Review of “Another World” by I.M. Stoicus

Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)

Another World is a hard-hitting, spirited dystopian novel by I.M. Stoicus! It is notably and uniquely heavy in Christian subtext and messaging, though it also showcases wisdom from philosophy and other belief systems outside of the Abrahamic faith.

Interestingly, despite its Christian-dystopian subtext, this book is uniquely different from most Christian apocalyptic novels. One way we like to describe it is in having a fresh approach to the genre. Rather than following the exact chronology of Revelations to a T—a rather jaded approach at this point—this book instead chooses to continue the deeply disturbing yet intriguing tale that premably began with Humans' Enhancements (the author's previous book).

This book, like Humans' Enhancements, focuses on how emerging technologies like cybernetics, artificial-intelligence, medical science, and robotics could both help to advance humanity while also catapulting it into a point-of-no-return—a point at which this technology becomes a detriment and a danger to our very existence, especially when it falls into unscrupulous (or devilish) hands.

Another World follows Solon, an “AE human” (artificially-enhanced human), who possesses a combination of cybernetic parts, superhuman physical traits, the ability to speak multiple languages, and—perhaps most unique to him—the ability to rapidly regenerate when wounded. Solon lost much of his physical body whilst shielding a little girl from a blast, an act which demonstrates the heart of gold that Solon carries throughout this book. AE technology has allowed Solon a second chance at life, and he quickly falls in love with his nurse, Mei, who becomes both the love interest and deuteragonist of the novel.

What's quite fascinating is that, though Solon clearly had a Christian upbringing (often quoting scripture and recalling his indoctrination), Mei begins this book as more of an agnostic with a Confucian upbringing more commonly seen in East Asians. This really helps to balance out this book, which is rather heavy-handed, giving us varied perspectives from people who resonate with Solon and Mei like Confucius, Sun Tzu, Musashi Miyamoto, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, and even Bruce Lee. Ultimately, this is a highly philosophical novel from an author who seems to be a very philosophical person, even adopting the name of a Stoic.

The relationship between Solon and Mei, though sometimes cheesy (as romances typically are), effectively forms the heart of this novel. They're a beautiful coupling! Their dedication and commitment to each other is iron-clad. The chemistry is definitely there. It's also nice to see a couple that supports and listens to one another rather than arguing and being at odds constantly (like in other books).

Solon and Mei are joined by a few other protagonists including Hero, a German Shepherd, and Lioness, a cat. There's also Brigadier General Apollo, Solon's boss and best friend/best man, and the eventual president aptly named Major General “Hardcore.” No, we're not kidding, there's actually a “President Hardcore” in this book!

That almost reminds us of the name of Will Smith's character from After Earth: Cypher Raige

So, yes, there's a lot of cheesiness and hokiness to this otherwise-serious book. And we haven't even gotten to the villains and actual conflict yet... Brace yourselves...

So, basically, our heroes are citizens and soldiers of the Federal Republic, which is basically what remains of Judeo-Christian/western civilization, particularly the United States of America. They are in a technologically advanced/cyber/robotic/drone/droid war with literal Satanists (yes, really) who've taken over much of the world and aligned themselves with the Czars, who are basically communists/socialists that are pretty much China and Russia.

And all of this, of course, started because 2020 occurred less than a century earlier resulting in a certain former president (who is unnamed) losing an election and being charged with nearly a hundred crimes after a pandemic and race riots. So, yeah, like we were saying... brace yourselves for the heavy-handed religious and political subtext. If you tend to lean left, this might not be the book for you. However, if you're open-minded or just don't care about this stuff, then you might really enjoy this book.

Moving on with the plot... so, the Satanists aren't just devil-worshiping nut jobs who hate humanity and God (like you might expect), but they are downright, outright CANNIBALS! We're not kidding. These Satanists literally kill and eat people including their own members. They have a particular appetite for babies and children, which may be an thinly-veiled allegory for abortion, but... ehh... who knows?

Oh, and by the way, the two sides can't nuke each other because of mutually-assured destruction, so they compete to build better and more advanced cyborgs and other weapons. It's like the Cold War all over again, only it's a bit more hot.

So, get this... as part of this arms race, the Satanists have been harvesting a previously-undiscovered unobtanium literally called “Satanium” to create “SATANIC androids.” No, we're not making this up. Play along because we're only at the surface.

So this Satanium seems to give these Satanic androids higher cognitive function and processing abilities. It was actually mentioned to be a cure for dementia at one point. However, what the Satanists didn't account for is that by giving their androids more intelligence and the ability to think for themselves, this also opened them up to things like conscientiousness and even compassion.

Oh, and by the way, the good guys call this metal SAVIORIUM because of Jesus and stuff.

Anyway, the villains are a colorful bunch. There's Czar Dolos, the priest of the Satanists, who kinda serves as the most direct threat to the character for much of the book. Then there's Emperor Nergal who is more like a General Grievous-type villain who only strikes when you're weak and runs away like a coward half the time. Next, there's Czar Mephistopheles. Yes, the guy's name is literally the name of the demon from Doctor Faustus. Yeah, this book is both cheesy and has almost no subtly whatsoever.

Anyway, Mephistopheles could be argued to be the main antagonist or villain of the book. He at least seems to be the iron man of the villains.

We haven't even gotten to the spaceship that the Satanists launch themselves into space with... it's literally called the “Satantanic.”

Gosh, so this book is cheesy, lacks all subtly, and yet it's so immensely entertaining. Seriously! Yes, you'll have some laughs about the names and stuff, but the action is good, the romance is good, and the plot isn't too hard to follow. Like, the bad guys are clearly the ones in all-black worshiping Satan and eating children, right?

And Solon and Mei are just the two sweetest, most awesome people imaginable. No kidding. It's really hard to dislike either of them, especially with the way they treat each other, their friends, and their pets. This book firmly had us on their side.

The writing in this book is a bit rough. We're not sure if it's because the author was trying to imitate the way that a computer/robot/cyborg would actually write or if they were just working out the process of writing in general. There are some strange things about the writing. For example, words like SATANIC are capitalized all the time for some reason. We have to keep being reminded that the SATANIC androids who work for the Satanists are SATANIC androids. Words are bolded rather frequently. Now, perhaps the author wanted to emphasize concepts that were important to them, but it kinda made it seem more contrived or even forced. The message was already clear without everything having to be bolded and capitalized.

The last thing we wanted to mention is the message that the good guys send to the Satanic space colony. There had to be a few inside jokes layered in there. It was both badass and hilarious. We couldn't yet but jeer and laugh intermittently. There's something about the good guys saying they're pretty much going to hide lizards and scorpions in your lunchbox so you never want to open your lunchbox... dang, that's gold.

Check it out on Amazon!