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Craig Lea Gordon

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ARvekt (Instant Reality Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Craig Lea Gordon (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.1 31 ratings

Book 1 of 1: Instant Reality

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Will the battle for humanity be fought in reality? Or in her mind?

Tannis Ord is a black-ops cyborg assassin. A highly-trained human-weapon, dedicated to hunting down the last of the brain hacking syndicates. There’s just one problem…

Her mind was broken from a psychotic episode. Neural programming erased her trauma, gave her a fresh start. But when an old brain hacker cult resurfaces, and a sentient AI is set to govern the entire human population, she starts seeing things. Horrors that can’t possibly be real… that make no sense… that only she can see. Ix, their AI Guardian, is abducting innocent citizens from the streets in broad daylight. And it’s using the Augmented Reality it has thrown over the world as cover. Is the AI hellbent on humanities destruction? Or is her mind tearing itself apart again?

ARvekt is an explosive story, fusing action and intrigue into a journey full of twists and turns where you won’t know what’s real and what isn’t. If you enjoy books with amazing plots and characters, set in a stunning futuristic world, then input ARvekt into your brain now.

ARvekt is book one of the Instant Reality Series.

Praise for ARvekt

“WOW. This was the most intense and mind-bending story I've read in a long time. I'm still in the process of getting my brain back online; I think it got a little fried while reading. If you enjoy immersion in action-packed cyberpunk future shock, this book is a must read!”

“This, my friends, is Augmented Reality (AR) taken to its full expression, and it is delightful. It's also complex, requires you to pay attention, and remember what you read before in order to stitch together what's happening. Lovely. I'm pretty stingy with 5-star reviews. This book deserves five stars.”

“I can see hints of The Matrix here, but there is sooo much more! This is jam packed with action and intrigue.”

“We are thrust into the action from page one and the action keeps coming again and again till the end. If you enjoy stories where you don’t know what’s true or not, who can you trust and what to believe, ARvekt is a perfect book. The author really messes with you, making you doubt everything and everyone.”

“This book dives right in to a high tech future and doesn't really take a break. Reminiscent of Black Mirror, you explore a world full of constant connection and stimulus where a series of ritualistic brain hacking murders are just the tip of the iceberg. Action packed all the way through.”

“Gordon is particularly adept at action scenes. The action here is militaristic in parts, gloriously choreographed overall, and vividly depicted.”

“I'm glad to see a new appreciation for what I think is a very clever style of storytelling. Here, Gordon is heavy on the military/chase-scene side, describing a complex mythos whose most interesting feature is a layer of augmented reality that's been slapped on the surface of every real thing in the physical world.”

“Don't trust what you see! Yes - cyber tech, cyber war and virtual world: check, check, check! Interesting characters: check. Interesting plot line: check!”

Book 1 of 1

Instant Reality
Print length

324 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

June 12, 2020
File size

1581 KB
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From the Publisher

Semi-Finalist of the SPSFC 2021

Judges say: “ARvekt starts off with a literal bang, a cyberfest of guns and gore. Its grim, bloody look into technology and how it blends with trauma and our concept of reality fascinated me. The worldbuilding is thought-provoking and completely immerses you in a sensorial kaleidoscope. It asks intriguing questions in a world dualized by technology, as it imagines what boundaries it could possibly breach.”

SPSFC Badge for Winner of the Cover Competition

Winner of the SPSFC 2021 Cover Competition

From 300 covers, our Judges narrowed it down to 100, before opening up voting to the public, who over the course of three weeks cast nearly 1,000 votes to choose their favourite. So, without further ado, the 2021 SPSFC 'Best Cover' is ARvekt

ARkvekt is a fantastic novel that is square within the hole of what I consider to be “true cyberpunk.”

ARvekt by Craig Lea Gordon is a kinetic action-filled cyberpunk thriller that I absolutely love.

It is a bit more Ghost in the Shell than William Gibson but I don’t consider that a bad thing. Cyberpunk can be a bunch of crazy borged-out ninjas fighting government conspiracies just as much as it can be dark and skeevy alleyways where people have more implants than food.

ARvekt is a book filled with twists, turns, fake-outs, and illusions. Many times I thought I had a handle on where the book was going, only for it to surprise me by revealing it was going someplace entirely different. I occasionally got lost in the technology and jargon but that helped make the book feel like it was taking place in a wholly different world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Mind. Blown.

I LOVED the main character, Tannis. She's a total badass agent to whom fighting seems to come as naturally as breathing. But something's a little off in her head. Not too long ago, she had a psychotic episode and killed her partner, after which her brain was reprogrammed. Now, she's supposed to be fine, but as Tannis starts seeing things that other people can't see, we're all wondering if she's going insane (again) or if there's something wrong with the reality as we see it. I enjoyed this premise immensely. A cool heroine who's gone psycho in the past? Yes please, tell me more!

