This book was sooo good!!  I couldn’t put it down!! The author focused on topics that really allows the reader to think and ponder if each character made the right choice!!! I would recommend this book to anyone! It was a great read!

I really enjoyed this book.  Character development was good.  The plot was very interesting.  Not a lot of typos.

This book actually surprised me!

I admit, I did judge the book by it’s cover but the synopsis was quite interesting (like a mix between Westworld and The Hunger Games) which is what led me to requesting it.

And I’m glad I did! It didn’t take long for the book to grip me. There were a lot of characters that the book introduces you to but it becomes clear who is more important as I continued reading. I did have trouble guessing who the AI were and I liked the way this was revealed as I was reading the book. As you can imagine, when humans try to play Creator, it never ends well and this concept was well executed by Hunter.

I am hoping Hunter is already working on the sequel because it is something I’m quite eager to read as the ending of the book left me hopeful for what’s to come.

All in all, a great debut independent novel that reminded me how important it is not to judge a book by it’s  cover!

I feel vaguely guilty giving an arc such a negative review but honesty is the whole point. So I mostly hated this book.

Let me qualify that. I hated the writing. This book BADLY needs an editor to rewrite the entire thing. It jumps around for absolutely no reason, there's no sense of flow whatsoever, and every voice sounds exactly the same. The description is incredibly stilted and kept yanking me out of the action, and forced this disconnect from all of the characters. There were also a looot of grammatical mistakes, though I read an arc so some of those may have been fixed. I skimmed after around 35% because otherwise i wouldn't have finished.

Also, there were several gaping plot holes that bothered me, and too many characters, most of whom did not have a personality and didn't really do much.

I did give this two stars rather than one only because i found out if you skim and only read the dialogue it was actually sort of compelling, and the few characters with personalities were interesting. The entire concept is actually brilliant and if anyone wants to write it differently i would happily read it again.

I do not recommend this book unless it gets seriously edited. 2 stars.

2.5 Stars - Artificial intelligence Turing test meets Hunger Games (Sci-Fi/ Thriller)

A survival story of 20 research participants within a controlled outdoor expanse ("Eden"), where 4 of the 20 are A.I. (which is unknown to all members except the researchers). The test/research is to identify the A.I. by the end of the agreed period with a bonus reward of successful identification. There are no safe guarantees of proceeding, not even from death. Participants enter at their own discretion. The participants (ie. Hunger Games contestants) battle for survival, and use their individual skills to contribute as a community (eg. medics/military/scouts), or decide to sabotage their peers upon rising suspicions of artificialness to selfishly protect oneself or win the prize.

Great concept, poorly executed. Needs massive editing. Too long, too many characters, very busy overall and messy ending. I'll break it down.

Too many characters: Keeping in mind that the human brain can only really memorize 5 +2/-2 bits of new info in their short-term working memory, the number of characters needs to be limited to no more than a dozen to aid strength of retention and investment. (There's 20 participants + 5 or so researchers + a few investors). When the 20 participant characters are introduced simultaneously with very brief backstory, I found this really difficult to connect. Considering roughly 5 participants really make it to being main characters, with 10 being secondary, I'd completely rid the additional 5. Also, the character naming was strangely too similar. (Aiva/Eve, Leo/Luca, Ripley/Riley etc. It seemed deliberate but I think it hinders the relatability with this many characters).

The overall story felt very busy. There's too many instances of sudden survival mishaps. I get this is the name of the game, and crucial for displaying the individual skills, but I started to desensitize to the chronic nature of incidents and drama, when I just wanted something ELSE to happen. By around 50% the researchers point of view is revealed - by this point I was already bored and uninvested in the protagonists. It would be interesting to include this much earlier, like 25% of the way in. There's also a strange insertion of sudden sex scenes, including immediately following a traumatic death, and it just feels off-kilter. Also, Leo rolls her eyes too much.

The ending fell flat and felt messy. It felt ordinary or expected, but not in the rewarding sense. It felt messy due to the chaotic nature of introduced characters, the dialogue, some more last-minute info into the researchers, and a sudden event with some researchers that I just didn't see coming because I didn't gain a sense of their motives to build to that point. I just think the ending needs refinement and possibly an overhaul.

I also went into this expecting a horror edge, as it was outlined. It didn't feel terrifying, or suspenseful. It was more of a prolonged drama and action thriller. This just wasn't my type of book, but perhaps it would warm up to someone who loves action and drama more!

