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20th out of 83 books
—
126 voters
The Electric Church (Avery Cates #1)
by
Jeff Somers (Goodreads Author)
In the near future, the only thing growing faster than the criminal population is the Electric Church, a new religion founded by a mysterious man named Dennis Squalor. The Church preaches that life is too brief to contemplate the mysteries of the universe: eternity is required. In order to achieve this, the converted become Monks -- cyborgs with human brains, enhanced robo...more
Paperback, 373 pages
Published
September 25th 2007
by Orbit
(first published 2007)
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Not bad...but a very forgettable, very “by the numbers” hardboiled cyberpunk thriller that felt like a cold, soulless version of Neuromancer. For me, one of the remarkable aspects of really good cyberpunk is its ability to tap into the zeitgeist of the current generation and provide insightful commentary on where we're going and who we are becoming as a species.
This story was all surface. It had the right costumes and some interesting props, but there was nothing that gave the reader, at least...more
Folks, there is nothing subtle or beautiful about this one.
Unless, that is, you think perfectly described gun battles and psychotic cyborg monks are subtle and beautiful. Or maybe you are just a fan of exciting sucker-punch-to-the-stomach writing.
Set in a not so distant, and rotten, dystopian future the story follows the adventures of the surprisingly sympathetic anti-hero Avery Cates. Cates is a Gunner (a hitman) scrounging to make a living among the dreary masses. He is considered an old man a...more
Unless, that is, you think perfectly described gun battles and psychotic cyborg monks are subtle and beautiful. Or maybe you are just a fan of exciting sucker-punch-to-the-stomach writing.
Set in a not so distant, and rotten, dystopian future the story follows the adventures of the surprisingly sympathetic anti-hero Avery Cates. Cates is a Gunner (a hitman) scrounging to make a living among the dreary masses. He is considered an old man a...more
6 likes · like · see review
In his debut novel, The Electric Church, Jeff Somers attempts to create a 21st century cyberpunk novel. His vision of the not-so-distant future, managed by the fascist System of Federated Nations and their powerful police, exists in economic chaos, spawning rampant poverty and a vibrant criminal element. Avery Cates, a gunner, thrives within this environment, until he accidentally kills a cop and attracts the attention of the Electric Church and its mysterious Monks, cyborgs with human brains.
Cy...more
Cy...more
I see the majority of review have rated this as a menial read. That doesn't surprise me. For the age of Cyber-punk isn't anything new. What I found I liked about the book was the comic style of flow. I found the imagery and the characters to be more from the comic style of writing than just the standard novel. It's certainly not a new concept, just one I found fun and quick. If I want to challenge myself I will read the classics. When I want to feel pulp style fictions, than I will read this boo...more
I see this book has an average of 3 stars as I write this review. I suppose then I should justify my 5 star rating then. The reason I give this 5 stars is that I personally could not stop myself from reading this. Now sci-fi is generally not my genra of choice so I cannot qualitatively say if this is a "great" sci-fi book. But it kept me reading and interested. That is all I care. May be dark and disturbing for some people. Heck my copy of the book came with a warning about the content printed o...more
I'm not normally a big reader of sci-fi books. This one, however, was a fantastic read. I can't really put my finger on what it was about this book that I found so appealing, but it is one of the best books that I've read in the past year. Set in the infamous not-so-distant future featuring a rag-tag group of assassins for hire (who are actually the good guys in the dark future created by the author) who must battle an ever-growing army of militant Monks, this novel is all action from the openin...more
Life is too short for bad books.
The premise; take the titular hitman from "Leon" (I don't kill kids), transport to a mix of the land of "Robocop" and "Bladerunner", add in the authoritarian police state of "Minority Report", and introduce the villain in the form of Dr Who's "Cybermen"... and you have "The Electric Church".
Sounds pretty cool, right? Ok, nothing original, but a good pastiche?
No, no, no - a thousand times NO!
Ok, why?
Well first of all, the writing is devoid of any philosophy or roma...more
The premise; take the titular hitman from "Leon" (I don't kill kids), transport to a mix of the land of "Robocop" and "Bladerunner", add in the authoritarian police state of "Minority Report", and introduce the villain in the form of Dr Who's "Cybermen"... and you have "The Electric Church".
