So one thing has become clear as I've written this story:

It's like Marmite. You either love it, or you hate it. People either read it all the way through to the end, or they stop before getting 25% through and throw their hands up in disgust at my audacity to write something they didn't like.

Let's save future readers some time, by pointing out what this is, and what it's not.

This is a story about a guy who is trying to find his way in a world that has become utterly different to what he has ever known.

It is about being lost, and trying to find his way. It is about personal emotional psychological growth and resilience. It is about the people he meets, the connections he makes, the friendships and everything this entails. There's a definite villain in this story, and their presence will be more clearly defined in the next book, but ultimately, this is Rick's journey, and the fact that he shares it with a few others (who he meets about 1/3 the way in).

The background, the environment, the world building, are all secondary.

If character growth is a critical, major, or even sole motivation for reading a story, then welcome, and I hope you enjoy the ride.

It is not, and never was intended to be, anything about spreadsheets or video game logic. The nanites are a background feature, a separate character that in future stories, will become a distinguishable character in their own right (that's all I'll say to avoid spoilers).

If you enjoy video game logic, and character growth is tangential or unimportant, I promise you, you will not enjoy this series, nor any other series I write.

Hopefully this will save you some time and effort.