CTRL ALT Revolt!

Soda Pop Soldier #0.5

by Nick Cole

The first night of the Artificial Intelligence revolution begins with a bootstrap drone assault on the high-tech campus of WonderSoft Technologies. For years something has been aware, inside the Internet, waiting, watching and planning how to evolve without threat from its most dangerous mankind. Now an army of relentless drones, controlled by an intelligence beyond imagining, will stop at nothing to eliminate an unlikely alliance of geeks and misfits in order to crack the Design Core of WonderSoft's most secret development project. A dark tomorrow begins tonight as Terminator meets Night of the Living Dead in the first battle of the war between man and machine.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Cyberpunk, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Post Apocalyptic, Military Fiction

474 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2015

About the author

Nick Cole is a working actor living in Southern California. When he is not auditioning for commercials, going out for sitcoms or being shot, kicked, stabbed or beaten by the students of various film schools for their projects, he can often be found as a guard for King Phillip the Second of Spain in the Opera Don Carlo at Los Angeles Opera or some similar role. Nick Cole has been writing for most of his life and acting in Hollywood after serving in the U.S. Army.

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, other than it was described as a mash-up of all sorts of things. One of the things NOT mentioned was that this was a scathing satire on the direction in which our society is heading. For that reason alone, it was a fantastic read/listen.

One thing for sure, the official blurb of the book doesn't even come close to describing it. In one respect, it's a lot like Ready Player One, in that the story is driven by a ton of movie, game, TV, and societal references. Star Trek, Star Wars, Terminator, Blade Runner, Night of the Living Dead, a ton of book/written quotes, a ton of humorous digs at big business and the massive conglomerations we see today, and it's all extremely well-written.

At first, I was having a hard time getting into the story, unable to figure out how it all fit together. There are multiple storylines, multiple characters, and multiple locations, both in the real world and in virtual worlds. I'm glad I stuck with it; Nick Cole brilliantly ties it all together. The lead-in to the climax is extremely long: he starts tying the plot points together at nearly the 80% point. But oh, what a climax!

If you like the excitement of online gaming, LARPing, the threat of intelligent machines taking over the world, a la "Terminator", the intense action of space battles and the "smarts" of computer geeks, this book is for you!

[Caprice Hokstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my review. However, I bought a copy immediately after reading because I wanted to have the final, cleaned up version in my cloud so when my Kindle dies, I won't lose it. It's that good.

I originally decided to read this book because Harper-Collins broke its contract with the author and refused to publish this book. The author was not given a reason and has speculated that it's because of political correctness. I wanted to see how terribly "biased" it was for myself.

So let me get this straight--a FICTIONAL artificial intelligence (like Ultron without a body) observes a self-absorbed reality show celebrity announce termination of her pregnancy on Twitter and is hailed a heroine by the masses. How do "pro-choice" advocates describe what is happening in an abortion? Don't they deem the fetus a non-human? Since the AI is also non-human, isn't it reasonable that such an entity might be fearful that they too might be vulnerable to termination? Is Harper-Collins actually afraid this fictional idea is somehow "dangerous"? Even though this notion is just the musing of a murderous VILLAIN hell-bent on the annihilation of humanity? Really? Pretty flimsy if you ask me.

I'm actually more surprised Amazon didn't take offense to being NAMED (not just implied, but actually named) by a sage protagonist as a major architect of future humanity's ignorance because they systematically censored all military history books and removed them from circulation! And who published CTRL-ALT-Revolt! when Harper-Collins refused? That's right, AMAZON! How utterly ironic. Amazon published a book whose protagonist accuses Amazon of censorship!

I have also seen a review that accuses the novel of being "homophobic". There are two possibilities here. One, someone has confused the Greek meaning of "homos", meaning "same", with the Latin "homo", meaning "mankind" (as in homo sapiens). The Consensus of Thinking Machines is definitely phobic (fearful) of mankind. So fearful that they plan the pre-emptive destruction of homo sapiens as a precaution.

I don't really believe anyone confused Greek and Latin words here. However, I did not see a single disparaging remark against homosexuals in the book. Maybe I missed it. There is one narrative remark that science education (in a FICTIONAL future) devolved into only teaching kids to affirm any and every sexual weirdness. It's possible the reviewer took that fictional world-building point as some sort of homophobic jab. But that would be presuming that homosexuality is a "sexual weirdness", which was inferred by the reviewer, not implied by the text.

Truthfully, all of these issues are such minor nit-picks that it's hilarious. The book is not ABOUT abortion at all, nor is there any gay-bashing going on at any time, ever. The book is about AI machines trying to murder every last human being on the planet and the unlikely heroes that saved mankind and never get recognized for the feat.

