Rating - ⭐⭐⭐
“You are the next step in human evolution.”
"At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep.
But before long, he can’t deny it: Something’s happening to his brain. To his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways.
The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy.
Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost.
Because of his new abilities, Logan’s the one person in the world capable of stopping what’s been set in motion. But to have a chance at winning this war, he’ll have to become something other than himself. Maybe even something other than human.
And even as he’s fighting, he can’t help wondering: what if humanity’s only hope for a future really does lie in engineering our own evolution?"
Upgrade is a standalone sci-fi novel by Blake Crouch.
I am sad and disappointed that this book let me down a bit. I loved Recursion and Dark Matter (though slightly less than the former), so I was stoked when I saw that Crouch was coming out with another book that seemed to be in the same vein. I wanted a mind-blowing plot full of science, and it did deliver on the science aspect at least because I did find the concept of gene editing interesting. (It is a bit heavy-handed on the science though because I know nothing when it came to genes).
In execution though, some reviewers were right in saying that this was like a Jason Bourne movie. I could also see its similarities with movies like Lucy and Limitless as well. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just wasn't exactly where I wanted this story to go. I also found this book didn't grip me right from the start which this needed in order for me to feel intrigued. It also took a bit for me to get into it too because the story is pretty stagnant for a while.
Finally, I wasn't too invested in Logan as the main character. There was just something missing about him that made me think he wasn't the most interesting person.