Pros: Includes content warning - that's a nice touch! Seeing the researchers point of view was interesting too. I liked hearing about the types of A.I.'s programming.


I read the advanced readers copy supplied by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A group of people have signed up for an experiment to travel in Eden with 4 AIs and try to determine which of the 'people' are computers. It's a real life turing test. 

The first part of this book I struggled with. The characters all have these crazy backgrounds and extensively open up to each other in about 5 days which doesn't totally make sense. There is also a very large group of characters and they are sound very similar. The second part of this book is soooo good. The plot gets crazy and people start going after one another trying to figure out who is an AI and who is considered a good person. The second half was a wild ride. 

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is interested in reading about human nature and how we interact with each other.

Yikes! 

Overall I enjoyed the book. It really made me think about how people perceive themselves (self-worth) based on their memories/experiences.  It felt a little rushed at the end compared to the middle, but I am intrigued enough about the storyline that I will read the next book in the series (assuming there's a next book with how it ended!).

I received a copy of this from Netgalley in return for an honest review. 

This book started off so strong. I was immediately intrigued and ready to read a great sci-fi mystery where I am also wondering who the AI's were. I enjoyed the book for the first 45% I want to say. After that it took a turn I wasn't expecting and it sort of took me out of the immersive feeling I had previously. There seemed to be too many characters to keep track of once the factions separated out. It was hard for me to follow because some characters were grouped but then managed to change groups and I just got lost. 

I did like the insight into the company in part 2. It helped me to understand the actual experiment going on, but once again, it sort of took me out of the main plot. There was just a lot of back and forth within the same chapter and that is a minor pet peeve of mine. I don't want to read three or four perspectives with setting changes in the same chapter. 

Overall the writing was great and while I was taken out of the story a few times, it was clear Hunter was very good at absorbing the reader. I will probably give her another chance with her next book.

2.5 stars

While the premise definitely sounded interesting, the overall story wasn't really for me.
Let's break it down.

Good things:
 • the writing was pretty good and clear
 • very interesting premise
 • while there were a lot of characters, the main ones definitely felt distinct
 • the 'behind-the-scenes' parts about the company were interesting

Things I wasn't a fan of:
 • despite the characters being written quite well, there were way too many for the length of the story. In the beginning I really couldn't keep track of all the characters
 • I felt the book tried to do too many things (thriller-esque setting in Eden, love story, background of the company, etc), making it a very 'busy' story, especially at the end. The ending was too rushed, causing it to become kinda underwhelming.
 • pretty much everything that happened was negative, and at the end I was kinda sick of all the misery
 • the parts in italics contained a lot of different things which made it kinda confusing

Overall I think this book just wasn't really for me.

The beginning of this book reminded me a lot of The Hunger Games, but with a twist. To be honest, this was a DNF for me (which I hardly ever do), only because I became so incredibly confused by the number of characters thrown at me in seemingly one paragraph! I would have had to take the time to make my own chart just to keep things straight. But don't let my review deter you if you like that kind of thing. I recommend this for readers who are up for the challenge.

Before I begin my review for Sentience by Courtney P. Hunter, I would personally like to thank the author, publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC and I have reviewed it honestly.
	
	Q: What do you get when you mix Westworld, Black Mirror and Red Rising?
	A: Sentience
	
	A science experiment. An arena. Brutal tests. 20 human participants. 4 AI's. Nobody knows who's real and who's robot... Not even themselves. Welcome to Sentience.
	
	Sentience features, but is not limited to, the following themes:
		○ Sci-Fi
		○ Artificial Intelligences
		○ Survival Arena
		○ Romance
		○ Human Nature
		○ Triggers
		
		
	My overall rating for Sentience is…
	
	4.5 Stars!
			
My mind is literally blown.  Literally! This story was an insane and bitter-sweet, emotional roller-coaster. The brutality of human nature when survival is on the line is incomprehensible and utterly terrifying. Hunter has woven a web of words to destroy you in her debut novel. Unbelievable world building and characters you can't help but feel for. If you want to take a stroll into Sentience, take a life jacket. You'll need it.

I rated this book a 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. 

I must say  I was hooked on concept alone, this reminded me a bit of the Black Mirror series, which is scary and awesome at the same time.

Starting the book, the first issue for me was the amount of characters right at the beginning. I had a hard time getting acquainted with them and remembering  who they were through the rest of the book, except for 7 or 8 characters that stood out.
I think it was a bit difficult to keep up with everyone since some of them just popped out of nowhere in the story and then they were gone just as quick. Later in the book the author started to focus on a few selected characters at a time and it got way better.

