Author: Dan Rix
Genre: Science Fiction
Published on: December 4, 2014, self-published
She’s dead.
Samantha, her wavy caramel-colored hair, her little Bambi eyes, her angel face…dead.
I killed her.
Sure, I didn’t crush her skull and bash her brains in. The telephone pole did that. The drugs did that. The other car’s high beams did that.
But I killed her.
She had just said I love you. She said she missed me. She was coming to spend the night. She was high. She asked for a ride.
I was lazy.
But what if there was a way to save her? What if there was a way to send back a warning? What if there was a way to undo it all? The crash. Us. Falling in love. All the way back to the beginning.
What if there was a machine?
Well-researched sci-fi is a joy to read for me. Part of the reason is that I find futuristic tech fascinating. A Strange Machine deals with a certain awesome invention. The main character is Cory Holland, an egocentric genius teen who attends Lakeside Upper. If that name sounds familiar, yes, it’s the same private school that Bill Gates went to. It’s got prestigious STEM courses. Cory is good at virtually anything, especially programming. He hacks into the school’s system to get the hottest girls signed up into his Advanced Physics class. Cory is about to start his senior year, and he wants it to be perfect.
Another of the main protagonists is Iris Strasser. She’s a competitive overachiever whose life’s mission is to beat Cory in the classroom. Iris usually ends up matching his scores, though. For Cory, excelling at school is effortless. Iris needs to work hard just to keep up with Cory. She’s also going into her senior year. Iris wants it to be different, so she changes her style drastically. She used to wear baggy, awful-looking outfits. Now Iris is switching to clothes that show her figure and letting her hair down. Iris isn’t ugly, but she didn’t turn guys’ heads either.
The third protagonist is Noah Wright, Cory’s best friend. Unlike the latter and Iris, Noah attends Lakeside on a scholarship. He is smart, but not near as much as Cory or Iris. I’d call Noah the Ron Weasley of this trio. That’s not to say he’s lackluster. Noah is just comfortable as he is, not needing to be the best or show up other people. Still, Noah doesn’t appreciate that Cory signed him up for Advanced Physics, the hardest class at school. As for Iris, she is not amused at being excluded from the class. She gets into Advanced Physics with the instructor’s permission. To Cory’s chagrin, the instructor assigns him into a group with Noah and Iris.
At the beginning of A Strange Machine, the titular gadget is introduced. It’s the Chronos Supercomputer, a quantum computer prototype. The computer is driving the engineers crazy, though. After one of them mysteriously disappears, the Chronos project is shut down. Edgard Faye, the head of Chronos, donates the prototype to Lakeside Upper. Who should stumble into it, but Cory Holland. The Chronos becomes one of his obsessions in this book. Cory sneaks into Allen-Gates Hall even though it’s off-limits while the Chronos gets installed. The machine is as large as a fridge, big enough for a person to fit inside. As a skilled hacker, Cory wastes no time getting into the Chronos’s system. He eventually tells Noah and Iris about the computer.
The other thing Cory is obsessed with is Samantha Silvers. In his opinion, she’s the most stunning girl at school. Cory wants Samantha to be his girl. He doubts it will be difficult to seduce her, as he’s Cory Holland. Samantha also reveals that she’s had a crush on Cory for years. However, one thing could put a hamper in Cory’s plans. Samantha is the ex-girlfriend of one Dante Laurenti, Lakeside’s bad boy. Dante committed some crime before the book starts, and Cory’s testimony put him in juvenile. It’s rumored that Dante will come back. Cory is apprehensive at the prospect.
Cory, Noah, and Iris sneak into the Chronos’s room enough times that they discover what it really is. At that point, A Strange Machine’s biggest struggle starts. It’s the dilemma revealed in the synopsis. Samantha will die, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. But is there? Cory is a stubborn and resourceful guy. He’ll work hard to find a way to save Samantha. And the Chronos could be the unexpected key to doing it.
I’ve read only one Dan Rix book before, Broken Symmetry. That book had well-researched and thought-out sci-fi elements. With A Strange Machine, Rix does it again. This time, the focus is a quantum computer rather than genetic powers. The secret to how the Chronos achieves ridiculously fast calculation speeds is awesome. This book isn’t just about a fancy machine, though. Cory, Iris, and most of the main characters are full of life and well fleshed-out. They have distinct personalities and have their own goals. Edgard Faye is quite enigmatic as well. It took a little while to figure out what his deal was.
Although the story was a bit short, A Strange Machine was an enjoyable book. The main problem (saving Samantha) was thrilling and came with a few serious complications. It was also fun seeing rivals Cory and Iris learn to work together without fighting. By the end of the book, they tolerate each other. As for flaws, the cover art didn’t quite do justice to A Strange Machine. It’s a beautiful cover, sure, but it has nothing to do with the story. Funny thing, Broken Symmetry’s cover art also featured a girl with unusual makeup. Don’t judge these books by their covers, though. They’re amazing!
My rating: ★★★★ 1/2
4.5 stars - A fantastic page-turner!
UPDATE JUL. 2020: Most of Dan Rix’s books are unavailable in the Amazon Kindle store now. I don’t know if he took them down, or if Amazon did due to lack of sales or something. This is a pity. These books are too good to be taken down. I’m glad I got them while they were available. I wonder what happened. Maybe Dan Rix retired from writing books? Still, that’s no reason to unpublish them. Hopefully, the books will be available again later.
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