Sounds pretty cool, right? Ok, nothing original, but a good pastiche?
No, no, no - a thousand times NO!
Ok, why?
Well first of all, the writing is devoid of any philosophy or roma...more
Holy hell, I love this book. Love the idea behind it, the fight against eternity and a religion that wants to consume every part of you. Willingly or not.
Avery Cates is not a sympathetic character. He's a killer for hire, the man least likely to perform heroics, a cheat and a survivor. But he's a likable character all the same. He's an honest man who's doing what he needs to survive, but there are lines he won't cross. This doesn't make him a good person by any stretch of the imagination, in fa...more
Avery Cates is not a sympathetic character. He's a killer for hire, the man least likely to perform heroics, a cheat and a survivor. But he's a likable character all the same. He's an honest man who's doing what he needs to survive, but there are lines he won't cross. This doesn't make him a good person by any stretch of the imagination, in fa...more
I thought the premise of "The Electric Church" was brilliant. In this near-future dystopia, there's a new religious movement where you can gain eternal life by surrendering to the Electric Church and having your brain installed in an indestructible cyborg body. Once you become a "Monk" this way, you spend eternity recruiting others into the Electric Church, and for this reason the Church is poised to take over all of society. To me this is pretty much what's happening in our society: Free will,...more
First of all this is gritty. Not pretty. Not highbrow. Not going to end up on your lit professor's bookshelf. And the main reason I like this series is just because I do not have any fear of walking into a pretentious coffee shop and seeing some erudite snob leafing through it.
It is a commentary on current society, if one comes down out of the clouds long enough to look around. Religious prats are running the political scene. Corporations really own our asses. The rich guys who own the corporati...more
It is a commentary on current society, if one comes down out of the clouds long enough to look around. Religious prats are running the political scene. Corporations really own our asses. The rich guys who own the corporati...more
Jul 09, 2012
D. Scott
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
everyone
Recommended to D. by:
no one
Just finished my second of the Jeff Somers 'Avery Cates' books, Electric Church - this was the first one, and I'm essentially reading them out of order - and I was again very happy. Jeff has a dark wit and a great 'fuck it' attitude with Avery Cates, the world's best Gunner and a guy who knows that every time he takes a step, it'll probably be his last. The world is out to get Avery Cates for a multitude of reasons, but this time he's not only being chased by the System Security Force, a worldwi...more
My second post-apocalyptic novel of the year (See WW The Earthseed Parable, July 23 ’11). Can’t remember the last one before that. Maybe The Road (WW April 23, 2007) by old Cormack? The Road’s apocalypse is unspecified. Earthseed’s is a general collapse of political and economic systems to the extent that society has retribalized. The Electric Church could be the world post Earthseed. There’s a “reunified” world government, implying that there was a disunified anarchy of some sort no too long pr...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Earth isn't a very nice place to live in this gritty series debut. With the utopian promise of the global System of Federated Nations gone horribly wrong, the Joint Council government and brutal System Security Force (SSF) have made life desperate, dangerous, and short for the common man including anti-hero Avery Cates. Elderly at 27, Cates is a hardened assassin-for-hire wanted in Old New York for mistakenly killing an SSF officer. When he's finally cornered, however, the SSF gives him a choice...more
Personally -- I could only force myself to read half of this book, which is saying something. An avid reader since junior high, I can only recount maybe three titles I've refused to finish.
With an opener like that you'd think I would have given it a one. Here's the thing though -- I understand why someone else might enjoy it. There is enough action, crazy distopia fun-times in this story that would appeal to somebody really into that sort of thing. Now I enjoy a good distopia as much as the next...more
With an opener like that you'd think I would have given it a one. Here's the thing though -- I understand why someone else might enjoy it. There is enough action, crazy distopia fun-times in this story that would appeal to somebody really into that sort of thing. Now I enjoy a good distopia as much as the next...more
Jeff Somers paints and dark but very realistic dystopian future, where the wealthy live in cities and the less privileged inhabit ruins, where rich eat at restaurants and poor add vitamin-enhanced charity to whatever they can scrounge, and where even the cops are split into affluent (well-equipped) and deprived (in need of bribes). In this unified world there are protections for churches and freedom of religious belief. And the Electric Church with its Robot Monks is doing very nicely, thank you...more
Sep 09, 2010
Sarah L. Covert
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who is a fan of the cyberpunk and noir genres
The Electric Church immediately intrigued me the moment I laid eyes on the cover art (by comic artist Jae Lee). I know, I know... you can't judge a book by it's cover... but it sure helps to sell your idea if done right and one can certainly not ask for a better artist to present this theme. The publishing company called the book a "Kill Bill meets Blade Runner"... and I thought, ok I'll bite. My interest was more than piqued.