The reality in ARvekt is a whole other can of worms. Every human being is connected to augmented reality through brain implants. On first glance the AR seems to simply provide nice effects such as whales swimming in the air, but it's also being used to cover up a whole lot of creepy stuff with the fate of the entire human race at stake. I found myself wondering alongside Tannis what was real and what wasn't. I loved feeling overwhelmed and disoriented by the visuals as I read: it was like a roller coaster ride on acid.

And did I mention there's a ton of breathtaking action?

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B089QXCY9D
Publisher ‏ : ‎ SID Origin (June 12, 2020)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 12, 2020
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1581 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 324 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1838054324

Best Sellers Rank: #700,476 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,269 in Technothrillers (Kindle Store)
- #1,674 in Cyberpunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #2,099 in Conspiracy Thrillers (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 31 ratings

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Craig Lea Gordon

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Craig Lea Gordon fell in love with Science Fiction at a very early age. His earliest memory is of bawling his eyes out on a Saturday morning when a shabby looking robot called Metal Mickey appeared on TV. It wasn't anything to do with the low budget production values, but instead because it had displaced Battle of the Planets, his favourite sci-fi program.

Shortly after he insisted that his parents christen their Ferguson Videostar by recording Battlestar Galactica. From the age of six, a good Christmas was defined by whether or not Star Wars was on TV. At 12 he made his Mum rent him a copy of Robocop, and he has never been the same since. Some say he has a hidden prime directive to create visions of a possible future.

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Gerald Barber

Instant Reality (Book 1)

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2023

Verified Purchase

It was an interesting story with an ending I couldn’t have predicted and made the reading worthwhile. Unexpected to say the least. I’ll be looking forward to seeing the next installment.
I had to finish this book, not to say I couldn’t put it down because I did have to take breaks from the author’s archaic prose. The use of whilst for while and span for spun became tedious. I’m not sure what the author was trying to accomplish there. Aside from one dimensional characters, some missed opportunities to build tension with fight scene/action sequences and some parts where the logic failed to draw me in.

Helpful

Mike Whitfield

Definitely five stars, this book is highly imaginative and flawlessly executed.

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

The author has crafted something that should be somewhat rote and yet is highly impressive. The basic plot takes from virtually every Luddite’s fears, but the particulars are so imaginative, so fresh, and so well-executed as to deny that anyone has ever crafted anything remotely similar to this setting and plot. It’s a somewhat dystopian far future setting where nothing is ever quite what it seems, but when each twist arrives it’s like I knew it all along. I did twig to some of the twists quite early, but that’s not what lends this feeling. It’s simply that each twist is so subtly crafted that when it arrives there’s no jarring sense of surprise, no sense of trickery. Each new twist simply sockets so smoothly into the tale that when X is revealed to be Y, I expected it, needed it. Each new twist so seamlessly fit that it not only made perfect sense, it was suddenly the only possible, internally consistent Truth imaginable.

Thematically I’m much more fond of the near-future, comparatively low tech vision of Tad Williams’ Otherland series, but I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a book quite like this one. The author’s vision of augmented reality makes a very compelling setting for a dystopian horror sci-fi novel because this time, the protagonists are caught in a twisted reality. Same as being stuck in a virtual world but with no possible escape into reality.

Highly, highly recommended.

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Clinton Sites

Don't trust what you see!

Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2020

Verified Purchase

Yes - cyber tech, cyber war and virtual world: check, check, check!
Interesting characters: check.
Interesting plot line: check!

The novel starts out by charting one path through the world (is it real?) through permutations that have you reeling as to where the novel is going or how it's getting there.
It starts out strong and ends up stronger!

By way of disclosure - I received a copy by way of a book giveaway.

Helpful

C.T.

Katana swinging action

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2022

ARVEKT by Craig Lea Gordon is a kinetic action-filled cyberpunk thriller that I absolutely love. If anyone anything about me, they'll know that I am a huge fan of the cyberpunk genre. It is my favorite thing to read and write alongside superhero fiction. However, there's a lot of what I term to be "falsely advertised" cyberpunk that claims to be about the gritty dark dystopian futures of the world with transhumanist themes but is usually just Lit-RPG by another name. There's plenty of good Lit-RPG out there but very little of it is cyberpunk.

I'm pleased to say Arkvekt is the exception to this rule as it is a fantastic novel that is square within the hole of what I consider to be "true cyberpunk." It is a bit more Ghost in the Shell than William Gibson but I don't consider that a bad thing. Cyberpunk can be a bunch of crazy borged-out ninjas fighting government conspiracies just as much as it can be dark and skeevy alleyways where people have more implants than food.

The premise is that Tannis Ord is a young soldier working for a mysterious black ops organization that protects the world from hackers as well as AI cultists and terrorists. It's a brutal business and Tannis has a history of mental illness that has seemingly not stood in her way of continuing to serve as their assassin. Apparently, the Director just thinks they can erase the trauma and related issues with a wave of their hand.
Something is rotten in the state of the future, though, and Tannis can't help but question her reality. In what is probably a nod to The Matrix but actually the more practical Augmented Reality, she struggles with seeing things that are not there as well as gaps in her memory. It could be related to her previous breakdowns or it might be her mind rebelling against the reality that she has been presented.