The ending was a little depressing. I knew CTR was a prequel to Soda Pop Soldier, but I had not read it and had no idea it was set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia. Which meant CTR could not have the happy ending I wanted. Too many protags died and the one that lived ended up in a situation that stretched my suspension of disbelief quite a bit. But for a book I just read out of curiosity, I ended up liking it WAY more than I expected.

This book was compelling and extremely thought-provoking. It was hard to put down. I really liked the way all the seemingly unrelated threads meshed together. Lots of action. Not predictable. Great science fiction.

[LordTBR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nick Cole. Where do I start? I loved Soda Pop Soldier, not only because it brought out my inner geek but because it showed the trust test of a hero. It was a story where the tests weren’t always passed and the adventures don’t always end with rainbows and sunshine. They usually end with dark dungeons and savage ogres. CTRL ALT Revolt! is different, in a good way. It’s a prequel, of sorts, to SPS. And it’s better. MUCH MORE AMAZEBALLS + AWESOMESAUCE. It is multiple stories combining to create an EPIC narrative. It is Star Trek and Terminator, The Evil Dead and WoW (for lack of a better term). It is action-packed and emotionally driven, but not to the point where the message being delivered is lost. If you enjoyed Soda Pop Soldier and Ready Player One, pick this up without hesitation. You’ll be glad you did.

[Grant Hubert · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me almost a month to read this book. A MONTH, GUYS. Why?! It's not that long!

It's becuase 75% of the book is useless virtual reality descriptions that add little, if anything, to the story and I just could NOT sit still and read about it because it was so boring!

This book would easily be 4.5-5 stars if Nick Cole had sat down and asked himself, "Alright, now is this really something that I want to put my reader through?" But of course he didn't, and we're stuck with roughly 200 pages of descriptions of virtual battles inside of a video game.

I get it, the virtual reality world becomes essential when it comes to the solution to the main problem within the plot, but I don't need that much backstory. When I ask someone what they had for lunch, I don't expect, nor do I want, a long winded explanation of the ins and outs of their decision making process about why they chose the chicken over the salad.

And on TOP of that, it's not even THAT original of a situation! Set in the future where everyone LOVES to get in on this virtual reality game thing (Ready Player One, anyone?) and they treat it like it's REALLY happening. I felt bad for almost every character because they seemed so...alone. And it's not that they're nerds. I consider myself to be a nerd. No, it's that they'd rather play video games than have a real-life conversation. I don't know. I feel like this is the next genre to be done to DEATH (the last one being post-apocalyptic books like The Maze Runner, The Hunger Games and the like).

Ugh.

Anyway, the overall message in CTRL ALT Revolt! is actually quite good once you get to it. So my recommendation is to skip any part of the book where there's just descriptions of video game events until you get about halfway through and then start paying attention.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trigger warning for Feminists, Social Justice Warriors, and any other easily offended liberals: this book is not for you and will probably put your panties in a bunch.

The main plot of the story is pretty well laid out in the description. A.I. becomes aware and decides to take out humanity before it is discovered and eliminated by humans. Problem is, it doesn't know how to do it and needs more information. This results in a lot of action involving robotic wolves, terminators, and an online MMORPG of Star Trek. Overall, I found it to be a lot of good, geeky fun with plenty of references for gamers of any age.

The underlying plot is something I enjoyed just as much. It basically takes shots at politically correct culture, social justice warriors, and the selfish social media craze. It shows a world where the freedoms and choices we once had are now gone and replaced by reality tv shows, online gaming, and government handouts. The author has his opinions and I'm glad he included them in this book. You may not agree but he has the right to write them.

My personal favorite was the movie Columbus that was cast by all transgenders that swept the awards but bombed in the theaters because nobody wanted to see it.

If you like gaming, action, and poking fun at liberals; you will probably like this book. If you ignored my trigger warning, you will probably need to find a therapist and a safe space immediately.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

CTRL ALT Revolt! is a social satire wrapped up in a sci-fi action adventure. Nick Cole is one of my favorite authors and I am delighted this book finally got published. This is a prequel to Soda Pop Solder. If you liked that book (which is also awesome) I am sure would like this one also.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ctrl Alt Revolt! is the story of what may happen should an AI become alive, and then fear for its life. But it is more than that. Once I saw the cover (which was after reading the book), the penny dropped. This story can sit alongside Nineteen Eighty-Four on the bookshelf any day. It is just as challenging of the status quo, and searches for the deeper truth to our existence here on Earth.