It would be more apt to call it a cypeberpunk/noir book. A combinatio...more
It would be more apt to call it a cypeberpunk/noir book. A combinatio...more
I found this book (a pre-lease, "not for sale" copy) at a local used bookstore. I picked it up and burst out laughing at "Kill Bill meets Blade Runner." I showed the book to my friend and she dared me to read it... so here I am. I've seen Kill Bill, but I've never seen Blade Runner (although I've read the book it is based on, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). I must say: It was nothing like advertised.
I admit that I enjoyed one thing: the idea of the Monk. I found it to be quite intriguing...more
I admit that I enjoyed one thing: the idea of the Monk. I found it to be quite intriguing...more
Avery Cates is a Gunner, a survivor living in Old New York. At age twenty seven he is one of the oldest living on the streets, hiding from the System Pigs and trying to make a living by killing people. This is a world where the System Security Force are all-powerful, and the fastest growing religion is that of the Electric Church. Cates has his suspicions that converts to the Church are forcibly recruited, and those who join become immortal cyborgs. Just when life for Cates seems to be taking a...more
Just reading the blurb and the title for this book was enough to grab my attention. And that very creepy cover sure deepened my interest.
When I started to read this book, I found myself a little lost in the narrator's set up of this world because there was so much going on, and so much to be explained. However, as the story moved into the second chapter and I settled into Avery's tale, I understood exactly why it was vital to drop all of that info on the reader at the very start. Getting the wh...more
When I started to read this book, I found myself a little lost in the narrator's set up of this world because there was so much going on, and so much to be explained. However, as the story moved into the second chapter and I settled into Avery's tale, I understood exactly why it was vital to drop all of that info on the reader at the very start. Getting the wh...more
Avery Cates is a very bad man. Some might call him a criminal. He might even be a killer - for the Right Price. But right now, Avery Cates is scared. He's up against the Monks: cyborgs with human brains, enhanced robotic bodies, and a small arsenal of advanced weaponry. Their mission is to convert anyone and everyone to the Electric Church. But there is just one snag. Conversion means death.
This is not my usual brand of sci-fi. It's of the dystopic genre, and a very visceral one at that, which i...more
This is not my usual brand of sci-fi. It's of the dystopic genre, and a very visceral one at that, which i...more
Are you read for some hardcore motherfuckers kicking some serious cyberpunk ass? Cuz that's what this book is about. HARSH LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, CYBERPUNK, FUTURETREK and SEX: That's the main parts that create this monster of sci-fi. It is definitely not for the intelligent type, it's full of vulgarism, constant action, a large amount of dick-wagging, pointless and cheesy dialogues, too HARDCORE-THAN-THOU action scenes and rather weakly explained cyber-future world.
However, it was entertaining. It...more
However, it was entertaining. It...more
1 like · like · see review
I completed this book out of grim determination rather than actual pleasure at reading it. Not to say that it's actively bad, just that the flaws in the characters, plot, and setting weren't offset by any great virtues. The protagonist and his surroundings are straight out of Central Casting for film noir - a grim, tough guy in a grim, tough world, doing what he needs to survive, but with a hidden nobility!
The tropes just keep on coming. The Electric Church has Terrible Secrets! The Mysterious...more
The tropes just keep on coming. The Electric Church has Terrible Secrets! The Mysterious...more
If you had a dollar for every person you came across who wore the mask of Avery Cates, you'd be in the top 1% and wouldn't have to worry about wearing such a mask yourself.
