“The Six” is an intriguing sci-fi book about Adam Armstrong, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and is nearing his death at 17 years of age. His father, Tom, began working with AI in an effort to be able to save Adam. The book begins when Adam is playing with a virtual reality game he wrote at his father’s office and he is interrupted by someone called ‘Sigma’ who threatens his life. Soon, he learns Sigma is an AI that has gotten out of hand and grown out of control, now threatening human life in general.
Luckily, his father’s work has led to Project Pioneer, which gives dying teens a chance at a future life- in an artificial brain/program with a robotic body. Adam and 5 other teens have signed up for this project, including Zia who seems to have some anger issues, Jenny who has some anxiety issues, and Shannon, who is an optimistic person and someone Adam used to know. We spend a lot of time delving into the technology, moral implications of such an endeavor, and teenage rebellion.
I had some mixed feelings about this book. Aside from Adam, a lot of the other characters seemed one-sided and under-developed. The technology was really awesome and a lot of the theories behind it were explained, which made it seem entirely plausible. There was also an awkward love triangle-type thing that felt out of place amongst the rest of the war training/battles.
We get tidbits of what is going on with Sigma in between chapters of what the Pioneers are up to, and these are pretty interesting, as the AI continues to evolve. I loved the idea and premise, as well as Adam’s character, but I found it to get a little bogged down in places and stretched too thin. I am curious to read more though as I feel like this series has a lot of potential!