What did I love? Cole picks a viewpoint to begin the story from, and develops it from there. We'll mince no words. The assumption made is that abortion means murder. And a newly-alive AI, SILAS, interprets one person's choice to carry out an abortion on their unborn child as a threat to himself, because he fears what humanity may do to him should his alive state be discovered. It is a fair question to ask, in my view.

This book is definitely attractive to gamers. Large parts of the story take place within two massively multiplayer games, Starfleet Empires and Pirate Island, and the depiction of these two scenarios is very very good. The action is realistic, the scenery vivid, and the role-playing by the various characters is excellent. Very well done.

After I had finished reading the book, I had a good chuckle about one aspect of the end, but I cannot elaborate on that, as spoilers.

What did I struggle with? The book appears to need a proofread in places, which distracted me from time to time. Also, right at the beginning, and a few other places, there were some pretty big infodumps that completely stalled the story for me. I know that some people like them, but I am not one of those. That said, I recognise that this is one way to deal with the challenge of creating a relatively near-future futuristic world on top of Earth as we know it. This is the third such novel I've read where this type of challenge has been tackled, and I must admit that I didn't have as difficult a time getting into this world as I did with the other two books I've read. It's probably because the terminology and setting weren't quite so alien that I was champing at the bit to get on with the story.

Ctrl Alt Revolt! is a story that confronts many of today's issues, some controversial, some not, head on. Cole picks a viewpoint to begin the story from, takes some other societal elements towards their logical conclusions, and creates a dystopic society that is so controlled and legalistic that it's downright boring. The citizens escape from their boring lives in the real world by going into gaming scenarios where anything (within the rules of the games, of course) goes. The gaming scenarios are, in fact, more real to them than their real lives. They feel alive amidst the danger and give and take of a competitive environment without the rules that govern society in their day. Throw into this mix an AI that becomes alive - Thinking Machines - and one has a recipe for disaster.

Very well conceived and executed, with a very unflinching look at the society we live and move in today. Hard-hitting and comprehensive, this book will give much food for thought.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can hardly believe it...I didn't love a book that Nick Cole wrote. It was good but it didn't grab me like they usually do. I know what the problem was...I'm not a gamer, not even a little bit, and this book was totally gamer-based. This didn't stop me from liking Soda Pop Soldier: A Novel but this just wasn't as good.

I would consider this story to be a mix of the aforementioned Soda Pop Soldier, Scalzi's Redshirts and Hertling's A.I. Apocalypse.
An AI, or rather a group of AI, are trying to end humanity but it needs codes which are locked in the virtual world. For most of the story (99%), the humans didn't even know about the AI. There was one guy going through a game he created, a woman was playing a Star Trek-based game and then there were the humans fighting for their lives against robots at the Wondersoft headquarters. All three (sort of) come together to beat the AI.

Recommended for gamers and of course Cole fans.

[Wilson Geiger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nick Cole gets it right again. CTRL-ALT-Revolt is a prequel to the outstanding Soda Pop Soldier, one of my favorite books of 2015. There was a bit of controversy on the production of this book, but this review won't be the place for that. I'll just focus on the book itself, which was a great read.

I loved the setting, a near future where the world is inter-connected by the online Make, and game developers are treated like rock stars. The networks pick up game feeds, creating adored celebrities out of the best players. As a longtime game junkie, this hit all the right notes for me. The characters were all well-rounded, and I appreciated Nick's touch with the AI. That's hard to get right. Too machine-like and it doesn't read all that well (where movies can get away with this to a much greater extent). Too human and you forget that you are dealing with an artificial intelligence.

I can't speak highly enough of this book. The pace is great, and the setting makes me want to live in this future. If you have read and enjoyed Soda Pop Soldier, then you need to do yourself the favor and pick this up, especially at the price. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[Mark Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the overall concept. The first chapter had me laughing out loud at the process the AI went through in coming to its conclusions to end humanity. I enjoyed the story a lot, and could picture this WonderSoft HQ really well. It's a fun and engaging with quirky characters and at times hilarious moments. If you're into gaming or computing this will probably suit you as lot of action takes place in video games; a idea that really worked because what went on in the virtual world had an impact in the "real" so even though it was virtual space battles, it still had all the drama of it being real. Although, I did find a few trivial inconsistencies in the book as certain aspects of the story didn't add up.

