I’ll admit I had real trouble with The Six by Mark Alpert. I thought the book was going to be like a younger Ready Player One sorta kinda.
Unfortunately, when I got into the book, I found I didn’t enjoy it very much. The government and the military are performing experiments on teens who are fatal illnesses. The kids will use their brains to become robots. And these robots will help defeat the Soviets. It’s all very artificial intelligence and war gamesy, which, if you’re into, then you will love.
The bit that I absolutely loved about the book is that the main character has muscular dystrophy. I’ve never read anything about muscular dystrophy so I had an opportunity to research the disease which made for a nice side project. The brain still works but the body is unable to cooperate and most patients become unable to walk, feed, or care for themselves.
If you like robots then this is the book for you. There are so many robots and artificial intelligence geekery that you will cheer for flying drones and zooming bombs. Let your geek flag fly high!
Due to the main character’s muscular dystrophy, The Six is a great title for the Diversity Reading Challenge under physical disability. It’s a fast read.
Geeks unite!