Took this book on vacation and couldn't put it down! Highly recommended for any reader; excited to read more books by this author.

I loved this story. Even though it explores huge topics of monumental creation, loyalty, and being human, it has a gentleness about it that makes you feel connected to the characters in way other Sci Fi reads don't have for me. Highly recommend!

If you are a fan of Sci-Fi and cuber-punk, you will love The Magu Program. It's a page turner that plunges you into a thrilling futuristic underworld of treachery, cyborg assassin and unlikely heroism. Under the surface, author Matt Hartle weaves in questions about the nature of mortality, the act of creation, the principles of loyalty, and the human condition with a deft touch. The Magu Program is super fun to read, and also packs a resonant punch of emotional depth and complexity. Highly, highly recommended.

Of Courage and Sacrifice is a new dystopian series that teens will love! The Hunger Games is the loved dystopian series of my generation, and I can absolutely see this series becoming the new obsession of high schoolers everywhere. Adam and his friends journey through a new world where bots rule and they’re determined to get some sort of semblance of their old life back. I loved the way this book was written and though it’s almost 400 pages, it was a really fast read. I kept wanting more and more! The characters are well developed and I enjoyed the merging of science fiction with a dystopian feel. I would absolutely recommend this one!

Very well crafted and gripping story. I was so sad when I finished the book - can't wait for the next one. I'm so invested in these characters - scary that this is a plausible possible outcome to AI.

Montana author Matt Hartle is a visual effects artist with considerable experience in well-known films, in theatrical advertising, in design, and now in writing: his experience shows! OF COURAGE AND SACRIFICE is his literary debut and is the initial volume of a trilogy. And, Matt’s artistry is responsible for the cover of this book.Adept at creating tech imagery as in robots etc, Matt is equally talented at composing the realism of this world, evident as he opens his story: ’Early morning light streamed through cheap plastic window shades, brightening a small, cluttered room. Clothes littered the floor, and there were stacks of schoolbooks and discarded papers everywhere. Atop an old dresser was a picture of a father, mother, and their two sons – ages seven and seventeen – on a camping trip. A large Special Forces flag hung on the wall behind the bed, surrounded by several old movie posters. Adam Wesley lay on top of the covers of his bed, watching an ancient alarm clock as the hands ticked toward six am….’ With ease and accuracy Matt has painted a scene familiar to his teen audience, and the motion toward the world of robots is primed to open.The plot is tightly woven, and even the synopsis seduces readers’ imagination: ‘The world is a deeply troubled place - years of crippling unemployment, a collapsed economy, and rampant crime have left people feeling desperate, but Adam Wesley and his friends don't care about that. They've finished classes for the final time and are looking forward to a carefree summer of parties, camping, and enjoying their first authentic tastes of freedom after high school! Fate has another plan for them. On their inaugural outing of the summer, the friends encounter a reconnaissance robot, or 'bot' as they are known - with disastrous results. One of the friends is grievously wounded in the exchange, kicking off a race against time to get help before it's too late! When the friends finally make it back to the city, they find the streets are overrun with bots; martial law is in effect. People are being loaded onto buses and taken to transition camps. Anyone caught in the open is pacified and detained; not all will survive. Adam and his friends go underground, taking up with Skip, a brilliant but eccentric hacker. Skip has built a tech hideout called The Nest, a faraday cage suspended in the maintenance tunnels beneath the city. Using antiquated technology - dial-up modems and BBSs - the friends begin to organize. Together, they will fight desperately to survive, unintentionally planting the seeds of a resistance that will become more important than any of them can imagine.’Having read several books with similar themes, this reader affirms the superiority of Matt Hartle’s powers as a writer. Not only are the characters unique and beautifully developed, but the underlying dystopian ‘possibilities’ seem intensely real. This is one superb new author and the inception of an excellent trilogy. Very highly recommended. Grady Harp, June 22

Leisure reading, I enjoyed it very much

I was given this book as a Christmas gift and wasn't sure if I would like it or not. But I was very pleasantly surprised. The story is entertaining, with just the right pace, and the writing is crisp. Like all good books, I found myself binge reading one chapter after another, not being able to wait to see what happens next. It says its Book One of a trilogy -- but I can't find the next book yet. Can't wait until it's available so I can see what happens next!