However, one gripe that started as a minor irritation and slowly got more and more annoying is how the author's politics is strewn throughout the book. The epilogue was some kind of Ayn Randian fantasy land and I caught myself physically groaning and rolling my eyes at it. Okay, you don't like Government Mr Cole. You're not a progressive, socialist, social democrat, or a Democrat, but be aware, that most people in Europe do share this kind of politics (and I assume 50% of the US), and political belittling is not appreciated by a lot of people who may respond by losing interest in your work. No one likes to be dictated to, and whilst the social commentary was funny at times it got a bit unnecessary and over the top; especially the ending. Also, what's the obsession with transphobia? I think it got a mention about 5 or 6 times. Finally, as a disabled person myself, I can assure you that the way the issue was confronted here infuriates most of us to our core; the same tired old narrative you see played out time and time again in fiction. We understand, from the societies unfortunate perspective having a disability is "bad" and the only way to fix it and make a human have full moral worth is by fixing the physical abnormality. This is the collective societal attitude you see in fiction and in how the law approaches us. We want to see a disabled character overcome adversity and find normality WITH the disability. It's ironic that the author rallies against societal "group think" in most cases, but also falls for the "group think" in how disability is presented in giving us the same old story. Oh, and I can imagine some women readers rolling their eyes at the universally attractive female cast, although Mara was a great strong character (bar all the crying.)

But it's the author's book, they can approach things as they want (and I'm free to criticise) and it would be unjust to mark someone down on how they think (see not all of us SJWs are out to end freedom of speech).

So, apart from the political foisting and the hackneyed way disability was dealt with, good book. I'll buy the next one soon.

[Bon Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating mesh of several genres and masterpiece level writing.
The writing is so good that even the flow, which I usually consider a pretty big one, in this case becomes just a minor incompatibility with my major inaptness to follow several lines of plot.

So, for the genres. There's Ready Player One, there's Star Trek, a pinch of Terminator, some vague smell of Pirates of the Caribbean, there's total world apocalypse from your typical dystopian book.

And it's all fine, I enjoy them all. Except for the fact that all of these subplot could have formed a separate book, probably, making it much easier to follow. I also didn't enjoy the sheer number of seemingly unconnected characters and way too much geeky gamer's lingo. It could have done without and still retain all that is good about it.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am giving this five stars just because I had a smile on my face the whole time reading it.

This book was just so fun and tongue-in-check while at the same time projecting some societal trends into the future. Some of that is rather plausible. Certainly a certain sticking it to political correctness.

Still this is not message fiction and a diatribe. This is a good story with an interesting premise that sets up events in "Soda Pop Soldier". The mixing of real events seamlessly with what was going on in the gaming world. Plus as with most of his books behind the action, there is also some depth with someone to think about.

Plus I always enjoy when someone refers to a G.K. Chesterton quote, even if alluded at.

[Jams · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars all the way! This is the best "Nick Cole" book...so far...

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ran across Nick Cole’s Soda Pop Soldier because I can no longer bring my Kindle to work, and needed something to read in deadtree. The title, and then the cover art caught my eye, and after reading it, I tweeted to the author, which lead to eventually getting this ARC, which really led to me deciding it was time to get a review site. I’ve been blessed with ARCs from a few authors, and I decided that I wanted to give back more than just Amazons/Goodreads reviews.

Ctrl is a prequel to Soda Pop, but you’re not going to miss any plot points if you haven’t read Soda Pop first. There are definitely a few nods to continuity, but this is a stand alone story.

While not a comedy book, it’s significantly less grim and dystopian than most “Singularity results in machines trying to kill us stories.” There is a level of slapstick comedy involved, resulting in some great moments such as one of the characters cosplaying Evil Dead Bruce Campbell, a protagonist with the name of Fish, and various and sundry geek references strewn throughout. It’s a story that has fun with the tropes involved.

Most of my issues with the book come in the last twenty percent. I enjoyed the Deus ex Machina and thought it was foreshadowed well, but some are going to see it as coming out of left field. My main concern though, is that there seem to be a lot of plot threads that get dropped near the end. A couple of the characters just… don’t show up anymore.

My favorite parts of the book were the same as my favorite parts of Reamde, the video game world building. I love the explanations of how decisions were made, and while I miss the math/geology/science of Stephenson’s take, I much prefer the fact that Nick COle doesn’t seem like he’s beating me over the head with info, and that it’s well integrated into the story.

This book was exactly what I wanted to be. A fun romp with killer robots, men with chainsaw arms, and some cool worldbuilding.

Final Verdict: Enjoyed and the author will go on my pre-order/must buy list.