I'd like to mention Leo, who was my favourite character (along with Ripley). I loved her background and I enjoyed so much being able to keep up with her evolution through those weeks. She was really well developed and her motivations were strong and made so much sense, you can easily see yourself empathizing and rooting for her.

I thought the first part of the book took a slow pace and lacked a bit of action, however, I want to say that the author did a great job depicting the characters actions and emotions throughout the book, that's for sure. It was at the second part that I really started to get into it. The story was unravelling at a great pace at this point, one revelation after another, with some intense moments to add up as well.

As for the plot twist: I didn't see that coming! I couldn't figure out who were AI until it was revealed to the reader, which was great. It was a surprise for me and I loved the outcome! 

I would like to mention as well the fact that we also get to see the other side of the story. It was so cool to see some of the people working at the company face moral issues, while others just thought about the money. I don't know what's scarier, what the people inside Eden could do in extreme situations, or the actions of the ones who were controlling the experiment. 

This is a book that leaves you thinking, no doubt about it.

I love a good cyborg story, and this hit all the right spots - plus tension, a mystery, action/excitement and suspense!

I found this book to be thought provoking.  It's a very interesting take on where artificial intelligence is going.  It's a fast paced book that shows the best and worst of humans and AI.   A well written book.

What an interesting premise for a book. I frankly cannot believe this is a debut novel. It was immediately captivating and held my attention throughout. Despite a large part of the book being from Leo's point of view, the author is actually putting us, the reader, in the drivers seat by determining who is and is not a real human. As a sci fi fan, I'm fascinated by the endless potential fall out from this kind of Artificial Intelligence. I sincerely hope this becomes a series. Bravo Courtney P Hunter for writing a bestseller. I could easily see this becoming a tv miniseries. Every character is meticulously thought out. Kai is viciously evil. The company itself is ruthless and the potential for this kind of sentience on society is an easy sell when the writing is this good. I enjoyed every word. Thanks to Courtney P Hunter for asking me to give her book a shot.

2.75 stars
**Many thanks to Courtney P. Hunter, and NetGalley for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.**

We follow a group of individuals thrust into a place called Eden, where they will stay for 2 weeks to undergo a science experiment called a Turing Test. The original Turing Test was performed as a correspondence between computers and people; and people and people. At the end, participants had to determine which "people" they were talking to were real, and which were machines. Similarly, out of the 24 group of people thrust into Eden, 4 are AIs. Originally, an AI is said to have passed the test if the human can't determine between the AI and real person a substantial amount of times... but company AlgorithmOS is looking for a 100% pass rate.

I am so disappointed. You know when a book is going so well, and then the last 20 pages throw everything out the window? This is it. I loved the first 3/4ths of this, but almost all that is undermined. Based on the ending I would have given this a 1 star, but the first parts really do shine and bring it up quite a bit.

Although the writing isn't stellar (this is, then again, a debut), the set-up, intrigue, and plot is really good... up until the ending. I loved how there is almost a thriller-esque vibe that you get because of the mystery of who is an AI, but even more-so how evil and immoral humans can be. As it could have been predicted groups will form and I thought that it was really interesting in how the different ideologies of the groups manifested themselves in the pages. The constant clash between them made the book that much more fast-paced and interesting to read on.

Another aspect that I really liked were the flashes to what is going on at the company. Rarely does it happen in books of this type, that we get to see what is going on behind the scenes. Around halfway through the book, we do, and I think it was a good narrative choice as it allowed King to set her work apart and keep manifesting themes in different areas of the setting.

Unfortunately, the ending is a travesty. I apologize for speaking vaguely, but alas, I must keep this spoiler-free: recently I watched an interview with Brandon Sanderson where he talked a bit about subverting expectations and how to make a satisfying ending/sequence. I believe he does both of those things expertly in his book. He gave an analogy of buying a kid a present. You can promise him a car and get him a car, make that satisfying. You can also tell him you'll get a toy car , but be hinting at an RC car that is just that bit better. Or you can even, be showing a toy plane behind the car and in the end, make the kid realise he wanted the plane all along. What King did here was show me a beautiful RC car, but gave me a rotten wooden wheel from a toy plane. There are certain things that start happening in the ending which could have been setting something up. Then, we get two random encounters out of nowhere, and are supposed to believe that this is what we wanted all along when it is something so out of the blue and honestly cheap, that it minimizes the effects of the other wonderful aspects of the book.

