In a world that seems obsessed with celebrity culture and having a screen as a permanent fixture in your hand like an extra limb, it’s time to put away the phone and pick up a book. And I would recommend one that explores themes of technology, immortality, grief, and celebrity culture – Aaru, by David Meredith.
Aaru is a thrilling and thought-provoking book – a technological fantasy thriller about life after death and immortality. It is the first novel in the Aaru Cycle series aimed at young adult readers (YA).
The story follows 16-year-old Rose Johnson, a young girl who is dying of leukaemia. With no conventional treatments helping her she is offered an experimental treatment by a mysterious man. This procedure sees her uploaded in a digital world called Aaru, where she can live forever in cyberspace.
From Aaru she can still interact with family and friends via computer, ensuring that they effectively never lose a loved one.
When her sister Koren is introduced into Aaru she becomes the face of Aaru to promote the new service. This soon brings Koren unwanted and dangerous attention from a stalker known as Magic Man.
Overall, I found Aaru to be an excellent cyberthriller, one that will definitely appeal to teenage readers. It is a story of family bonds, death, grief, technology, immortality, obsession, amazement and wonder, celebrity and religion. And very relevant today with the rise of AI.
While Rose, Koren and their parents are struggling to deal with their new reality, not everyone agrees with the new technology; some want it banned, while Magic Man wants to use for his own purposes.
Aaru is brilliantly written and expertly brought to life on the page. While the concepts of life after death in a computer world, the ups and downs of celebrity and coping with death were great, Magic Man’s obsession with a 13-year-old girl was a bit creepy but worked well within the story.
Character development was great, not only with the central characters of Rose and Koren but with the board members of Elysian and the Lords and Ladies of Aaru. All were unique and expertly built up throughout the story.
While the story is about life after death, it does also examine the trappings of celebrity, cybersecurity, data protection and living with technology in a digital age, as well as stalking and obsession.
A refreshing read, unique and thrilling and definitely a must read, especially with the rise of AI and cybersecurity seemingly to be constantly in the news lately!
“…Death and the stillness of death are the only things certain and common to all in this future…” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £12.50 (Paperback) / £2.99 (Kindle)
Available to buy from Amazon here.
PUBLICATION DATE:
ISBN:
PRINT LENGTH:
COVER ART: