play in the world is much larger than he could have imagined.
This story very much has two elements to it - the AI (named Balthazar) and Distortion. Though the two are entwined (... entangled, you might say!) I felt the stories felt somewhat disconnected.
I had some issues with the formatting such as thoughts being displayed in the same format as dialogue, the third person narration not quite working in the way I would have expected it to in the story and people essentially 'talking to the camera' on many occasions which created the most unrealistic dialogues I have ever read.
My main issue however was that the characters were majorly unlikeable. Agnes was not someone I connected with at all despite her being the most obviously relatable character, Stewart Dykins wasn't particularly likeable, Edvard was AWFUL and I truly hated him. The dynamic between Edvard and Agnes was something I didn't quite understand because they seemed to despise each other despite the fact they were supposed to be the only friends the other had. I didn't really feel much friendship between them at all and their relationship just seemed ... kinda off?
Another (more minor) issue was the constant references to things that landed the book squarely into 'our time'. From constant in-depth references to the political structure of Canadian government to referencing BitCoin and very specifically named social media networks such as Facebook/Instagram etc. There was even a Naruto reference (which, as a fan made me very happy, but the reference was so unexplained, I don't think I would have understood it had I not watched the anime).
Overall this book kind of fell flat of the execution I think it could have had and I found it a bit disappointing. Given this was indie published I think I have to respect the effort that has gone into writing it because it definitely wasn't unreadable by any stretch so do take this with a grain of salt.
I received an ARC of this novel via VoraciousReadersOnly in exchange for an honest review.
November 8, 2022
Excellent Writing, Deep Philosophy about AI and its Impact on Man
This story combines many subjects into a deep look at an interesting possible impact of AI on man that I don't see too often in other such stories. The dialogue is awesome and the descriptions are vivid. And the science geek in me reveled in the scientific details. Though I will say the story lagged in the middle, particularly where long sections philosophized a bit too long for my taste. That said, I've never read a story quite like this one, so the uniqueness factor is definitely there. And the writing is a treat in many places.
Some parts I found memorable:
-"...tomorrow will be a beautiful day, but to get there one has to go through the night without dying of fear. Summer finally shows its long-awaited hot nose."
-"She was a pawn drifting unconsciously only to drown into the cosmic mandibles of the dark depth of the unconscious."
Science fiction lovers who want something a bit different should entangle themselves in this story.
This story combines many subjects into a deep look at an interesting possible impact of AI on man that I don't see too often in other such stories. The dialogue is awesome and the descriptions are vivid. And the science geek in me reveled in the scientific details. Though I will say the story lagged in the middle, particularly where long sections philosophized a bit too long for my taste. That said, I've never read a story quite like this one, so the uniqueness factor is definitely there. And the writing is a treat in many places.
Some parts I found memorable:
-"...tomorrow will be a beautiful day, but to get there one has to go through the night without dying of fear. Summer finally shows its long-awaited hot nose."
-"She was a pawn drifting unconsciously only to drown into the cosmic mandibles of the dark depth of the unconscious."
Science fiction lovers who want something a bit different should entangle themselves in this story.
February 8, 2022
I enjoyed reading the book very much and finished it pretty fast. A sci-fi that introduces a new world where people are struggling because of a psychological/mental pandemic and a Montreal-based AI startup decides to cure the mankind with the help of AI! The atmosphere of the book is exciting, familiar, deep and bothersome all at the same time. The plot is certainly interesting, but I especially enjoyed following the psychological development of characters, most importantly Agnes, and it was my favorite thing of the book!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews