Adrian Collins's Blog, page 93

REVIEW: Cold Sleep by Luke Hindmarsh

I’m a huge fan of Luke Hindmarsh’s Mercury’s Son and 3:33. He’s an underrated science fiction and horror writer which get combined here for an especially good story. He’s so far only done standalones and I don’t think that’s going to change with this series but I’d like to see him take a crack at a series. Either way, I’m glad he sent me a copy of an ARC because I really enjoyed reading this from cover to cover in two days.

The premise is that Kara is a somewhat sociopathic navigator onboard a sleeper ship that is heading to a colony in order to spread humanity out among the stars. Kara and her boyfriend, Zed, are professional criminals that are planning on robbing a corporate bigwig while he’s asleep. Kara thinks this will get her promoted to captain or owner of her own ship while Zed rather stupidly thinks she’s planning on settling down with him.

What follows will be familiar to anyone who is fan of the classic video game System Shock or System Shock 2 as their decision to upload a virus they were assured would be harmless proves to be the apparent stupid decision it was. Horrific changes are reported in the nanotechnology upgrades of their highest level passengers and things just get continuously worse. I’d also say it reminded me of Dead Space but since that game was inspired by System Shock, it feels a bit redundant.

At its simplest, Cold Sleep is a sci-fi zombie book. That doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly entertaining for what it is, though. The heart of every horror movie is whether you care for the characters involved and Luke Hindmarsh is extremely good at developing his doomed characters. Kara, the star, is ironically the most unlikable as she’s the kind of person who would be a villain in your typical cyberpunk story. However, that makes her a refreshing change as one of her earliest actions shows that she’s willing to do just about anything to survive. It makes her unpredictable and helps elevate the story’s content beyond the cliche.

Luke Hindmarsh also makes some interesting sci-fi exploration of concepts like AI, hive minds, transhumanism, and other issues you wouldn’t think would get touched on. At the end of the day, it’s still about making cybernetic monsters out to kill or assimilate the passengers like the Borg but it’s a far smarter book than it had to be. This intelligent thinking through of the implications makes it function as both a science fiction as well as a horror novel, helping the book be more than the sum of its parts.

If I had one issue with the book, it’s the fact that the author chose to write Cold Sleep in the present tense. Given Charles Dickens wrote in the present tense and the Hunger Games, this isn’t a bad thing but initially threw me. I can understand why the author did so, though, because that provides a sense of unpredictability to the events going on as they happen. It also influences the end that I feel was very strong and I won’t spoil in the slightest.

In conclusion, Cold Sleep is another great addition to Luke Hindmarsh’s library and an excellent horror lit story from Crossroad Press. If you like survival horror, this is an “adult read” for things like Resident Evil or Silent Hill IN SPACE. The characters are likable, the world-building consistent, and the concepts are interesting. If it’s not a 5/5 and classic of literature, it’s certainly a 4.5/5 with no complaints.

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REVIEW: Diablo IV

Here at Grimdark Magazine, a lucky few of us obtained Early Access to the highly anticipated Diablo IV, Blizzard Entertainment’s latest instalment in their phenomenally successful Diablo video game franchise. Initial Early Access was granted on March 17th-19th, with a fully public Open Beta occurring the following weekend (24th-26th). Being fortunate enough to play across both weekends, I’m pleased to report that I’ve been very excited by what I’ve seen so far.

Thirty years after the events of Diablo III—where the Eternal Conflict between the High Heavens and Burning Hells has left humanity scrabbling to rebuild their lives in the dirt—a legendary name emerges: Lilith, Daughter of Hatred, Creator of Sanctuary and Our Blessed Mother. Once banished to the void by her angel lover Inarius for slaughtering both angels and demons to protect their Nephalem offspring, Lilith has been summoned once more to Sanctuary: to reclaim her power, enthral the hearts of humankind, and consume the world with hatred.

The nature of Diablo’s hack-and-slash, dungeon-crawling gameplay has always been an addictive one. Diablo IV is no different. Although there’s absolutely nothing new in this category for veteran players (except a few extra moves such as climbing walls and sliding down slopes), truthfully, there’s only joy in that familiarity.

Meanwhile, players for whom Diablo IV will be their first foray into Sanctuary will have absolutely no problems getting sucked in along with the rest of us. The storyline is nebulous and tropey enough to be almost completely ignored in favour of having enormous fun: completing side quests, plundering dungeons, levelling up and laying waste to your literal legions of hellish enemies.

