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Noordermeer's impressive debut is mind-expanding anthropological SF... A heady yarn that satisfyingly explores a cave-full of human dilemmas
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KIRKUS REVIEWS
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They invited it in
without asking what it would replace.
Seven years. Countless sacrifices. And now anthropologist Zadie Thornton's doctoral research on humanity's adaptation to AI is already obsolete. With her PhD on the line, she accepts her uncle's mysterious offer to glimpse AI's future. But instead of a cutting-edge lab, she wakes up on another planet.
Mushēski is home to the Anunnaki, descendants of ancient Sumerians who merged AI into their DNA five millennia ago. The result? Superhuman cognition... but at a cost. Their emotions have dulled. Their thoughts have grown uniform. Once convinced they'd reached the pinnacle of evolution, they're now crumbling under a destabilizing disorder called Quantum Psychosis. In search of a cure, the Anunnaki have recreated extinct human species in vast biodomes, hoping to relearn what they've lost.
For Zadie, it's the opportunity of a lifetime. The chance to observe what humanity once was, while living among what her people could become.
But as fascination gives way to unease, and the disorder spreads, noble intentions turn dark. Zadie must confront the true cost of progress and what it really means to be human.
58% Too Far
is a cerebral, emotionally rich, and chillingly plausible exploration of our future evolution where the fusion of AI and humanity leads not to transcendence, but to slow erasure. Perfect for readers who appreciate the speculative urgency of Blake Crouch, the philosophical insight of Ted Chiang, and the haunting emotional resonance of Kazuo Ishiguro.