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by Joshua Jackob Mejia (Author), God King of the Universe (With), Johny Prayogi (Illustrator)
TO KEEP THIS WORLD FROM DESTROYING HIS SANITY,
IN THE END, HE MUST KEEP HIS SANITYFROM DESTROYING HIM...Beneath the radioactive landscape that was once the Earth's surface, the last of humanity lives in a vast underground city. Eighty years have since passed--society now a horrifying distortion of mankind, controlled by the mindless logic of an all-powerful artificial intelligence known as the Operator.
Within the cold, dark depths of this stratified society, the Narrator, a low-ranking Primary, lives a life of quiet obedience, assigned as a photojournalist for the last surviving newspaper in the city. Under the employment of a charming boss too elusive to trust, he captures the sterile, curated moments the Operator only permits to be recorded: Prisoners' Pacifications, obedience showcases, live torture sessions. But beyond the Operator's periphery, hidden deep within his subliminal, this man is something else: an Unthinker.
The Narrator, a man forced to remain anonymous for fear of being De-psyphered, is at constant odds with his mind, wanting nothing more than to be free.
The last person in his life, his only friend, is long gone--willingly given over to the Operator's rule in exchange for survival. Only in submission can one exist.
Left with no other means of escape, the Narrator secretly records his thoughts into a tape recorder, clinging to the faint hope that someone, someday, might find them. Someone like him. But he knows it won't change anything. Resistance isn't rebellion here--it's ritual.
That is... until they meet.
After a brief, unexpected run in with a mysterious figure from work, he suddenly finds himself in possession of a dangerous artifact--something once dead, once destroyed, now alive? Whether intentional or not, this single moment becomes the catalyst for his awakening, but it doesn't just challenge his world, no. It begins to destroy it.
As the Psi-Ops close in and paranoia grips the city, the Narrator accepts his mission as the artifact's new courier--a perilous task that hurls him into a deadly struggle between reality and delusion, forever altering the course of his life and the lives of those around him. But even as his world begins to collapse, one question remains: Will he fade quietly away like so many before him, forgotten to time... or can a man who's been forced to hide in the dark recesses of his mind his whole life escape this circuit of control once and for all? Just remember:
THE OPERATOR KNOWS EVERYTHING...
What begins with the familiar elements of a classic dystopia--caste systems, surveillance, artificial intelligence--quickly subverts these tropes once the true story is revealed, ambushing readers to the point where they're not sure what to expect; aimlessly bracing for what they can only imagine will happen next.
Readers will liken this book to 1984 by George Orwell, We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and Neuromancer by William Gibson.