Overall, my main impression is how visually stunning everything is. The opening cut scene is brutal, gory and deliciously creepy, and there is a very a real sense of bleak, desolate hopelessness clinging to the environments you’re exploring. Tonally, Diablo IV feels reminiscent of Diablo II (and for those who relish a little gore and evil in their fantasy worlds, this is a very good thing). Character customisations have also been greatly improved upon, with players having far greater control over the appearance of their favourite weapons and armour without having to pay too terrible a price. I loved having my character look so fashionably fierce early doors without being forced to trade off aesthetics in favour of keeping my buffs.

Early Access players were given the entirety of Act 1 to play on maximum difficulty of World Tier II (Veteran), although we could only initially choose from 3 of the 5 available classes: Barbarian; Sorcerer and Rogue. Druid and Necromancer became available during the Open Access weekend.

Between us, my partner and I managed to test out all but the bear-shifting Druid, although Grimdark Magazine’s Adrian chose Druid on his playthrough and confirmed they were a lot of fun. Of the five classes, the Sorcerer—a ranged attacker—was my personal favourite, especially when paired with the melee Barbarian, which made for varied and challenging gameplay.

Sadly, the skeleton-raising Necromancer is ridiculously overpowered, to the point my partner and I were able to leave the game running for an hour on top of a world event where enemies were constantly spawning. Whilst we ate our dinner, our characters remained alive, completely unharmed and protected by my partner’s Necromancer skeleton army. Without having to lift a finger ourselves, we returned to a pile of steaming corpses in the snow. It is my sincere hope the Necromancer class gets nerfed in time for the full release in June, along with the excessive item and coin accumulation system, which left us both feeling pretty god-like far too early on.

As expected with Early Access experiences, there were multiple benefits and drawbacks to the testing weekends. For example, players could earn the Beta Wolf Pack Cosmetic Items, to be accessed upon Diablo IV’s release, if their characters successfully reached Level 20 (all characters maxed out at Level 25).

However, many players were unable to fight certain co-op bosses or participate in featured global events due to server lag issues. Incidentally, it is a source of great frustration that Blizzard continues to insist that players must be permanently connected to their Battle.net account—particularly for those with patchy internet connection, or when Blizzard’s servers crash or are overloaded (which they did multiple times during the beta period).

In conclusion, Diablo IV has all the makings of yet another tour-de-force instalment of the franchise. I know I certainly spent much of the layover between testing weekends itching to get stuck back in, and ever since the Open Beta period ended, all I’ve wanted to do is play more of it. Simply put: 6th June 2023 cannot come soon enough.

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REVIEW: Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey

Infinity Gate is M.R. Carey’s multiverse epic that gives a personal touch to heart-pounding military sci-fi. Infinity Gate builds on the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which considers a branching of the universe into multiple realities that reflect each probable outcome of an experiment, resulting in an effectively infinite number of possible universes. Those that have branched more recently bear a closer resemblance to our own world, whereas earlier branching events could lead to dramatic differences among parallel universes. For example, sentient life has evolved only in a small minority of possible Earths. In some incarnations, other animal families have achieved self-awareness before humans, becoming the dominant lifeforms on the planet.

While potentially universal in scope, the focus of Infinity Gate is on alternate versions of Earth, and more specifically the Nigerian metropolis of Lagos. It is fascinating to consider the different possible versions of Lagos, which vary from a polluted, war-torn wasteland to a thriving cultural center and scientific hub.

M.R. Carey does an excellent job introducing the scientific concepts behind his multiverse, including the mechanism for stepping between alternate universes. But at its core, Infinity Gate is a character-driven sci-fi.

Infinity Gate has three main protagonists, starting with physicist Hadiz Tambuwal, who discovers a method for stepping into alternate versions of Lagos from the isolation of her laboratory. Hadiz is an especially strong lead character and demonstrates M.R. Carey’s thoughtful incorporation of diverse characters, making Lagos the focal point for scientific discovery and establishing a Black female physicist as the leading scientist of her era.

The second lead character is Essien Nkanika, an uneducated man from a poverty-stricken region of an alternate Nigeria. Grimdark readers will appreciate the gray morality embodied by Essien, whose motives are not always clear in his interactions with Hadiz. Although Essien doesn’t get as much page time as Hadiz, he is still a joy to read.

The third protagonist is Paz, a school-age girl from a more divergent universe where rabbits have become the predominant species on Earth. Paz’s story dominates the second half of Infinity Gate, which pivots away from hard science and more towards action-oriented military sci-fi.

