Title: Human.4
Author: Mike A. Lancaster [website] [twitter]
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian
Publisher: Egmont USA
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Parental Advisory: none
Teachable Moments: individuality, free-will, humanity

“I watched in fascination as the characters of that alphabet changed and mutated before my eyes.  I was wondering how it was possible that there could be a language written across the air, and I felt myself taking a step forward,s, towards the silo, against my will, as if my body had suddenly broken through of my mind’s control.”

Summary (from the publisher):
Kyle Straker volunteered to be hypnotized at the annual community talent show, expecting the same old lame amateur acts.  But when he wakes up, his world will never be the same.  Televisions and computers no longer work, but a strange language streams across their screens. Everyone’s behaving oddly.  It’s as if Kyle doesn’t exist.

Is this nightmare a result of the hypnosis?  Will Kyle wake up with a snap of fingers to roars of laughter?  Or is this something much more sinister?

Opinion:

Human.4 is one of those books that’s fairly impossible to write a review for.  Not because of a lack of opinions or even lack of discussion points, it’s just that much of what should be highlighted would give away huge chunks of the plot.  It would ruin the suspense and mystery of what happened to Kyle and the three others who were awakened to a different reality from what they left behind before hypnosis.

Narrated by an unidentified third party the story walked through a small period of time in history.  The outcome of which, it was very clear, had profound impact on humanity.  Though initially it was unclear what that event truly was and where it’s origins stemmed from that was somewhat quickly resolved.

In concept, the plot of the story had a lot of potential.  It posed a series of intriguing questions about where humanity stems from.  Only problem was there wasn’t a lot of depth.  Loads of action but not much time spent on the who, what, where and whys of it all.   The story consisted of movement from one plot point to another that ultimately left me feeling like there was a pretty big opportunity passed over to explore the themes of individuality and free- will.

Though I hesitate to say it for fear of giving anything away I will say that this book had a very Matrix vibe about it.   The characters had no idea what the situation was and were fighting their way around town to figure it out.  There was plenty of action and a fair share of thought provoking scenarios posed.  It is certainly a book worth reading and having discussion around. But again, I’d be misleading you if I said I wasn’t disappointed about how surface level it was.  There wasn’t much in the way of character or plot development or exploration.

Much like Beckett’s Genesis before it Human.4 left me wondering and thinking.  All in all I did find this a book worth reading and would encourage people to do so.  I’d definitely be interested to hear what others thought of it.