Here are my final thoughts: pick this up if you want a good book that you won't be able to stop reading... just also be prepared to be sorely disappointed by the ending.

It is hard to believe that this was Hunter's debut as a novelist because Sentience is extremely well-executed. she managed to navigate over 20 characters without making me feel confused and frustrated.

Premise - AlgorithmOS is nearly complete in their endeavor to market AI research to the American government. Their final test before confirming the functionality of their work is to place the models in a real-world scenario among humans. The purpose will be to test the AI's adaptability to environmental stimuli, and their ability to pass as human. Our protagonist is Leo Knox, a young member of a Chicago motorcycle gang that has found herself signing a waiver in order to take part in this experiment that the world has never seen before. She is there as a result of her ex-girlfriend's attempt to get her out of the gang, and the company is offering a pretty good pay-out. Win-win right? Leo and 20 other participants are to enter a natural expanse of forest and lakeside, where they are to survive together for 10 days and try to divulge who is AI. They are informed that 4 among them are AI, shouldn't be too hard, right? Well, it doesn't go as planned. Nothing with AI is as straightforward as we are led to believe.

I correctly guessed two of the four AI in the group, but I did not see that ending coming at all!

This novel is fast-paced, character-driven, and so exciting. I felt like I was one of the participants in the experiment because I was constantly trying to figure out who the AI were alongside each of the characters. Hunter presents a whodunit-but-make-it-AI concept that is seamless and page-turning. She held my attention in the way only a seasoned storyteller could. The allure of the atmosphere she created at the start of Sentience successfully grew and burst in perfect union with the finale. I adored the flaws in the characters she imagined to life... or artificial life... and led me do develop strong emotional reactions to each of the key players. Emotional engagement from myself as a reader, especially when there are so many characters laid out in front of me, is a huge feat and I was so impressed. I didn't care about the characters in Paolini's To Sleep in a Sea of Stars nearly as much as I did in this novel which holds 25% the page count Paolini presented.

I recommend this book to all friends that show interest in jumping into the world of sci-fi, as well as friends that are long-time lovers of all things robot. On a superficial level, this book is a mature sci-fi version of The Hunger Games but with way more interesting characters. Dear Courtney P. Hunter, can we make this a series please?

this had a great scifi novel, I really enjoyed that they took the typical elements of a scifi plot and created something different.

This is the Artificial Intelligence version of the hunger games. It’s great. A group of people are employed for a week to participate in a series of challenges to reach a certain location. Four of the group are Artificial Intelligence robots and the groups task is to find out which of them are A.I. which is remarkably difficult when the A.I. themselves believe they are human (with pre- programmed histories, emotions and ability to feel pain). This is based on The Turing Test theory - they need to work out who is A.I. before the end of the week to be successful. 

It really made me question the ethics of AI and the idea that they could one day become sentient and have emotions, feelings and autonomy. If this A.I. business was real I would be very worried for the future survival of humans! They are so much more intelligent than we are - with the ability to just keep absorbing information and learning.

Overall I really enjoyed this book - it would make an interesting TV series but the book itself seems a little bit too ‘long’. The pace at some parts is quite slow. It definitely picks up pace in the last few chapters and I think it might have been a good idea to have kept these for a separate (second) book as they ended on a slight cliffhanger and made the book feel unfinished. 

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Man, did I enjoy this book, it hooked me right from the beginning! This story is essentially the Turing Test. A bunch of scientists have created AI that they want to determine if they can pass as human. By putting 24 people (including the 4 AI) into a type of survival situation together to see if any of the humans can actually identify who the actual humans are vs. the AI.

We get a few POVs throughout the story which makes you, as the reader, constantly question who the AI might be. I did call one of them pretty early on but it didn’t detract from the story at all for me; figuring out who one of the AI were so early in the story.

I would really love a sequel to this story. Not a drawn-out trilogy or anything, but maybe a duology where we can see what happens to everyone after the finale of events of this book. Both the scientists and the participants of the experiment. This book also really makes you question what truly makes us human? Is it consciousness? Self-awareness? This was done really well.

I would definitely recommend this to sci-fi fans. I wouldn’t say this is hard sci-fi but anyone who enjoys discussing the world of AI, and what it could mean for all of us in the future, would find something to enjoy in this story.

ARC received via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own.