Aaru by David Meredith: Book Review

I love YA fiction, and I love anything that explores where technology can take us, so when I was asked to review Aaru, a book that combines these two things, I jumped at the chance.

Book Review: Aaru by David Meredith

Blurb from The Back Cover

Rose is dying. Her body is wasted and skeletal. She is too sick and weak to move. Every day is agony and her only hope is that death will find her swiftly before the pain grows too great to bear.

She is sixteen years old.

Rose has made peace with her fate, but her younger sister, Koren, certainly has not. Though all hope appears lost, Koren convinces Rose to make one final attempt at saving her life after a mysterious man in a white lab coat approaches their family about an unorthodox and experimental procedure.

A copy of Rose’s radiant mind is uploaded to a massive super computer called Aaru – a virtual paradise where the great and righteous might live forever in an Arcadian world free from pain, illness and death. Elysian Industries are set to begin offering the service to those that can afford it and hires Koren to be their spokes-model.

Within a matter of weeks, the sister’s faces are nationally ubiquitous, but they soon discover that neither celebrity nor immortality is as utopian as they think. Not everyone is pleased with the idea of ever lasting life for sale.

What unfolds is a whirlwind of controversy, sabotage, obsession and danger. Rose and Koren must struggle to find meaning in their chaotic new lives and at the same time hold true to each other as Aaru challenges all they ever knew about life, love and death and everything they thought they really believed.

My Thoughts on The Book

I loved the concept of Aaru and I wasn’t disappointed. Think Black Mirror’s San Junipero episode but with much darker undertones. The story seems to be inspired by the same principle as the episode, but it has a totally different take on how it would work.

The characters are believable and act in a way I would imagine to be true and they stay in character.

I particularly enjoyed Koren’s character. Although I do think at times she was a little mature for a child of her age, sometimes her more naïve, child like side was shown too.

I liked the way the book alternated between Rose’s experiences inside Aaru, which was really well thought out, and Koren’s experiences on this side.

The story progressed at a good pace and kept me interested with plenty of twists and turns.

The only thing I didn’t like about this book was Askr Ashe’s accent. Askr featured quite heavily in the book, and for some reason, he pronounced “they” as “dey”, “that” as “dat” etc.

It is explained that he’s Scandinavian, so perhaps this is why the author chose to do it, but it also says he speaks perfect English. I found it hugely distracting reading his speech this way.

Conclusion and Rating

Overall, I really enjoyed Aaru. I loved the concept and I thought the story was told well. There are some typos which might annoy some readers, but mostly I was able to ignore them.

I’m giving the book a 4/5 but it could have been a five if not for the distracting accent.

Aaru is available now on Amazon.

Have you read Aaru? Did you enjoy it? Let me know in the comments 🙂

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Disclaimer: I was gifted a free copy of Aaru in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own – as an avid reader, I would never recommend a book I didn’t truly enjoy.