Released in ebook by Distant Shore Publishing, Tom Jolly’s novella A Game of Broken Minds is a high concept modern-day science fiction tale of desperation and expanding horizons. Living on the streets of Santa Maria after a disastrous series of events, Cory is reduced to taking part in unlicensed pharmaceutical tests for money, taking drugs designed to induce tap into the unused parts of the human brain. To his considerable surprise, after he takes the latest pill he finds a strange voice manifesting in his head, claiming to be some kind of networked superbrain. While this seems like a good thing to begin with, Cory realises that the new, expanded world he’s become a part of is dangerous indeed.
The central concept, of ancient distributed minds looking out helplessly through the eyes of the humans to which they’re connected, desperate for a way to communicate with the wider world, is really cool. Likewise the idea of an unscrupulous scientist accidentally stumbling upon a pharmaceutical solution to this problem, and a down-on-his-luck homeless man finding his options unexpectedly broadened. There’s a lot of scope there, but Jolly wisely chooses to start the story off by focusing on Cory’s initial reaction to the voice in his head – which calls itself Molly – and their attempts to first communicate and then work together. Cory doesn’t have a lot of backstory beyond ‘punched his boss, ended up unemployable and therefore on the street’ and doesn’t really get much room for development, but he does allow for some interesting exploration of the way in which society views the homeless. He also gets some sharp, snappy dialogue with Molly in his head, which contribute some of the most entertaining moments in the story.
As the plot develops and the pace picks up there are some fun moments, and it’s breezily readable throughout with an enjoyable mix of action, danger, humour and some interesting observations on what’s needed for freedom. Sadly, it feels like there’s so much that Jolly wants to get across that there isn’t time for each new idea or piece of information to be fully explained or explored. The plotting gets a little convenient in places, and it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain the suspension of disbelief needed to fully buy into what’s happening, which is a shame because with a little more time to develop some of the ideas, or a slightly more focused plot, it has the makings of something really fascinating. As it stands it’s pacy, easy to read and entertaining, full of really good ideas and imagination, but it doesn’t quite live up its potential.
Review copy provided by the publisher: many thanks to Distant Shore Publishing and Tom Jolly for providing me with an advance copy of A Game of Broken Minds, in exchange for my honest review.
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