"I'm not suggesting there's no payoff for you," I said quickly, trying to maintain my smile, my calm, and my hardass look all at once. It was exhausting. - from Chapter 16
The Electric Church is copyrighted 2007, and the subtext of a post-9/11, economically depressed world is taken to fairly natural conclusions. Mr. Avery Cates...more
"I'm not suggesting there's no payoff for you," I said quickly, trying to maintain my smile, my calm, and my hardass look all at once. It was exhausting. - from Chapter 16
The Electric Church is copyrighted 2007, and the subtext of a post-9/11, economically depressed world is taken to fairly natural conclusions. Mr. Avery Cates...more
I loved this. Vague memory of reading it when i was young.
Its a simple story, set in a futuristic 'cyber-punk' kinda world. All gone pear shaped, government become more military and hardline, as society gone opposite way. The one thing in common is the violence used.
Avery Cates is a hitman basically, and one of the best, cos you dont get live into your late 20s if you arent good at something. His reputation leads him into working for a surprising boss who sets him against the Electric Church in...more
Its a simple story, set in a futuristic 'cyber-punk' kinda world. All gone pear shaped, government become more military and hardline, as society gone opposite way. The one thing in common is the violence used.
Avery Cates is a hitman basically, and one of the best, cos you dont get live into your late 20s if you arent good at something. His reputation leads him into working for a surprising boss who sets him against the Electric Church in...more
Pretty cool 1st novel by Jeff Somers. Excellent energy and a fast moving plot. Cyberpunk meets Chandler, etc etc etc. The problem with it is a lot of the characters' dialog sound the same. They always talk to our protagonist, Avery Cates, like a Bond villain: " Well, Mr. Cates, it seems we have this to do." "Mr. Cates, would you like to tell me more about this situation." "So, Mr. Cates, would you like a hot dog." "F*ck you, Mr. Cates, there is no mustard." At first they seem different from each...more
This book had an interesting premise. Definitely not all that original with it's doomsday, futuristic world run by cyborgs, but I think I will always enjoy reading novels about how the future is really gonna suck it. It was a fairly fun ride albeit a little pedantic and obviously written in the hopes that it will one day be made into a movie. Which always bugs me to no end.
So this was a lot more violent and graphic than I expected, just based on the description of a coworker. But since it was graphic and violent from page one and didn't become so say, half way through the book, I can't really complain about it, can I?
Very entertaining spin on cyberpunk, new world order, post apocalypse, could we actually be living in the end times fiction. I haven't read a lot of that particular genre, so I didn't find the tropes tired or hackneyed, and I did quite like Somers' wr...more
Very entertaining spin on cyberpunk, new world order, post apocalypse, could we actually be living in the end times fiction. I haven't read a lot of that particular genre, so I didn't find the tropes tired or hackneyed, and I did quite like Somers' wr...more
It's a dark world, and Avery Cates has lived to the surprising age of 25 in the ruins of NYC. He's a Gunner, and the Pigs haven't captured him yet. If they did, he'd never survive, because there's a rumor he's killed a cop. He's live this long because he's very good as what he does - killing.
Then he has a run-in with a Monk - who offers an eternity of sunsets, once you agree to have your brain placed in a robot body. Once a Monk becomes interested in you, with their expressionless white mask, th...more
Then he has a run-in with a Monk - who offers an eternity of sunsets, once you agree to have your brain placed in a robot body. Once a Monk becomes interested in you, with their expressionless white mask, th...more
There were some pretty cool (albeit not very original) concepts, but there was something about the writing style that just didn't click with me. As I was reading, I still hadn't decided how I felt about the book until about 3/4 of the way through when main characters started getting killed off and I realised I just didn't care. Overall it's a pretty unoriginal novel with very few surprises or likeable characters (the protagonist is particularly hard to relate to). Don't get me wrong; it's not a...more
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Born in Jersey City, NJ, Jeff has managed to migrate just five minutes away to nearby Hoboken, land of overpriced condominiums and a tavern on every corner. Between weekly drunks, Jeff manages to scrawl enough prose onto cocktail napkins and toilet paper to keep up a respectable fiction careeer."
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“I didn't want to kill her; she was just doing her job. But she was standing between me and the rest of my miserable life, so she was going to have to take a bullet.”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
Love the W.E.B. Dubois quote. Nice..."
Heh.
Apr 14, 2012 10:14pm
Aug 22, 2012 12:12pm