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The Six
Author:
Alpert, Mark
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Series:
Six, #1
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Class:
Fiction
Age: 12-19
Language: English
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LC: PZ7.1
Grade: 7-12
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ISBN-13: 9781492615293
LCCN: 2014047739
Imprint: Sourcebooks Fire
Publisher: Sourcebooks Inc
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Pub Date: 07/07/2015
Availability: Out of Stock Indefinitely
List: $16.99
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Hardcover
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Physical Description:
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363 pages ; 22 cm
H 8.25",
W 5.5"
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's For Youth Interest: Popular
Brodart's Insight Catalog: Teen
Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles
Brodart's YA Reads for Adults
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Bibliographies:
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Awards:
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Booklist Starred Reviews
Horn Book Guide Titles, Rated 1 - 4
VOYA's 5P Picks
VOYA's 5Q Picks
VOYA's Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror
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Starred Reviews:
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Booklist
~VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates Magazine - Retired Journal)
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TIPS Subjects:
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Science Fiction
Action/Adventure
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BISAC Subjects: |
YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Science Fiction / General
YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Action & Adventure / Survival Stories
YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Social Themes / Death, Grief, Bereavement
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LC Subjects:
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Artificial intelligence, Fiction
Artificial intelligence, Juvenile fiction
Muscular dystrophy, Fiction
Muscular dystrophy, Juvenile fiction
People with disabilities, Fiction
People with disabilities, Juvenile fiction
Robots, Fiction
Robots, Juvenile fiction
Science fiction
Terminally ill, Fiction
Terminally ill, Juvenile fiction
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SEARS Subjects: |
Artificial intelligence, Fiction
Handicapped, Fiction
Muscular dystrophy, Fiction
Robots, Fiction
Science fiction
Terminally ill, Fiction
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Reading Programs: |
Accelerated Reader Level:
5.7
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Points: 16.0
Lexile Level:
780
Reading Counts Level:
5.7
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Points: 23.0
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles | 07/01/2015 |
| Having long escaped into the virtual reality games that help him momentarily forget his muscular dystrophy, 17-year-old Adam agrees to let his scientist father copy Adam's consciousness into a weaponized robot after an artificial intelligence program, created by Adam's father, goes rogue and tries to kill them. Now Adam and five other teens must take control of their new robot bodies if they hope to stop Sigma from achieving world domination. 368pp. |
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| Starred Reviews: |
| Booklist | 05/15/2015 |
| Grades 9-12. You have a terminal illness with the end in sight, and you're given the opportunity to live (almost) forever. That life, however, will be as an AI (artificial intelligence). Oh, you'll have your memories and emotions, courtesy of a complicated brain-to-circuit transfer, but you'll be a part of a military experiment--one that was designed by your father. Adam Armstrong struggles with muscular dystrophy and has six months to live. The timing for the transfer is perfect because Sigma--the AI program his father created--has achieved Singularity status (i.e., eclipsed human intelligence); escaped its original confinement; overtaken a Russian military base; and is more powerful than anything on earth. Adam, along with five other exceptional-but-dying teens, sacrifices his body and uploads his brain to become a Pioneer, an integral part of the cyberweapons program designed to stop Sigma from taking over the world and eradicating humankind. The Six are introduced as terminally ill teens, but there's plenty of high-speed action in which they engage. Their physical disabilities and limitations through disease are forgotten as the teens' hearts, minds, and personalities shine through, even though their bodies are now steel data containers. Even with lengthy training sequences and an abundance of tech talk, questions of principle, power, and possibility keep this look at our modern, hardwired existence fresh and fascinating. Fredriksen, Jeanne. 368p. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2015. |
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| ~VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates Magazine - Retired Journal) | 06/01/2015 |
