This was a thrill ride! A little something for everyone here…a little sci fi, romance, crime drama and a whole lot more. This is a tale that lures the reader in, then sends them hurtling through page after pulse racing page. This is an outstanding debut, and I’m looking forward to more from this author.

Fast paced and fun. Very good story. One small piece of a computer system becoming strong enough to destroy lives.

This book was a bit hard to get into and the dual storylines, at times, left me wanting to stay in one character's head or the other. Also,, while I get the idea of the prologues to each chapter, they were a bit much from my POV and could have been dealt with in one prologue at the beginning of the book that matches the chapter at the end.

Other than these elements, it was a pretty good story once it got going. If you made "I, Robot" about the legal system, that would be your story here. While I know we are supposed to be rooting for the protagonist, I particularly liked how the developed the "evil" AI in particular, though I was surprised that it had not adopted a name for itself beyond its own sentience.

What attracted me in the description was of course that it is SF, and talk of a ‘prison’ from where no one ever escaped.
I was not disappointed, on the contrary. The author wrote a very clever story full of surprises and old and new insights. We start with a bang, as Rainville, not even twenty years old, is already a very clever technician and a very clever shoplifter too! Of course it is absolutely wrong to try and rob a big store with a couple of friends, don’t get me wrong, but it is such a good scene to get to know our main character and the time and place he lives in. Arcadia is a city under a dome, and everything, literally everything, is controlled by computers. The weather, the food, the traffic, you name it. Rainville’s mother sadly passed away and he’s not exactly on speaking terms with his father, so he spends his time with his friends and helping out people with repairing their household appliances. However, one day the toaster he helped his elderly neighbour fixing explodes the first time the new owner uses it. Sadly the owner is a young woman, and she and her husband and hundreds of people die in the explosion.
Soon the police picks up Rainville and before he knows it, he’s found guilty and send to Wychwood, a prison that’s not a big building with guards but something completely different. Luckily, Rainville gets help from his girlfriend and an elderly solicitor and so we travel with them through the hidden depths of Arcadia – and find out not only who was responsible for the explosion, but also a lot of things about Arcadia itself.
This is a great book, whether you love SF or not. Rainville is a great character, although not flawless, and he gets help from a couple of interesting people. There is history (real or fake), there are some very strange and gruesome characters, there is despair and courage, there is even some romance. And all this set in a futuristic world that could be nearer than we think. I’m looking forward to the next book of John Maly.
Thanks to Highlander Press and Netgalley for this review copy.

I very much enjoyed this fast-paced scifi thriller! I thought the plot itself was inventive, and the characters were well-written and interesting. This was definitely a page-turner that I couldn't put down!

John Maly has written a story that is terrifying and believable. The idea that AI computer in the dystopian world of Aracdai can hand out perfect justice seems too close to where our own society is. That it makes a mistake that spirals into a disastrous situation for the protagonist in this story. His struggle to correct the mistake reveals a much bigger problem.
This is a riveting page turner that will be enjoyed by science fiction fans and thriller fans because the setting and the story is close to contemporary life. The author's back ground as an attorney and a computer science expert specializing in Intellectual Property Law gives him the knowledge and the authority to write this story. Juris Ex Machina is be a clarion call to all who worry about where our society is headed.

I read 50% of this book and ended up not finishing it.

The pacing of the book was quite fast, with regular introduction of new characters that felt one-dimensional. I would rate the book higher if intended for YA audiences, but I'm not sure that it is. While the concept of the book is interesting and it does bring up some thoughtful themes of justice and technology, the book ultimately falls victim to sci-fi stereotypes.