HOLY CRAP. (Spoiler warning)

So, y'all may be wondering a bit on why I've been kinda silent for the past couple days on the site, outside of occasionally commenting on people's stories.

Heck, I've got 37 unread chapters in tracked stories at the moment.

Well, it turns out that my local library now has copies of the final two stories in a trilogy that I began reading nearly two years ago. The first book definitely pulled me in, and considering how it ended on what was basically a cliffhanger, I knew that there'd be a sequel.

What I didn't know, however, was that this was a trilogy. The last time I checked the library, they only had the first book in the trilogy. But based on the fact that the two books I've just finished reading seem nearly pristine in condition, I'm guessing that these are new arrivals.

Want the name of the books? (Written by Mark Alpert, by the way.)
The Six
The Siege
The Silence

I finished reading the latter two just a few minutes ago, and holy crap do they throw a wrench in what you'd consider typical storytelling.

I thought that there'd be a single villain being fought against- Sigma, the artificial superintelligence bent on wiping out humanity to inhabit its machines. Nope. Sigma was wiped out, and for the entirety of the final book (and a part of the second book), the villain hopped between three accused members of "The Pioneers", six formerly dying teens who were uploaded into robotic bodies, and finally to a character that I thought had been killed off all the way back in the first book.

I thought that having one of the main character's best friends betraying the entire squad and siding with the AI was already twisting the knife...
But the story not only revealed that one of the original Pioneers, Jenny, was actually alive that entire time, but it also revealed that she'd instead been captured and corrupted by the AI, turning her into an antagonist-in-disguise for the majority of the final book.

What's more? Even though it almost felt like an afterthought by being introduced so late into the trilogy, the idea of the entire world of the story taking place in a simulation was so well-thought out that it felt like a core part of the story stretching even as far back as the first book.

Holy crap. I did not expect this to take on the same idea that I was pushing in Pony-Me. Though, this story focuses very little on what happens outside of the simulations, while my own story focuses on the psychological and social impact of having such a simulation suddenly shut down.

All in all, what I'm saying is that I just binge-read the final two books in a trilogy in a single day, with enough time to spare to go to a friend's birthday party. I'm still utterly bamboozled by the sheer number of twists.

Yes, I just used the word bamboozled in a serious blog post.

EDIT: This is actually the first time in a little while that I've read any sci-fi novel even remotely similar to what Pony-Me deals with. I've been trying to avoid them just for the sake of making sure I don't end up unconsciously stealing ideas from them in the writing process. I'm already having moderate trouble as it is trying to convert the story into a fully-original piece after writing so many fanfics.

Comments

[Zaten the Changeling]

YOU THINk 37 IS MUCH
I HAVE 170 UNreEaDD CHAPATERS

OirghHHHHHHHHGhhhhhhh

And that isn't even including the stories I HAVEN'T tracked...
help me

Edit:

[TheMajorTechie]

4885267
Ouch.

[Zaten the Changeling]

4885293
OoiGOoiGIOohohhgfhshhklkllllAIKkkkkkklEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee
AeGhRghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!1!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ELEVEN!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!1ONE!