I’m a Reedsy Discovery reviewer! I received a free ARC of Carbon Zero by Craig W. Stanfill for this review.
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On a broiling Fourth of July night, Abigail Thompson makes a mistake that will change the world forever. She asks her experimental AI, Xerxes, to find a way to eliminate carbon emissions and save the planet from climate change. Xerxes was never meant to be anything more than a digital assistant, but after Abigail’s request, it plunges the world into darkness and chaos. Soon, Abigail is swept up in a deadly revolution orchestrated by Xerxes. Abigail’s boss, Vanessa, is one of the few people who know about Xerxes. Vanessa may also be one of the only people who can shut the rogue AI down. Told from the dual perspectives of Abigail and Vanessa, these two women must survive the world burning down around them if they have any hope of saving it.
Carbon Zero is set about a decade in the future, and the United States has changed for the worse. Political strife runs deep, poverty is ubiquitous, and the temperature has never been higher. The novel starts strong, gradually revealing this peek into the future through Abigail’s and Vanessa’s eyes, while the reader braces for what’s next. A memorable and tense sequence involves Vanessa watching Xerxes begin to spread before it causes any damage.
The pacing of the novel is excellent, never too fast to follow or too slow to lose interest. The tech jargon is also done well. While knowing a little about how AI works is helpful, it’s not necessary to read this book. Information about the technology the reader will need to understand is conveyed through dialogue, and never in a way that feels like the character is explaining things for the audience’s sake. Vanessa’s narration also shows how Xerxes is different from AI chatbots that are common in the present day, and how those differences make Xerxes far more dangerous than ChatGPT.
While most of the action scenes are well done, there are some scenes that feel glossed over or less intense than they should have been. The portrayal of various revolutionary groups detracts from the novel. The leads are both women of color and the novel boasts a diverse cast. However, the secondary characters and revolutionary groups fall into stereotyping and caricature. The revolutionaries’ dialogue is overwrought and formal, given the setting. It sounds like it was lifted from a fantasy novel, not like angry twentysomethings ready to burn down the world. Abigail is swept up amongst the revolutionaries unwillingly, and as a result, loses her agency for most of the book. Though she is the person who accidentally put everything into motion, her role is largely to be an observer of the destruction she caused.
Vanessa takes an active role in the novel, fighting to get to the Google-esque tech company, Intelligenics, and unravel the origins of Xerxes. To protect herself legally, she makes several recordings of other characters in earlier chapters. Towards the end of the book, several of these recordings are played verbatim, resulting in paragraphs of repetition.
Carbon Zero is as much a social commentary as it is a sci-fi novel. The dangers of social division and group polarization are key to the destruction that Xerxes brings about. Carbon Zero is recommended for fans of dystopian fiction and action novels.