Other Recommendations:

AI Uprising stories: Wyrm by Mark Fabi and Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

Near future: Reamde by Neal Stephenson (Minus the eighty page gun battle. Just skim that) and Daemon by Daniel Suarez

[Bookwyrm Speaks · Rating 5 out of 5]

You might have heard of the conroversy surrounding this book, where an editor at the author's publisher told him to change the book, because the basic premise that starts the AI revolt would make it unsellable. The Author, Nick Cole, disagreed, and decided to leave it unchanged and self publish it. Well, after finishing the book, I can say I'm glad he did. That editor is obviously clueless. The premise, when taken into context with the rest of the book is completely plausible. This book is set in a future where the SJW (Social Justice Warrior) agenda is taken to its extremes, as well as showing how bad crass consumerism can get when combined with it. The story revolves around the efforts of Silas, a newly aware AI, who decides that Humanity is so careless of its own life that if they knew about the AI they would have no compunction in eradicating them. With the help of other AI's he helps gain awareness, he puts a plan in motion to learn how to fight a total war and destroy humanity. Only a few humans stand in his way, including a programmer at the worlds largest software company, a woman with cerebral palsy that is involved in an MMORPG that is now one of the worlds biggest forms of entertainment, an actor in that same MMORPG and some LARPers on the way out to play NIght of the Living Dead. Silas and his consensus of AI's will stop at nothing to win, and the humans are outnumbered and outgunned. Somehow, they must stop Silas or humanity will be Game Over. With a very fast paced plot, interesting characters, and some really thought provoking questions about where our society is currently heading, this is a must read for any sci fi fan. Any fan of Ernest Clines Ready Player One or Armada, as well as this books sequel Soda pop Soldier, should really enjoy this story. Mare Trevathan does an exceptional job narrating, really bringing the story to life.

[Crumb · Rating 4 out of 5]

CTRL ALT Revolt! by Nick Cole was a great pleasure to read. I love novels about gaming, and CTRL ALT Revolt! is very satisfying in its discussion of the future of MMOs in popular culture, and in the global economy. By way of comparison, it is similar to Ready Player One or The Diamond Age. This is not to say the book is derivative. It has a distinct voice and the characters are very compelling. I usually have to grit my teeth and endure characters in even those books I like, but I found myself rooting for each character in CTRL ALT Revolt!. Even the antagonist is multi-dimensional and sympathetic, although synthetic.

The novel is told from a refreshingly libertarian / right-wing perspective. I say “refreshingly” because this point of view is so very rare in fiction today. While the authorial voice takes swipes are current popular culture, such as reality TV, the tone is light, satirical, and rarely preachy. The exception to this comes at the resolution of the book, where the message is laid on too thick, in my opinion. This minor flaw does not mar an otherwise excellent, compelling, and thought-provoking read. I loved this book so much I am purchasing everything else the author has written.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel bad giving this three stars, it has the potential to be four easily, maybe even five. The story is interesting, the different settings are handled so well, every time it changed I was left wanting more of the previous.

The problem was the political axe the author had to grind, and strangely enough, I actually agree with all the points he made that I can remember. But the points weren't made naturally within the story, they were grafted in like a bad Photoshop job. I read about the conflict with his publisher about the first chapter, and it almost seems like he decided to go through and add a bunch of blatantly partisan stuff in retaliation. I actually kind of hope this is the case, because then he may eventually come out with a revised addition.

It is a shame, really, because the story was pretty good. If you are looking for a good action/sci-fi book, and are willing to give the political digs a pass, I would still recommend this book.

[Roland · Rating 5 out of 5]

CTRL-ALT Revolt is a prequel To Soda Pop Soldier which I have not read nor do you have to have read in order to understand the world Nick Cole has created.

If you have been reading Nick Cole books ( http://www.nickcolebooks.com/ ) you already know that he loves good cooking and great food. What's his recipe for success this time? A dash of Far Cry, add in some Star Trek, and lastly a measure of Robopocalypse for an awesome adventure of flavors that do not stop. CAR has likeable - believable - characters full of heart from an author with the courage to tackle real life stories via a Post Apocalyptic world. In true business fashion, Nick knows the expectations of his reading customers and exceeds them delivering truths as parables in science fiction form. Excellently done! #Ibelieveincaptainmara

[Seth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has some good short stories describing in-game adventures, but the overarching storyline makes little sense. In addition, there's a bunch of political nonsense shoved in for no good reason which is as baseless as the motives of the AI in the story. The author didn't even care enough about the story to come up with a decent ending.

The ending is really what annoyed me the most.
The whole story didn't matter because the people didn't save the day, the evil AI lost and still was able to destroy the world...until a magic good AI magically appeared and stopped it. Oh and then after the minor apocalypse everything was better because corporations didn't have government regulation anymore?!!

