The Underachiever
Extrapolating from existing concerns surrounding artificial intelligence, The Underachiever is an exciting future-set novel with elements of romance.
In David A. Price’s delightful satirical novel The Underachiever, two teenagers set out to stop an AI takeover.
Wyoming is an eighteen-year-old student who excels at video games. His greatest ambition is to own a shack on the beach and surf. During his college entrance exam, the AI evaluating him begins talking about humans getting their comeuppance soon. Around that time, Wyoming also meets Kayleigh, a social outcast because of an algorithmic misunderstanding; she has chilling theories about AI. In time, Wyoming and Kayleigh determine to prevent an AI takeover together.
Extrapolating from existing concerns surrounding artificial intelligence, the story is set in a period when people depend on AI to complete most tasks. There are AI courting apps and AI teachers, and iCars have the ability to recognize every passenger via a butt-recognition system. Despite the chilling implications of such technologies, the worldbuilding leans into charm, often subverting expectations.
The characterizations of the central teenagers are complementary: Wyoming, self-cast as an underachiever, is so bad at biology that his lab partner threatens to kill him; he decides against going to Harvard based on the fact that he wouldn’t be able to spend all of his time there lying in the grass. His skills and unusual perspective help when it comes to saving the world, though; his conscience and sense of loyalty are of particular benefit.
At Wyoming’s opposite, Kayleigh is super gifted in the sciences and is developed in terms of her humanizing fears and struggles. When she realizes the AI apocalypse is imminent, she laments, “I was hoping I’d have time … for college, grad school, be an expert on teevee, be the voice of reason. I’m pretty sure that’s gone.” Their conversations with one another are witty and flowing, and they are supported and tested by friends and classmates who are fleshed out on their own merits.
Though the story starts out slow to compensate for its extensive worldbuilding, tension increases in its second half, generating suspense. However, the resolution to the AI-takeover plot is underwhelming; the outcome doesn’t validate the previous urgency. Further, some secondary plot points, as with the ousting of the head of the school, are abandoned, and the reactions of Wyoming’s friends to events are inconsistent with their previous behavior. Still, Kayleigh and Wyoming demonstrate personal growth in a way that proves both funny and satisfactory, and an acknowledgement section attributed to Wyoming is the book’s ultimate, appealing sendoff.
The Underachiever is a smart satirical novel in which teenagers embark on a quest to save the world from rogue technologies.
Reviewed by
Carolina Ciucci
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