Infinity Gate shines in describing the nuanced relationships between sentient organic species and mechanical beings built on artificial intelligence (AI). The interactions between Hadiz and Paz and their AI friends is particularly touching, especially as they get caught up in the epic conflict between the multiverse alliance of the Pandominion and the AI-driven revolt known, appropriately, as the Ansurrection.

M.R. Carey’s writing is accessible throughout Infinity Gate. Carey describes scientific concepts in an easily digestible way, giving just the right level of detail to make the story believable. He proves equally adept at describing the personal emotions and inner conflicts of his characters.

The first half of Infinity Gate is a solid five-star read, but the second half overstays its welcome, spending too much time on chase sequences with Paz. The action ultimately reaches a climax that falls short of the epic scale of the book. In many ways, the conclusion of Infinity Gate seems to serve primarily as a setup for future installments of the Pandominion series.

Notwithstanding the slight letdown of this latter part of the book, Infinity Gate is an outstanding start to M.R. Carey’s new multiverse series, offering a thought-provoking treatment of the many-worlds concept while introducing us to a cast of characters who appeal equally to the mind and the heart.

4.5/5

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REVIEW: The Insatiable Volt Sisters by Rachel Eve Moulton

The Insatiable Volt Sisters is the second horror novel published by Rachel Eve Moulton, following up on her debut, Tinfoil Butterfly, which was shortlisted for the Shirley Jackson Award.

In The Insatiable Volt Sisters, the Volt family have served as the caretakers of Fowler Island for generations. Located in Lake Erie off the northern coast of Ohio, Fowler Island is a popular vacation destination for summer tourists, but beneath this façade the island seems to feed on the despair of its female inhabitants, driving them to their untimely deaths.

The titular Volt sisters, Beatrice and Henrietta, have come of age on Fowler Island under the auspices of their quirky yet enigmatic father and a small group of female caretakers and companions. After growing up and escaping the island for ten years, Henrietta is called back home in the wake of her father’s unexpected death.

Shirley Jackson’s influence is evident throughout The Insatiable Volt Sisters, which features a pair of sisters who seem to be the spiritual descendants of Merricat and Constance Blackwood from Jackson’s We Have Always Lived at the Castle. Like Jackson’s classic novel, The Insatiable Volt Sisters is an anthem to agoraphobia featuring unreliable narration and a distinctly feminist take on the horror genre.

In contrast to We Have Always Lived at the Castle, Moulton’s novel is told from multiple perspectives on dual timelines. Rachel Eve Moulton’s writing is vivid yet ambiguous, initially befuddling the reader and then gradually building a profound sense of dread. Often disorienting, the story seems to be wandering a bit aimlessly during the middle of the novel. But this confusion is dispelled as a sinister force driving the island’s madness gradually crystallizes.

Rachel Eve Moulton fully embraces the northern Gothic aesthetic. Lake Erie has never felt so eerie as in The Insatiable Volt Sisters, and the ending descends into full-scale Lovecraftian horror. The Volt sisters may be insatiable, but your humble reviewer felt fully satiated upon closing the back cover of this accomplished folk horror.

The Insatiable Volt Sisters is an emotional thrill ride, a meditation on inheritance and the impossibility of escaping one’s past. Despite its pervading sense of despair, the novel is ultimately a feminist tale showing the strength of women who band together to confront the past and overcome an unspeakable evil. Moulton’s work is a must-read for fans of Shirley Jackson and highly recommended for horror enthusiasts in general.

4.5/5

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REVIEW: Veniss Underground by Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer’s first published novel, Veniss Underground, returns to print in a new twentieth anniversary edition, which also features five short stories and a new foreword by Charles Yu. Veniss Underground is considered one of the definitive novels of the New Weird movement of speculative fiction, combining aspects of science fiction, urban fantasy, and horror.

The novel takes place in the futuristic metropolis of Veniss, a city of decadence where artists create Living Art through a bizarre recycling of living organisms. But the real terror lies in the labyrinthine underground world of crime and body horror ruled by the mysterious Quin.

Veniss Underground is told from three points of view: twins Nicholas and Nicola and their friend Shadrach. VanderMeer employs first, second, and third person styles of narration for these three characters, respectively. In each case, VanderMeer succeeds at establishing strong emotional connections with the point of view character. The second-person perspective of Nicola works remarkably well at identifying you, the reader, with Nicola. The complex relationships among the three lead characters are also well developed, providing motivation for journeying to the underworld.