Tannis is not the only character, though, and there's multiple other interesting individuals trying to deal with the sense that things are not as they seem. My favorite is a Senator for the world government that is absolutely hell bent against giving the control of the world to the mysterious Ix that already runs the vast majority of the world's functions. Indeed, I like that he's as perplexed as anyone as to why so many people want to do it in the first place.

Arvekt is a book filled with twists, turns, fake-outs, and illusions. Many times I thought I had a handle on where the book was going, only for it to surprise me by revealing it was going someplace entirely different. I occasionally got lost in the technology and jargon but that helped make the book feel like it was taking place in a wholly different world. The story beats were also good and resolved themselves in a satisfying faction.

As an example of "true" cyberpunk, I feel this is definitely more on the anime side of things versus the noir but that's not a bad thing. It's full of interesting concepts ranging from spirituality to the Singularity that get tossed into a blender of katana-swinging action. If that sounds like something you'd enjoy then this is the book for you.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Ben Roberts

Amazing cyberpunk!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 6, 2022

Verified Purchase

Action-heavy cyberpunk with a healthy dash of reality-warping PKD sauce. Comparisons to the Matrix are understandable given the machine-gun-cartwheel and bullet-time references in the opening scene, but I think it's more the case that ARvekt and the Matrix share common ancestors - specifically Neuromancer and Ghost in the Shell. Gordon delivers on his cyberpunk promises - lots of glowy things, lots of detailed military tech, lots of brain crashes. And all the action is centred around a twisty political conspiracy that provides plenty of mystery to drive the story forward. If you enjoyed playing Deus Ex or Cyberpunk 2077 and you fancy getting punched in the mouth by their roided-out cousin, this is a fantastic place to start.

Alex James

ARvekt was a treasured experience

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

The main character, Tannis
From the first book in this series to this book, as soon as we’re introduced to new character Tannis, I wasn’t as interested since I felt she hadn’t been introduced properly, but it later became clear she was an action-first–personality-later type of character with a troubled past – and mental state – and that later made sense to me. The prose is a lot to take in – you feel like you’re plugged in – but it’s clear Tannis is a futuristic cop rooting out a group of criminal hackers who hack people’s brains, of all things. She works for some secret department and takes orders from an AI called Ix, a colour shifting entity whose voice changes gender but we remember her best as female.

There is more than meets the eye, as you could have guessed. Is reality real? Is Tannis psychotic or is she being fed lies? Is there really a conspiracy or is it in her head? Why does she keep blacking out? Why does she sense that what she’s seeing just doesn’t make sense? I liked these questions posed as they gave the story more depth, but what really gave it depth were the descriptions, making you feel you’re in a 3D world not dissimilar from the movie Alita or the series Ghost in the Shell.

‘Like a bright roll of silk thrown in the distance. Giant lily pads floated on its surface … thousands of them constantly ascending into the night sky.’

‘The last vestiges of the weapon platform jutting out of the top of the Thames, its rusting form a stark reminder of how close they came to losing that day.’

Ix, the AI
So, there is this AI called Ix that appears benevolent and all knowing at first, perhaps like that model of Alexa you have at home! Not too many chapters in we learn she’s demanding more powers. As soon as the reader knows of this, we suspect we’re up for a power grabbing experience or a conspiracy on a huge scale and the author makes no secret of this. Keep reading, I implore you! It was easy for me to assume how it was going to end …

Criticism
Sometimes I lost sight of where the character was in relation to other objects or situations. Sometimes all the action happened too quickly.

Overall
ARvekt wasn’t too convoluted or derivative as some works in this genre are. You read it having felt like it was unique in its own right, and it does twist the genre in different ways. It felt like a complex multi-coloured video game and to say the story had colour is no understatement: the scenes were vivid and I remember many of them now, a month after reading. ARvekt was a treasured experience and I recommend readers give it that go, which you won’t regret (unless you’re miserable?).

JMac

An amazing and mind blowing story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

Wow! Right from the moment you open onto the first page, one is overcome with a mindbending kaleidoscope of amazing images. I was totally absorbed into a dystopian future world where the computer rules. What is the true reality in amongst a tsunami of strange and deceptive images. Tannis is a warrior fighting to stop the enemy from destroying the world around her. But who is the real enemy? I loved this book. It is truly a brilliant work and so different from the average science fiction novel. Just as one thinks that they have worked out the plot there is a surprising twist to the story. Then right at the end of the book, one is brought to another twist that utterly amazed me. This is science fiction at it's best and I can't wait to read another of Gordon's creations.

PA Reay

Captivating Sci Fi thriller

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 13, 2020

Verified Purchase

The world of augmented and virtual reality is dystopian and shockingly plausible, but rarely feels grim. A real page turner, fast paced and exciting, with a great mix of Sci Fi thriller and action. Surprising to the very end. I very much look forward to reading more from this series, and I'm not particularly a Sci Fi or cyberpunk reader.

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ARvekt (Instant Reality Book 1) Kindle Edition