Review: Human.4

Human.4
by Mike A. Lancaster (Blog | Facebook | Twitter)

Series: Point 4, #1
Published: March 8th, 2011 by Egmont
Pages: 272 (Paperback)
Genre: Sci-Fi
Source: Bought

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It's a brave new world.

'My name is Kyle Straker. And I don't exist anymore.' So begins the story of Kyle Straker, recorded on to old audio tapes. You might think these tapes are a hoax. But perhaps they contain the history of a past world. If what the tapes say are true, it means that everything we think we know is a lie. 

And if everything we know is a lie does that mean that we are, too?

Human.4 (also titled 0.4) has become one of my favorite books. It's one of those stories that, when you finish that last page and set the book down, you think "Holy crap. What if this is real?" My mouth was literally hanging open for a large portion of the novel.
There was NOTHING about this book that I didn't like. It was just perfect. There was very little romance (all the lines relating to it maybe fill up two pages) and that was completely fine with me. With most books I look forward to the love connection, but honestly, if it was more prevalent I think it would have taken away from the story. Human.4 was basically a transcript of the tapes Kyle left, describing the events as he remembered. I thought that concept was pretty cool. It's different.

Lancaster's writing, while not extraordinary, fit the premise well, and his voice was perfectly tuned to these characters. His style is very simple and to the point, but it was mixed in with notes and anecdotes from the people studying Kyle's tapes in the future/present. He was able to write Kyle's verbal recollections in a way that sounded like a confused and scared teenager. Because Kyle's story was recorded on cassette tapes, the beginnings and endings to each one are lost, leaving the reader guessing as to what happened in during those brief, empty minutes. Also, the style makes it easy to connect with the characters especially through their fear and uncertainty.

When I finished the novel, I was so happy that Bill had read it right before me, because I couldn't stop talking about all the "what ifs" it left me with. What if certain nuances of our lives, like seeing something out of the corner of your eye but there being nothing there, were actually because of the events Kyle described? Human.4 is such a short book but damn does it mess with your mind. I could not believe the book. Honestly it's some Inception status shiz... maybe not that intense but it's still really good. :P

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Pick this one up right now if you haven't already read it. It definitely deserves more hype than it has received. I recommend this for EVERYONE.

Other Titles in the Series: 
Book 2, The Future We Left Behind or 1.4, is set to release in November 13th, 2012.