this book has so many layers, and i had no idea what was going on and who to trust i loved that though just kept me wanting to read ( )

A 15-yo boy finds himself in a white cube-shaped room. Empty. No doors, windows, furniture. Total silence. Except for a an Alexa-type voice named Alice. Alice responds to the following simple commands: "show me", "what is", "where is", "open", and "close".

At first the boy is in a bit of a panic so he keeps asking questions that Alice is not authorized to answer, such as: "who am I", where am I", and "why am I here". Eventually he calms down and starts giving Alice commands she can follow, such as "Open Google," which opens up a whole world of other command opportunities.

I was sucked in the instant he discovers "Eyestream" and creates himself a username and Gmail account. I wish the author had incorporated more of that into the story, actually.

Random stuff I liked but I won't go into any details as I don't want to spoil the plot or anything:

There are LOTR references.
Driverless smart cars and drones.
Pietercam
Intelligence vs Awareness

Many reviewers had major issues with the last chapter. I was so sleep deprived I realized I was completely zoned out by the end of the book and had to reread the last chapter this morning with fresh eyes and a fresh brain. The last several chapters, actually. They're short. It's a YA book. Anyway, the conclusion of the book made perfect sense to me. Very SciFi and philosophical so it took a few brain cells to process, but yah, I get it. ( )