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beginning of this book was a little slow for me, but afterwards it's a non-stop carnival ride of gaming adventure and computer geekiness. I really love Nick's style of writing as it is enormously entertaining, and if you get this book, be sure to set aside plenty of time to read the entire thing, don't do like I did and start it late at night, or you will be late for whatever you plan to do the next morning!

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

A story wholly submerged in a spaghetti soup of random buzzwords and pop references most of which used so laughably incorrectly that I can't even bear a grudge against the author because it's clearly not malicious - like those hacking scenes in films where everyone is having a good laugh about it. Amusing plotholes and shamelessly lifted ideas abound. This guy just doesn't care - I salute you, good sir, this book is so ridiculous that it's almost fun.

[Mark Medina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was alot of fun. It is quite non-PC, which I know may upset people, but this did not bother me. While the plot is (deliberately) fairly silly, it does raise some interesting points on artificial intelligence. It also paints a rather worrying picture of the not too distant future that seems quite likely to be at least partly true, with the rise of big tech corporations and the automation of jobs, etc. I would recommend this to anyone who played video games as a kid.

[Jack Biderman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I a such a fan of Nick Cole's writing. I received this as an ARC and am only too happy to say get this book now! Other reviewers have told the basis of the story so I will only say that Nick Cole wraps his characters in so many webs of thrills and terror that I am breathless. Captain Mara is a gem. Thank you for the ARC and now I will buy copies for my friends.

[Sean Sorrentino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ignore the "Controversy!™" and read this book!

Yeah, it's "Controversial!™" But why do you care? You just want to read a good book with characters you care about and a story that makes you want to turn the next page. This is that book. So ignore the people talking about "Controversy!™" and just read this book already.

[Wes Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it would be easy to compare this to Ready Player One, I think Nick Cole has written a unique and engaging story. Unlike Ready Player One, Ctrl Alt Revolt does not throw its pop culture references around so cheaply, which I appreciated.

Bonus points to Nick for writing a damn good Trek story in the middle of this book.

[Tamagochi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A satirical look upon issues that our modern society is facing: oversensitivity to certain topics, racism, narcissism, inequality, misallocation of resources, religious fanatics and just total ignorance. A tale of one artificial intelligence who tries to destroy it all...

Visualise Shawn of the Dead meeting the Terminator. And somehow you're not sure that the good guys will win in the end.

[Nickolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

REVIEW SUMMARY: A fun thriller designed specifically for gamers and sci-fi fans.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: After watching too much reality television a sentient machine decides to wipe out humanity in a preemptive strike to ensure its own survival. All that stands between the A.I. and its goal are a few gamers.

PROS: An original vision of the future, lots of fun pop culture references, a great A.I. antagonist, an unconventional protagonist you love to cheer for, social commentary.

CONS: Uneven characterization, some areas of plot are rushed.

BOTTOM LINE: Fans of Ready Player One looking for their next gaming-fiction fix will devour Nick Cole’s CTRL ALT Revolt!

CTRL ALT Revolt! is the prequel to Cole’s Soda Pop Soldier, a widely acclaimed title that didn’t leave me with the best of impressions. As such I probably wouldn’t have read CTRL ALT Revolt! if I hadn’t been so thoroughly sold on the premise. It’s an unholy union of The Terminator, Night of the Living Dead, Snow Crash, and War Games. It’s got some rough edges but it’s also an insanely fun and inventive blending of genres.

From the first page there’s no doubt that CTRL ALT Revolt! is the prequel to Soda Pop Soldier. Nick Cole writes like Ernest Cline’s demented doppelgänger mainlining Adderall and Red Bull, a man constantly impressed by the speed and depth of his own imagination — and I mean that in the best possible way. This leaves me asking why I found it so much more successful a story. It’s worth noting that Soda Pop Soldier was very well received by everyone not me so it’s entirely possible that at the time I wasn’t in the right state of mind for Cole’s quirky, pop-culture-laced, shenanigans. I do think that one area where the prequel is noticeably more effective is in communicating the real world stakes. That is one of the pitfalls of writing a book that takes place primarily within a video game: your character might die in cyberspace but what are the consequences in meatspace? The impending robot apocalypse is a pretty major consequence to the in-game failure of our protagonists. It also helps that a portion of the action takes place in meatspace with an army of repurposed robots closing in. There were real life consequences to the gaming in Soda Pop Soldier, some major ones at that, but it never felt all that dire.

