Simon West-Bulford's debut novel, THE SOUL CONSORTIUM,
combines science fiction, thrilling action, and
historical overtones. In the far distant future, humanity
has gained immortality, making death meaningless. All of
mankind except for Salem Ben has terminated themselves
because of boredom, but Salem doesn't want to pull the plug
until he finds out if there is something that comes after
death.
Part of what staved off boredom for so long is the ability
to live the lives of those who have already died. Once a
person dies, his "soul" is captured into a box in the soul
consortium, a laboratory—if you will—somewhere in space.
When going through the options to determine whose life he
will live next, Qod, the AI that runs the consortium,
mentions a category called aberrations. Ben thinks he might
be able to learn something about "what comes next" from re-
living the life of an aberration. He selects four
aberrations with vastly different life experiences for his
experiment.
He learns of a dangerous being that should not exist called
Keitus Vieta after he lives the life of the first
aberration. Salem learns that the number of aberrations has
increased and that he must stop Keitus Vieta before he
infects the entire soul consortium.
Simon West-Bulford takes the reader on a journey filled
with horrors as Salem lives different lives trying to
understand who or what Keitus Vieta is and how to stop him.
From 20th century Britain to 16th century Italy to two
different locations in space, Salem tracks the entity.
In many ways I think THE SOULD CONSORTIUM tries to o too
much. The lives of the four individuals explored by Ben are
fascinating as is the mystery with Keitus Vieta. But the
book started to lose me with the life of the fourth
aberration, the woman who created the soul consortium. The
author began using more and more scientific terms that I
didn't understand and that weren't fully explained. While
the gist of the story comes through, I don't like missing
out on potentially important details.
The book's scope is
large as West tries to blend philosophy, murder mystery,
science fiction and psychology, but in the end, I think he
tried to do too much rather than pick one or two points and
develop them to the fullest. Not to say, I won't try
another of his novels. Also, this book needs to almost be
read straight through. I had to start it three times before
I finished it.
In a future so distant that time is almost without meaning,
death is defeated and immortality has been made reality
through instantaneous cloning and synaptic transfer.
Mankind, frustrated by the futility of timeless existence,
chooses extinction. All but one man. Far removed from the
known universe with only one companion, an AI named Qod,
Salem Ben watches the cosmos from afar and relives the
digitally reproduced lives of countless souls archived in
the Soul Consortium by means of a neuroimmersive device. He
hopes to discover the answer to the ultimate question: What
lies beyond? But at the birth of the next universe,
billions of years before the pattern of life repeats its
design, Salem's quest takes a disturbing turn.
Unexplained aberrations appear among the digital souls. To
hunt down their source and to continue his search for
evidence of life after death, Salem endures four very
different lives: Orson Roth, a serial killer in 20th-
century Britain; Dominique Mancini, a spiritual medium from
16th-century Lombardy; Plantagenet Soome, a monk sent to
the distant Castor's World; and Queen Oluvia Wade, the
creator of the Soul Consortium. As the mystery unfolds,
Salem is confronted by a malevolent entity which threatens
the future of humanity before it can begin again - and only
Salem stands in the way of it breaking free.
Excerpt
My body will go on and on, but who lives within this
flesh? Am I losing perspective to such a
degree that I’m prepared to become a monster to find my
answer? And perhaps it is even worse.
Was it really the answer I was interested in, or was it the
fascination of becoming a killer? This is why Qod
warned
me about being Orson Roth. Not because of who he
was but because my
choice might force me to face who I have become.
The hiss of hydraulic locks snap me from my
musings, and my hands and feet are freed.
Cables lower me gently to the floor, and I’m
grateful for the warm breeze against my face, as
though somehow I had been aware of the stale
atmosphere gradually building inside the
W.O.O.M. through all the years of my immersion.
“Would you like to go to the Observation Sphere?” Qod asks.
“Not much has changed in forty
six years, but I know how it helps you think.”
All I do is nod when the cables slide away. The metallic flo
or sticks to my feet as I head for the
exit of the Aberration Sphere, and at last I’m me
again, but I will never be able to forget the
murders I committed inside that man’s life. Even without my
enhanced synapses, those bloody
memories will leave a permanent stain. Zachary Cox’s glassy
gaze imprinting on my brain, Orson
Roth’s syringe in my hand, the stench of formaldehyde burnin
g my sinuses.
I stop, and my heart skips a beat. I can’t leave,
not yet. I came into this new sphere for a
reason, and Orson Roth had no answers for me. All around in
every alcove, a tiny light glitters—
each one a soul containing some sort of aberration. But what
are these aberrations? I have my
suspicions, and I have a lead, but the thought of where that
investigation may take me brings a
shudder of trepidation.
“Qod?”
“Yes?”
“I need you to locate another soul for me. His name is Keitu
s Vieta.”
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