Tracy’s review of From Here to Eternity by Paige Cuccaro.
Love never dies…but apparently Rachel has.
Waking up to her obituary in the news and no recollection of the past few weeks, Rachel turns to her husband, Nate. He is the inventor of CYANAs–vessels that look exactly like humans and can store a person’s memories…and maybe even the soul. But the answers Nate has are not the answers Rachel wants to hear.
When he arrives home, Rachel doesn’t recognize the man who claims to be her husband. But there’s something about him that tugs at her heartstrings, even as her distrust grows. Can Nate convince Rachel to fall in love with him all over again? Especially once she realizes what he’s done…and what it means for their future?
In a futuristic world with advanced technology Rachel Burns’ husband has created a way to almost completely recreate a human being. When Rachel wakes up one day she knows something’s not right. She can’t quite put her finger on it but she knows that something’s wrong. Using her Connect Wear glasses (which are used to read a web paper and to make phone calls) she finds her own obituary. That freaks her out to be sure. Rachel knows she just needs to talk to her husband and best friend, Nate, as he will have the answers. When she calls her husband though he doesn’t sound like her husband.
When Nate rushes home Rachel is wary of the man. He says he’s her husband Nate but he doesn’t look like the man she remembers, even though she’s not sure she can remember exactly what Nate looks like. When Nate starts to explain things to her Rachel’s not sure she wants to hear what he has to say but she’s doesn’t know what else to do.
Nate, who is this brilliant scientist, has made a robot-like beings called CYANA’s (CYbernetic ANthropoid Automatons) that can look exactly like humans and even have their memories – they have everything of theirs, right down to their DNA. Rachel actually did die and Nate downloaded her memories into a CYANA. Rachel, however, has a real issue with a robot taking over her life. Yes, she feels like herself but she can do things she never had before and that freaks her out. Even before her death she had an issue with the moral ramifications of what he was doing (even though there were no actual working models of the CYANA’s) and now she was a machine. Nate is so happy to have her back but Rachel’s holding back.
Then there’s Nate’s work. He works at a university and technically the equipment he uses belongs to them – which would include Rachel. Not only that but if word got out about her she would be questioned, examined, poked and prodded like a “thing” rather than a human and Nate won’t allow that. He plans to protect her at all costs.
This was a really interesting story. I’ll admit that science isn’t really my thing but thinking about the possibilities and yes, the moral ramifications of the CYANA’s really got my brain moving. I think I might have felt like Rachel did at first – which was to be freaked out that she was dead but yet…alive, kind of. Rachel had to really examine what makes up a human – is it just blood and bones or is it what’s in your mind? Since she had all of her memories what did that make her? IDK – I’m not sure I’d made up my mind by the end of the story.
Besides Nate having to get Rachel to believe that all would be well and that he was who he said he was there were other issues as well. Nate has a huge secret that comes out but I won’t tell you what it is. There was an issue with the CIA and the CYANA’s but that’s kind of an addition to the story that could have been left out, imho. IDK, maybe the author was thinking of future books and it ties in but it just seemed superfluous to me. There was also a nosey reporter that I wanted to kick as he was a bit too nosey.
The story was very short (at just 86 pages) for such an intricate subject but it was good. I liked the characters and setting, the subject and the action. I did feel a bit disappointed in the end as I would have liked to have learned more but it was still pretty satisfying.
Rating: 3.75 out of 5
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place
This book is available from Entangled Publishing. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.
The premise of this sounds fascinating – but the word count and the price are disappointing.