Cyberpunk and Fish Out Of Water
I haven’t been to a trip that’s not a conference all year. And now I have three planned. But there will be new pictures.
In the meantime, I reviewed a couple of books. Neither great, but both perfectly enjoyable as beach reads. I’m now reading Necropolis Alpha by Chris M. Armone, which is more cyberpunk. People seem to be throwing it at me lately.
Review: A Desperate Measure by Seth W. James
I read the first of these books. A Desperate Measure is better, but it’s still a fairly stock cyberpunk thriller.
In this volume, Francesca Pieralisi and her boyfriend/bodyguard Cain are trying to get a seawall project done…a seawall to protect the entire coast of Europe from climate change induced sea level rise.
It’s a noble task, but there are elements who see in it only an opportunity for profit. This book is pretty violent (also cw for human trafficking, albeit brief and definitely not promoted). People die in this game…and Francesca plays the legit side, while Cain does everything up to and including wetworks to keep his lover safe.
Again, it’s a pretty standard cyberpunk thriller (the first book is Ethos of Cain). Cain is your standard cyberpunk anti-hero. Francesca has much more of a moral compass, but she’s not unwilling to cross the line if she has to. I suspect we haven’t seen the last of these two.
The first book had a pretty solid romance plot. In this book, the relationship stays mature, but doesn’t develop further, although there’s a joke about rings at the end that makes me wonder if James plans wedding bells in a likely book three.
I received a free copy of this book for review and award consideration purposes.
Review: Secondhand Spaceman by Rachel Aukes
This book is technically a novella, but it’s a longer one. Unfortunately, it falls into the category of “novella serial” rather than “novella series.” It ends on a cliffhanger, which I’m just not fond of.
It’s the classic “Earthman randomly transported into space” trope, but Aukes isn’t Adams (although she gives it a decent try). Frank, her protagonist, is now indentured to be a space repo man because his dad was…yup, generational slavery. He’s not very good at it, his ship is a total asshole, and he’s probably going to die.
It does manage to be decently funny, but the aliens are all stereotypes (and Frank is kind of a stereotype) and the book feels like it needs more space to develop things. I hate to say it, but this should have been a novel. With a real ending and the cliffhanger moved to book two.
If you’re a huge fan of the trope, you’ll definitely find something to like here, though, and Aukes is a decent writer.