Noah “Comet” Wu is
back from a long deployment in a war zone and is looking forwards to some
pleasant down-time.
Except his best
friend JT has gone missing and he has to track him down. And the best lead he
has is Buzz, hacker, possible - likely - criminal.
But he’s not the only
one on the trail - violent, dangerous assassins are also following the lead.
And there’s nothing like a constant fight for survival to increase sexual
tension
This dystopian, high
sci-fi, magical world setting all comes together in a Shadowrun-esque
series that I have never seen to this degree. The combination of super
futuristic technology - facing down a cyborg who is nearly immune to bullets
and can control military-level robots and a fleet of cars remotely through the
power of wireless networks. But at the same time you have a wizard walking
around throwing fireballs around who needs to be fought with metaphors. And a
complete wasteland still recovering from the fallout of an apocalyptic war is
being healed by druids… but always with that edge. Like those druids? Are not
restoring the forests by hugging rocks and playing with herbs. And we have
references to things like the “second zombie apocalypse” which I’d love to know
about.
I really like how
cyberspace is presented here. In this ultra-technological setting cyberspace is
an essential realm, a place where you do battle, a place of incredible power
and potential that spills over into the real world. I like both the abstract
description of things while, at the same time, resisting the urge to turn it
into a tron-like alternate dimension which the characters run around in. But at
the same time I love how real it is, with technology advanced to such a degree
that there are people who never leave it - and there are people who experience
everything through simulations on the internet which are not just visual but
touch every sense. It’s both alien but grounded and every bit a real
battleground. All made more real and poignant with Buzz‘s history and facing
the very real choice of humans who have completely checked out of modern
society.
Through the
technology and the magic - and wizards and orcs and so much else - we also have
a very nicely touched on world setting of chaos. The part I like about this is
how elegantly it’s presented. We have mentions of different countries
(including several which are clearly part of what was once the former United
States), but no-one has to sit down and talk us through the disasters that
struck or explain how the world works now because we see it. We see it because
Comet is a mercenary who has fought in many many wars, telling us the state of
the world. We see it because they pass through vast wildernesses where monsters
roam which have clearly been abandoned. We see it because of the very limited presence
of the police or authorities, especially when major powers clash. We see it
because we have these huge quasi-legal and outright criminal organisations with
vast powers, influence and the ability to act with impunity. We even see it in
little things, like the high end car having a tracker in it so if it’s stolen
the company that makes them can respond with over the top violence.
It’s an anarchic
world and a very gritty dangerous world because of it, making for a lot of
action, a lot of adventure, a lot of chaos all of which is both enhanced by and
builds upon the super tech and the magic and the different species and
telepathic spiders and sentient AIs and hackers who may turn your guns against
you. It’s manic, it’s amazing, it’s exciting, it’s rich and it’s awesome
And the plot just
runs with that. Car chases and explosions, drones and guns, cyborgs with
ridiculous skills, mental wars through cyber space, flirting sexual tension by
sending naked selfies that move and touch, sentient plants, dragons - it’s all
there at breakneck pace.
I like that Buzz is
cute. Not rippling with muscle, not small and delicate either - but still very
cute and attractive. I find a lot of romance novels with gay lovers either go
for The Most Excessive Of Muscles or dainty little waifs.
Their romance is fun
- highly sexual and sexy with a lot of classic very-different people with
multiple barriers between them but without antagonism. I like that a lot - too
often we play the “we hate each other until we love each other” trope but I
love that Buzz and Comet are very different people but still respect, are
attracted to and slowly grow to love each other. I love how they appreciate
each other’s skills and expertise. It is a rapid romance but what is also
interesting is they acknowledge this - Buzz openly doubts whether it can be
real because it is so rapid. But they’re clearly taking a chance
We do have some POC
characters - Comet is part Chinese and part Pacifika and this is mentioned in
his past but doesn’t inform his character a great deal: I feel he could have
been a mercenary in any army despite the Asian references especially since his
body has been so extensively modified. One of Buzz’s hacker contacts is Black
as is both the elusive “unicorn” everyone is chasing and Dante who is the
source
Women are more
distant - Valentine is a dangerous and skilled assassin and hacker but she is
an opponent. Dante and the blue Unicorn are both women - but also absent or
unconscious for most of the book. There’s not a lot of close, constant female
characters.
So this is two books
into the series - both with a very very very hot romance (and normally I have
so little truck with romance and even when I find them compelling I rarely find
them hot. This is hot) a truly amazing world with an action packed really
exciting story all with scads of originality I just want to roll around in and
love. More more more more!