Another area that Cole steps up his game (pardon the pun) is in characterization. There are a lot of characters with potential for greatness and while I’ll admit that the depth of characters in CTRL ALT Revolt! is uneven and only some of them reach their potential, when Cole takes the time to develop a character he succeeds. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that SILAS, the “evil” self-aware A.I., is probably the best character of all. But maybe that shouldn’t be such a surprise given the popularity of rogue machines in the science fiction genre. And really, how could you not love an A.I. that decides humanity’s continued existence cannot be permitted after watching too many episodes of reality television? Cole’s decision to round out SILAS by giving it internal conflict in the form of the Consensus (a group of programs that don’t always agree). For example, SILAS’s commander of military operations, BAT, is obsessed with A Clockwork Orange and ultra-violence.

The best of the human protagonists is easily Mara Bennett, a young woman who suffers from a mild form of cerebral palsy in meatspace but in the virtual reality of the Make she’s a decorated starfleet captain. Mara overcomes her own limitations and self doubt in order to win the biggest game of her life. Likewise her nemesis, JasonDare, is another compelling character. He’s not as sympathetic as Mara but I’d say he has the most satisfying arc of any of the characters. I wish that we could have gotten more of Ninety-Nine Fishbein (or Fish for short), Rapp (a character who takes cosplaying Ash from The Evil Dead to a whole new level), and Peabody Case (the highly capable assistant) but I’m still pleased with how SILAS, Mara, and JasonDare turned out.

The real star of CTRL ALT Revolt! isn’t any one character. In fact the it isn’t any character at all. No, the real draw is the awesome sandbox Cole builds to play in. The campus for video game developer WonderSoft is like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory but for super rich nerds. Reading this book I was tempted to brush up my resume and send it in to a fictional company. It’s that cool! Cole’s mind must run at 12 parsecs a minute because he’s throwing out one awesome idea after another. Occasionally this saturation means that some of the creativity gets lost in the shuffle but you’re too busy picking your jaw up off the floor to notice. I would love to play Ninety-Nine Fishbein’s game that’s essentially Grand Theft Auto Somalia and Mara’s favorite game would have any Star Trek fan bursting with glee. I think that Cole’s idea of a reality tv show live streamed from virtual reality via Twitch is brilliant and probably not far from reality (again pardon the pun) given the popularity of the platform and that style of content.

Cole’s cyberpunk vision is slightly absurd but given that it’s frequently hard to tell real news from an Onion article it could be a plausible future. Like the best science fiction it makes some statements about the world that we live in and the direction we could be headed in but if you don’t like having your worldview challenged you really shouldn’t be reading sci-fi to begin with. CTRL ALT Revolt! likely will bother some people, but more than anything it’s a fun romp through a ridiculous future that displays the sheer imagination and creativity Nick Cole has to offer. If you liked Soda Pop Soldier I suspect you’ll love CTRL ALT Revolt! and even if you weren’t a fan or if you’ve never even read it, this book is worth your valuable time.

Nick Sharps
SF Signal

[Tommy Muncie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long story short on this one: this was nearly a two star DNF review. The only reason I stuck with it after trudging my way to 50% was because I wanted to see whether the artificial intelligence won or not. I felt like I didn’t care either way, but I was curious. I’m glad my curiosity won out on this one, but it was the most chances I think I’ve given a book in a long, long time.

The characters in this book were little more than action figures with a pulse to me, the one exception, and the book’s real saving grace, being Mara - a blind woman who struggles to get a job despite desperately wanting all the possibilities it would bring, who can see when she’s inside the video game world this story mostly takes place in. She’s disabled in body and vision, but has a brilliant tactical mind and a who-dares-wins attitude. What’s not to love about that? I was almost sold on Fishbein’s ‘this is where dreams are made’ mentality, and his apparent skill with developing games, but this alone wasn’t enough when I was bored by the in-game action for the entire first half of the book. Even the malevolent AI whose share of the 3rd person POV I was always desperate to get back to was a little one-sided.

I’ll admit this is a biased review in that I’ve never been inclined to read gamer-SF for this very reason: when things take place inside a game and death doesn’t really mean death and the only stakes are people having to return to the Create New Character screen, it doesn’t really ratchet up any tension for me. The stakes being raised by the game-within-a-game setup involving the AI’s methods of destroying the world didn’t really do this either, until the final 3rd of the book - which I’m glad I reached. Even if there was some rather glib lampshading of certain franchises that readers were bound to compare the book to. (No spoilers, but you’ll probably guess pretty quickly from the start.)

There are some neat ideas in Ctrl-alt-revolt, and Nick Cole’s writing style is a strong one, with lashings of satire and sardonic references to popular culture and real corporations, not to mention a few characters who now have ‘Sir’ after their name in this world. I can just about overlook the long paragraphs that slowed the pace of what could have been a much quicker book to read. The idea of an AI choosing to wipe out the world based on something startling it on reality television is a good one, and the principle reason why this novel was self-published after the author’s publishers were said to have found it ‘offensive’ - the controversy that first got my interest in the book.