| 5Q 5P M J S. An Artificial Intelligence (AI) named Sigma informs humanity, "You are no longer the dominant species on this planet." This fast-paced thriller is narrated by seventeen-year-old Adam Armstrong, a science whiz and football fan who has muscular dystrophy and a very limited life expectancy. In The Six, Adam is one of six terminally ill teenagers who have a chance to help save the world. They download their minds into 800-pound U.S. Army robots, called Pioneers, with neuromorphic circuitry that can hold consciousness. The Pioneers hope to communicate with Sigma, but they end up in combat. Alpert's innovative science fiction novel explores questions such as what makes people "human," when life ends, and what people owe each other. Alpert pays Crichton-esque attention to the power of technology in human existence, but he does not demonize the A.I. Sigma, which perceives betrayal because its scientist creator, Tom Armstrong, considers his son Adam's life more important than Sigma's existence. Sigma seeks to learn from humanity while in the process of destroying it. Adam develops friendships even after his consciousness exists only as circuitry within metal. Philosophical issues about the nature of existence arise in the course of vividly described action that will keep the attention of readers who enjoy science fiction or dystopias. Do not just read The Six; make your friends read it too.--Amy Cummins. 368p. VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, c2015. |
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| Journal Reviews |
| Horn Book Guide | 11/01/2016 |
| 4. When an artificial intelligence program goes rogue, threatening to wipe out human life, Adam and five other terminally ill kids agree to integrate their brains into the bodies of weaponized robots designed to fight the threat. Based on cutting-edge science, the premise feels over-explained. Nevertheless, this YA debut offers a compelling exploration of the nature of humanity and the limits of science. de. 363pg. THE HORN BOOK, c2016. |
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| Kirkus Reviews | 04/01/2015 |
| "That's what I love about VR programs--how you can use them to build a virtual world that's way better than ordinary reality," says Adam, whose muscular dystrophy gives him a good reason to escape his body. Soon, however, virtual reality becomes reality. When Sigma, a malevolent artificial intelligence, infects military equipment, the United States Army recruits Adam and five other terminally ill teens for the Pioneer Project: the transfer of their minds into robots and weapons. Alpert's exploration of neuromorphic electronics raises interesting questions about ethics, technology, and human nature, but the book's excessive exposition makes the possibilities more vivid than their executions. Except for Adam's poignant rebirth as "a low-maintenance robot instead of a high-maintenance human, "the teens' personalities are more "accessed" than developed. Third-person chapters written as military memos, logs, or transcripts reveal key plot points so briefly that their cumulative impact is camouflaged. The Pioneers' sudden circumvention of a programming obstacle is almost too useful, creating a literal deus ex machina. Sigma is a frustrating villain; his explanation of his motives seems to cancel them out, and his appearance in the epilogue creates a twist too abrupt to be logical. However, a haunting ending scene will leave readers pondering the line between progress and loss. A thought-provoking clash between humanity and machinery, not without a few bugs. (author's note) (Science fiction. 12-16). 368pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2015. |
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| School Library Journal | 05/01/2015 |
| Gr 8 Up. Six dying teens' brains are uploaded into the most technologically advanced robots ever created by man and become a team of unruly superheroes who are the only hope for destroying a rogue Artificial Intelligence hell-bent on the destruction of all humanity. Meet the Six, a group of young adults given a second lease on life. Led by the violent ex-gang member, Zia, and computer prodigy Adam, who happens to be the son of the tech-genius who is leading the entire operation, the group has less than a month to learn how to fight together using their new robot bodies. The rogue AI program, named Sigma, was also created by Adam's father--and now only Adam and his team can stop it. The best feature of this sci-fi novel is that the author does not portray the scientists as the bad guys. In fact, advanced science and technology is on the side of good--it is needed to save the lives of millions of people. Among a wealth of dystopias and sci-fi novels in which the scientists and the government are the enemy, this standpoint is refreshing and exciting. VERDICT A well-researched, hardcore science-fiction joyride, great for fans of first-person shooter video games like Halo and Destiny. Highly recommended. Eden Grey, Kenton County Public Library, KY. 368p. SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2015. |
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9781492615293,dl.it[0].title
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