Oh, and there are meerkats, including a genetically engineered assassin meerkat. When considering the depravity of human beings, the meerkats might, in fact, consider themselves to be the superior species.

In a novel so unique, it is difficult to pin down specific influences. Perhaps the greatest influence is H.G. Wells, the pioneer of science fiction from a century prior. Like the 1895 H.G. Wells masterpiece, The Time Machine, Veniss Underground features parallel civilizations above and below ground, where the greatest terror is underneath the surface. The engineering of new animals certainly recalls work by the titular character from The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896).

Beyond H.G. Wells, there is also a strong connection between Veniss Underground and ancient Greek mythology, particularly the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, with Quin playing the role of Hades, lord of the underworld. VanderMeer’s descriptions of the underworld also recall the various circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno.

VanderMeer’s writing is dense yet accessible. The story is a page-turner, drawing the reader in from the first pages and leaving them wanting more. Fortunately, the twentieth anniversary edition provides exactly that: another 150 pages of content set in the same world, including four previously published short stories and one all-new story. Each of the stories provides another slice of life in the city of Veniss. However, the short stories are more like fragments, none of them reaching the same level of storytelling as the main novel. Nevertheless, readers may appreciate having these additional perspectives on the world.

Veniss Underground is the quintessential New Weird novel, deeply unsettling yet strangely compelling. As in his subsequent work, Jeff VanderMeer truly astounds with the inventiveness of his world and storytelling.

4.5/5

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This review was originally published in Grimdark Magazine #34.

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REVIEW: The Tyrant by Michael Cisco

Michael Cisco’s The Tyrant is a strange, dreamlike book. It was Cisco’s second novel, after 1999’s award-winning The Divinity Student. Cisco is sometimes claimed as part of the New Weird tradition, and it’s easy to see why with this book.

The prose of The Tyrant is etched like dreams and nightmares. Much like dreams, the prose doesn’t always flow smoothly, and the unexpected can arrive in a way that feels naturalistic if you’re in time with your dreams, and jarring if you’re reading it from a realist perspective.

Ella is a fifteen-year old genius with legs that don’t work due to polio. She’s a research assistant with Dr. Belhoria, working on research into life and death. Specifically they have a youth with strong astral projection powers who is essentially a paradox, alive and dead at the same time. As Dr. Belhoria explains,

“His syndrome…is a condition of superabundant vitality, with therefore corresponding surplus capacity for death. While in operation as a medium he oscillates between life and death and thus creates a static charge in space, which potential was to a small degree transferred to you.

“Oscillation allows him to be neither dead nor alive but puts him into another category of life altogether, which I will call potential life. His medium state is a reduction to pure potentiality of life…You may imagine an analogy between this and the conversion of potential to kinetic energy in mechanics. When our subject goes static, the life in him is not lost but only converted, and a certain amount of surplus is thrown off in the field of living things–hence the charge you brought away with you yesterday, and which, as you observed, was ectoplasmically expressed.”

Dr. Belhoria’s experiments end up with the youth astrally projecting himself into a liminal space that seems halfway between dream-reality and the afterlife. With his potential energy of life and death, he turns himself into The Tyrant, and wages war with the dead. He takes on Hell itself as if it were the easiest thing in the world. There is no sense that he could lose; that’s not the kind of tension Cisco is working with. The landscape of reality is drastically altered and there is no coming back from it, no return to the status quo. The prose becomes more detached and dream-like.

The walls are not made of stone–somehow she understands, that is, she gets pictures in her mind… The Tyrant has developed a method for culturing bone: when it is still embryonic the bone is highly plastic, moldable into any shape, and is often at this point in the process lightly scented with attar of roses. As it matures the bone stiffens to adamantine hardness, presenting a smooth, unbroken, and continuous surface. The exposed works of the fort are all made of lambent bone white and creamiest soap; leafless black vines, or perhaps some sort of fungus, scribble across the white walls like black creases in snow.

There are few characters of any import in the story. Dr. Belhoria, Ella, and the youth who becomes The Tyrant. Dr. Belhoria has the strongest change, to the point where she seems nearly unrecognizable by the end of the story. Her theories are proven true by the strange new world they occupy, and she just gracefully goes along with it rather than attempting any further explorations.

The youth feels more defined by his role as The Tyrant than a real person, which leaves only Ella. She also doesn’t feel like a particularly defined character, despite much of the novel taking place from her perspective. I’m also uncertain why she had to be so young, given that she’s working as a research assistant to a doctor. She’s never written with a reason to be much younger, she’s never underestimated due to her age, and it simply isn’t a factor in the story being told.