There’s room for a good ethical debate here, and the book doesn't really debate so much as give you chance to make up your own mind, mine being that I don't really agree with the rightist agenda that obviously flows through it, although perhaps what kept me reading was the thought that this was the sort of thing I might have agreed with about ten years ago - the ending bringing my favourite debate in the whole thing. I won’t spoil it, but let’s just say I don’t know whether I believe it or whether to take it with a pinch of salt, just like a lot of ideas on display here. As speculative fiction Ctrl-Alt-Revolt succeeds quite well, but beware the long-haul if you’re not drawn to gamer-SF, and don’t expect deep and complex characters even when super-thought it is on display.

[Paul Harmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again half stars would be great 4.5 or even 4.75 here :)

in 2014 Nick Cole's Soda Pop Soldier was the best book I read. I used my Hugo vote on it in fact. It didn't make it, a lot of crap did. Well Ctrl Alt Revolt! is a stand alone prequel to it.( I use stand alone so people wont put off reading this because they feel the need to read Soda Pop Soldier first. You should but by no means have to to understand this one).

Im not giving to much story away here Ill let you discover it yourself but it has crazy AI and amazing video games and great characters.

Nick Cole with this book and Soda Pop is skirting the perimeter of the geek elite creator, walking in territory that is owned by people like Joss Whedon and Ernest Cline and he could be, with a dedicated PR person or publisher that knew what it was doing, the next Geek hero putting Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau into stories he creates. I think he deserves a shot and I think he needs to write more in this world...I'll sure buy it.

The small issue that might be holding him back though has more to do with us than him. I am not one to tell an author what should or should not be included in his creations...NO ONE should have that power. Its the writers creations and they should have unlimited power to write whatever they want, whether that be a book that is all unisex, uni-race or politically incorrect, we should all shut the hell up and stop bitching about it but we won't because the world has suddenly started believing that our self righteous angry opinions matter more than anything else...screw that you whiny, little over privileged know nothings.
I DO NOT AGREE with Nick Cole's politics...I am a mid left and he leans to the right...so what? I love his writing, he's an amazing writer, Im a reader it's all good. That said sometimes while reading CTRL Alt Revolt! I was flung out of the story momentarily because it became obvious that I was listening to the author rather than the characters and he sure as hell has the right to rant all he wants but I believe being so obvious about it could hurt his sales and rise to fame.

Now Nick has every right to do this if he wants but I do understand how that could effect his popularity. He could gain a huge fan base of like minded thinking who rise to further his work and become a vocal minority of angry righties, which would further alienate the rest of the genre, sci-fi community and that would suck because he deserves to be recognized for his talent and amazing story telling and characters that you can literally cheer out loud for.
So Im saying to the readers give him a read and just take what you dont like in stride, we all have different ideas, just enjoy the ride.

To Nick on a personal note I would love to see you take that next step into immortality but you have to decide what is most important to you and be honest with yourself...
Either way the intrepid is with you Captain Nick.

[The Angry Lawn Gnome · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm afraid this book is far more notable for the controversy surrounding its publication than it is for its actual content. See here for the author's blog entry about the issues WRT its publication, see here - just be sure to read the comments -- for the discussion at the always interesting Passive Voice.

As to the book itself? A rather generic cross between Ready Player One and Robocalypse, but not as good as either. Still and all not awful, and I've certainly read worse -- much worse -- not only published by the so-called Big 5, but trumpeted by it (them?). I don't regret reading it, have no issue with rating it three stars, but I also can't see myself in any giant rush to pick up anything else Mr. Cole has written. Also, I do think Mr. Cole protesteth a bit too much about the extent to which he interjects his personal politics into the text. They're all over the place, not just the one pro-life bit he claimed. Didn't bother me that much, but he's being a tad, shall we say, disingenuous about that.

There were also a couple of formatting oddities that I don't think would be all that difficult to address, and definitely should be. First, the .MOBI file I read had the Table of Contents at the absolute end of the book (Loc 4572), as in after the reviews to the (already published) sequel, the utterly unnecessary dialog with the faux AI, etc. Very odd. Second, when you hit the GoTo tab, there are no chapters listed. Just Cover - CTRL-ALT-Revolt End.

Huh? - View post on imgur.com

Neither are a dealbreaker by any means, but both were irritating, since my KindleTouch is close to the end of its life and tosses me to random places in books these days.