Max Barry

Seven years after first contact, Providence Five launches. An enormous warship, built to protect humanity, it has a crew of four. Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson will be confined to the ship for years, monitoring the AI-powered ship and reporting the war's progress to a global audience by way of social media. When their communications are cut, their ship becomes decreasingly trustworthy. To survive, they must win a fight that is suddenly and terrifyingly real. -- adapted from jacket

Providence

Shona Tiger

Not perfect (what is?) but very, very satisfying and very original.

Cindy Lieberman

Earth is out to eradicate a terrifying species dubbed the salamanders. To win, a new class of ship, Providence, is sent into space. These ships are run by AI with a small contingent of AI-selected crew. The story follows one such ship and the four humans on board. It is a story about war of course, but also about the decisions behind going to war, both for the governments of Earth and for the astronauts. It’s also about AI in an uncomfortable way: if we can’t communicate effectively with the program, how much can we, as humans, trust the AI to make the right decisions every time? Can we trust it with our lives?

Janice Hopper

Interesting tale of giant AI-managed spaceship barely manned (4 people) sent out to combat alien invaders. The four crew members get on together in strange and not always healthy ways.

Hints of corporate control, alien genocide, wrapped in an interesting setup. A little problematic, but a compelling read.

Les Reynolds

It felt kind of pointless, but maybe that was the point? Was fairly interesting.

From the ingenious author of Jennifer Government and Lexicon: a brilliant work of science fiction that tells the intimate tale of four people facing their most desperate hour--alone, together, at the edge of the universe. "An astonishing novel! Providence is Philip K. Dick and William Gibson fueled by pure adrenaline (with a bit of Spielberg and Ridley Scott thrown in). The brilliant, unstoppable imagination of Max Barry glows on every page of this action-filled, yet emotionally resonant, tale. It will keep you riveted from first page till last. I read in one sitting and I guarantee you'll do the same."--Jeffery Deaver The video changed everything. Before that, we could believe that we were safe. Special. Chosen. We thought the universe was a twinkling ocean of opportunity, waiting to be explored. Afterward, we knew better. Seven years after first contact, Providence Five launches. It is an enormous and deadly warship, built to protect humanity from its greatest ever threat. On board is a crew of just four--tasked with monitoring the ship and reporting the war's progress to a mesmerized global audience by way of social media. But while pursuing the enemy across space, Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson confront the unthinkable: their communications are cut, their ship decreasingly trustworthy and effective. To survive, they must win a fight that is suddenly and terrifyingly real.

Providence

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