Mal Goes to War

A Novel

By: Edward Ashton

Narrated by: John Pirhalla, Katharine Chin

The humans are fighting again. Go figure.

As a free A.I., Mal finds the war between the modded and augmented Federals and the puritanical Humanists about as interesting as a battle between rival anthills. He’s not above scouting the battlefield for salvage, though, and when the Humanists abruptly cut off access to infospace he finds himself trapped in the body of a cyborg mercenary, and responsible for the safety of the modded girl she died protecting.

A dark comedy wrapped in a techno thriller’s skin, Mal Goes to War provides a satirical take on war, artificial intelligence, and what it really means to be human.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

©2024 Edward Ashton (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Ashton offers a technothriller with heart that will appeal to fans of the 'Murderbot Diaries' from Martha Wells but also to readers looking for more AI-led stories like Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill and Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden,"—Library Journal, starred review

"Ashton’s vision of the future feels all too plausible and his blend of action and humor keeps the pages flying. This is sure to please the author’s fans."—Publishers Weekly

AI rising

fantastic story, great narration and engaging characters. grounded enough to make you see the possibility in a not distant future

Surprisingly thoughtful

The static punctuations in the direct back and fourth between MAL and others was pointless and annoying. This is why I gave the performance a 4.

Will Mal ever ride again? We can only hope!

Fantastic, ironic, amusing, thought-provoking. Mal is the AI that might just make the coming AI apocalypse worthwhile!

Great imagination and scientific knowledge

Sci fi imagination - audio was not distinct enough to distinguish various characters fun. Thanks Ed

Chapter 24

Great story until except chapter 24, made little sense in my mind. After that it ended well.