HELLSANS BY EVER DUNDAS
£4.50
FROM AMAZON.CO.UK
A dystopian sci-fi thriller about a font sounds like a tough read, but it’s actually the premise of a magnificent novel by Scottish author Ever Dundas. HellSans is the font used by the authoritarian government in all public spaces. It triggers a blissed-out feeling in most citizens, but a minority are allergic to it, forcing them to live in the neglected edges of society in the ghettos. One of these so-called HSAs (HellSans allergic) is Jane Ward, CEO of a company that makes the Inex, a doll-like AI cyborg that everyone owns. The story centres on Ward and Dr Icho Smith, a scientist who’s developed a cure for the allergy, who attempt to bring down the government and cure the HSAs. Split into three parts, the first two parts can be read in any order: one from Ward’s viewpoint, the other from Smith’s. It’s clever, dark and a grim portent of where relying on AI assistants could lead us.
NEXUS BY YUVAL NOAH HARARI