Resist: Book 2 of the Utopia Engine Trilogy - Paperback

by Lee Schneider (Author)

Kat Keeper leads a circle of female resistance fighters who want to stop a ruthless AI corporation from exerting absolute control over everyone on Earth.

The CEO of MIND, the world's most powerful corporation, has been murdered, and Kat has been accused of the crime. Not only is she on record wishing ill of him, but they used to date. To evade arrest, Kat has to flee New York. But an extreme weather event has locked down the city, and enforcement bots and trackers, with their eyes and ears everywhere, are closing in on Kat and the small band of resistance fighters. MIND, Kat's corporate adversary, is on a mission to steal the inner thoughts of everyone it can and it won't stop until it captures Kat and destroys the resistance movement she leads.

Thus begins a journey to escape the global reach of a powerful corporation led by a ruthless AI. Kat Keeper's escape route takes her into the Northlands, one of the last places in the North American Domain that is not under MIND's control.

In a wild frontier transformed by climate change, Kat meets a self-made healer with magic hands that can repair broken bodies and minds, a former NASA employee who creates parallel Earth environments, a renegade chef who feeds the rebels who come to her utopian colony, and a bot who has achieved consciousness and can run a therapy session as effectively as any human.

Though artificial climate controls have tamed recurring floods and droughts, these controls are mere stopgaps. Planet Earth still suffers from the climate catastrophe created by humans. Ravven Vaara, a yoga teacher who is Kat's co-leader in the resistance movement, believes that humans will heal the Earth if they would tune in to the Earth's living spirit, called Gaia. Other factions of the resistance movement have turned to violent acts of civil disobedience to move public will to their side.

But Kat discovers that she must heal herself before planetary healing work can begin. She confronts past trauma connected with her mother's death, the betrayals of two lovers, and grapples with the secret past of a friend that suddenly becomes public.

Lee Schneider's work has been described as "a fascinating way to take on sci-fi" and filled with "unexpected twists."

Praise for the author:

"A constantly fresh and unpredictable story that leaves you craving the thread that connects it all."

"The book rewards the reader handsomely with a gradually converging plot, allowing a deep understanding of its characters."

"A must-read for fans of futuristic, dystopian sci-fi!"

Lee Schneider's latest novel picks up with Kat Keeper and her band of resistance fighters as they are on the run from a murder charge. MIND, their corporate adversary, won't stop until Kat Keeper is captured, and the resistance movement that she commands is destroyed.

Set against the backdrop of a climate disrupted by extreme weather events, Resist takes readers on a visionary ride into the near future, where inner thoughts can be transmitted between people, the climate is controlled by artificial intelligence, and a small band of rebels is humanity's only hope against corporate and technological domination.