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We Lived on the Horizon
We Lived on the Horizon: A Novel | Erika Swyler
2 posts | 1 read
The acclaimed author of the “dazzling” (Sara Gruen, #1 New York Times bestselling author) The Book of Speculation returns with an engrossing new novel about a bio-prosthetic surgeon and her personal AI as they are drawn into a revolution. The city of Bulwark is aptly named: a walled city built to protect and preserve the people who managed to survive a series of great cataclysms, Bulwark was founded on a system where sacrifice is rewarded by the AI that runs the city. Over generations, an elite class has evolved from the descendants of those who gave up the most to found mankind’s last stronghold, called the Sainted. Saint Enita Malovis, long accustomed to luxury, feels the end of her life and decades of work as a bio-prosthetist approaching. The lone practitioner of her art, Enita is determined to preserve her legacy and decides to create a physical being, called Nix, filled with her knowledge and experience. In the midst of her project, a fellow Sainted is brutally murdered and the city AI inexplicably erases the event from its data. Soon, Enita and Nix are drawn into the growing war that could change everything between Bulwark’s hidden underclass and the programs that impose and maintain order. A complex, imaginative, and unforgettable novel, We Lived on the Horizon grapples with concepts as varied as the human desire for utopia, body horror, and what the future holds for humanity and machine alike.
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Addison_Reads
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This is a tough one for me to review. It's a speculative science fiction with a lot to say about AI and AI evolution/development in a futuristic setting.

I really liked the contrast between the AI and the human characters and their growth as the story unfolds. At times, the pace of this book is rather slow, and a few times, I wanted to put it aside. However, the ending was worth sticking with this one, and why this is a pick for me.

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amyrohn
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It looked like my recency bias with Wrong Place Wrong Time might make it win out the year, but We Lived on the Horizon pulled it out! It‘s right in the speculative lane of books that I‘ve been loving the last couple of years, so I‘m not super surprised it‘s the top book of the year. Excited to see what next year will bring! #2024readingbracket