Harare Review of Books

392 pages.

First published in Aug 2021.

Finished reading on 8 Nov 2021.

Genre: Science Fiction/Speculative Fiction.

Supplied blurb: Math is perfect; people are not.

The year is 2100. The lack of trust that characterized the early Internet era is long behind us. Mathematical proof ensures neural implants can’t be hacked, and the Board of Reality Overseers blocks false information from spreading.

When undergraduate Sergei Kraev, who dreams of becoming a professor, is accepted into the Technion’s computer science graduate program, he throws himself into his research project: making it possible for neural implants to transmit information directly to the brain. If he succeeds, he’ll earn a full professorship.

But Sergei falls under the influence of Sunny Kim, the beautiful and charismatic leader of a K-pop dance cult. Sergei believes in Sunny’s good intentions and wants to protect her from critics, leading him to perform a feat of engineering that leaves billions of brains vulnerable to attack.

With the clock ticking towards catastrophe, can Sergei see the truth about Sunny and undo what he’s done?

Weaving together compelling characters and spanning decades and continents, The Insecure Mind of Sergei Kraev is a classic tale of love, ambition, and self-interest building to a shattering finish.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Liu Book Group for this eARC.

Astonished by how much I enjoyed this book, because I read a couple of pages and then put it down, thinking about how YA it was, and definitely not feeling it. (Those early chapters 😬) But, as it turns out, this is a well-constructed, dense, what if. What if humans had brain implants? (Not so farfetched anymore.) And what if those implants were hackable?

There’s — unexpectedly — rather a lot of math in this book, but don’t let that put you off. A lot of it goes towards explaining why the crisis happens. Also some pretty high-concept thinking required, but, again, I think the story is good enough for most people to get past that.

That aside, this is also an interesting story about humans, motivation, greed, and relationships. It’s also, mercifully, refreshingly, not set in the “West,” with most of the action taking place in Israel, Singapore, and a unified Korea. There’s also a really strange cult (yes, yes, by definition, cults are strange, but this is a really bizarre one), which subplot I found a bit discordant; but I guess it all makes sense in the end. (No, I’m not fully persuaded on this.)

High points: Lots of science. Wonderful world-building — this is quite a plausible future. Well-developed characters. An excellent story.

Low points: That initial YA feel nearly put me off the book. The supplied cult just doesn’t jive with the alleged motivation for what happens.

Definitely recommend for people who like future fiction, and thinking about what would happen if we were even more connected.

Rated: 8/10.