Immortality Bytes by Daniel Lawrence Abrams – Manufacturing eternity

Stu Reigns’ ego, validated by his intermittent showings of brilliance, further fueled by the adoration of his online fans, receives a concentrated injection of positive affirmation following the performance of his AI innovation at a well-regarded tech competition.

However, the absence of one competitor’s entry—his college ex-girlfriend, Roxy Zhang—the only person who, according to Stu, could match or marginally surpass him in a battle of brains—watches from the sidelines instead.

In her company stands religious billionaire/philanthropist Gwendolyn Grantham, her presence automatically triggering Stu’s better senses; Roxy must be up to something, and he wants to find out what.

If the rumours fed to him by hyper-masculine oligarch and fraudster, Chuck Rosti, can be believed, Stu stands a chance of interacting with era-defining technology were he to accept Chuck’s very criminal, and very illegal proposal.

While involved with Maria Gutierrez, he must carefully balance flattery and seduction when interacting with Roxy to determine the authenticity of her revolutionary invention, which could overturn a long-held human belief.

Would adding a hefty weight to Stu’s own bank account be worth the cost of throwing the world into a state of total imbalance, with little to no chance of recovery once the motions of the wheels of time are halted indefinitely?

Spoiler-Free Plot

Stu has always followed the straight and narrow. Up to the present moment, a life of crime has only tempted him from afar.

Yet when faced with the opportunity to clear his and his girlfriend Maria’s debts with a few taps of a screen, with enough payment left over to fund his extended research into artificial intelligence twice over, a little crime doesn’t seem like the worst thing to dabble in. He’d be one and done.

But with a conspirator like Chuck Rosti, that would be easier said than done.

Maria has been keeping secrets from Stu. In between moments spent together in their apartment and mobilising more support for her cause, clandestine meetings and phone calls she would much prefer to keep hidden from her loved ones interrupt the free flow of her daily life.

She wants to bring it up to Stu, has felt compelled to, yet falters at the final moment. She knows he would help her, his newfound wealth backing his frivolous generosity, but her fears keep the truth at bay for one day longer each time.

Roxy Zhang hasn’t needed anyone for a long time. Her pursuit of Gwendolyn Grantham isn’t based on ideological compatibility but on the number of digits in the zealot’s bank account.

There has only ever been one person Roxy has let past her emotional defences: a goofy, desperately sarcastic, and witty Stu Reigns.

Her work has become her only sustained love. Its implementation would change things for everyone, present and future, for generations to come.

All she has to do is get it up and running.

My Take on Immortality Bytes

There is no better place to start than from the very beginning. The prologue sets the stage, presenting a nebulous time period set sometime in the future, where endless leisure has replaced ambition, where the world continues to shrink down to a very small circle of convenience, and robots have taken over most laborious tasks, leaving humans to seek out meaningless hobbies to pass their time.

This, partnered with some of what is revealed in later chapters and in the bonus materials, gives credence to the adage “life imitates art.” The “in-between” period of strife the author refers back to closely mimics the current state of the world, detailing the steep plunge into a worsened existence before gaining entrance to the “NF” period—a “post-scarcity” world in which this story is set.

This comparison shrouds the contents of the book with a pulsating gravity. As we laugh and tense up at the actions of the characters driven by emotion, hubris, and selfishness, we can’t help but feel as if this one snapshot of a future—one that may or may not come to fruition exactly as this fictional tale has been written—is profoundly critical.

In the spirit of full transparency, I was challenged by this story in the beginning. I felt as though the bonus material interrupted my reading, especially with the longer chapters. They felt more like cutaways than featurettes, giving me some mild whiplash each time I returned to the main writing.

Had I been questioned on my opinions after the first five chapters or so, I would have answered that this book simply is not for me. I could see it being other people’s favorite thing, having several people in mind who I would happily recommend it to. Then everything fell into place in a matter of a chapter or two, and I wholly consumed the rest of the story with an intensity that surprised me. I can easily find many inspiring and well-written quotes that will resonate with most people.

Little tidbits here and there give you a glimpse into the author’s thought process at the exact time of writing that part of the story (usually captured in the boxes containing bonus material links and TL;DRs), heaping on even more personality beyond what the characters gave us.

Over time, I came to understand that the bonus material was essential to painting the full picture without overwhelming the main story with excessive background information. I learned a lot as I read—about technology, philosophy, and lived experiences that I might never have been otherwise exposed to.

Loosening whatever resistance I was bound by at the beginning allowed me to embrace the unconventional delivery method purposefully chosen by the author, kicking off my year with a book I ended up enjoying a lot more than I expected to.

This book is a very strong offering of literature, education, and entertainment, making it hard to believe that it is only Mr. Abrams’ debut novel.

Age Rating

16 years and above

Content Warning

Death, Foul Language, Sexual Assault, Sexual Content, Violence.

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