But this is not a story devoted to character in any real way. This is a story devoted to its central conceit, to this strange dream-death world the characters find themselves in. If the world-building and the ideas are not consistent, that’s because dreams never are.

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REVIEW: Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman takes place while the Black Death is ravaging Europe. If the huge outbreaks of plague weren’t enough, civilization is collapsing. The countryside is ravaged by famine, banditry, and a terrified populace. Also, it was orchestrated by Lucifer as an attempt to destroy humanity and perhaps, topple Heaven.

It’s a historical horror novel set during the Black Death. The setting has enough detail to feel alive, and the characters all feel like people of their time, while still being understandable to modern audiences.

A former knight, Thomas Givras, wounded at the Battle of Crecy, excommunicated and disenfranchised, has joined up with bandits for survival at the opening of Between Two Fires. Those bandits find a girl, Delphine, and eat her donkey. Delphine’s father has died and she has been left alone at a farmhouse, easy prey for desperate men. The leader of the bandits decides to sexually assault the girl and without hesitation Thomas kills him and the other bandits. She tags along for protection and he begrudgingly accepts.

I understand if people see the opening with its threat of sexual violence and refuse to read further. I will only note that after the opening sequence it becomes significantly less prominent.

Between Two Fires is structured like a road trip across the European countryside by foot or horse or boat. They get into scrapes, deal with other survivors, some of whom are violent or paranoid. Buehlman alternates this with people who, even as everything collapses, still show kindness. This includes a priest, Pere Matthieu, who joins them. The girl knows they have to travel to Paris and then to Avignon, though she doesn’t know why.

On this road trip, they also come across numerous monsters brought up from the depths of Hell. The book starts with a very historical, grounded sensibility, but as they deal more with supernatural threats the tone of the book changes. The creatures are macabre abominations, with the first monster and The Ones Who Knock by Night being personal favorites.

To engender life had been reserved unto the Lord of Hosts, and the numbers of the alchemy of life had been hidden from the angels.

Yet on the eve of the new war, the fallen under Lucifer had set their hands to the task of creation and tried to bring forth fresh invention; but so far below the Lord were they that they could not quicken any new thing, but only the dead; and they wedded dead flesh together with the souls of the damned and made both live again; and they took the fishes of the sea and river and the creatures of the mountain and woods and corrupted them, made them monstrous in size and quick to do harm; because none of these could propagate, saved by killing, the devil set their hand to each one, working in secret until they made an arsenal of unclean flesh against the day they might release their bestiary into the world of men.

Much of the journey is the slow development of trust as Thomas allows himself to care for Delphine and gains a friendship with the priest. The scenes in which the priest and knight confess to each other are excellent. Thomas and Delphine’s relationship starts with Thomas putting on a gruff face but she senses that he’s not going to harm her or abandon her, and knows she can trust him. Their character arcs flow smoothly and beautifully. Horror works best if you care for the characters.

Rich in detail, with a vivid setting, compelling characters, and several fantastically executed creepy scenarios, Between Two Fires is an absolute masterpiece.

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REVIEW: Savage Legion by Matt Wallace

In Matt Wallace’s Savage Legion, book one of the Savage Rebellion trilogy, the nation of Crache is a paradise of innovation where all who contribute to society may benefit from its wealth. However, beyond its walls in the shadows its citizens are so far removed from that they know not of the dark’s existence, Crache uses the poor and disabused people of society to fight the bloodiest moments its wars. Where once only those judged to have committed the worst crimes were sent to their violent ends fighting Crache’s foes, now Crache needs more and more people to be thrown into the grinder, and one such person who should not be there ends up on the front in the titular Savage Legion, kicking off an action-packed story of war, corruption, and friendship.

In Savage Legion Evie has been pressed from a barroom brawl and into the Savage Legion, the condemned rag-clad wall of flesh the Crache empire throws at its foes before sending the real soldiers in. In the capital city of Crache itself, Lexi has a week to clear her husband Brio’s name from the charge of treason, lest the leaders of Crache scrub out her Gen (guild / union), the only remaining voice in parliament for the poor people of the Bottoms. Dyeawan has been taken from a dungeon to an island. Her new boss invents wondrous things, and her sharp mind and ability to detect all lies has her soon questioning just what he is inventing, and for what purpose. Daian is an Aegin (a member of the Crache policing force), super human fast with a blade, and interestingly indifferent to the laws he is supposed to be enforcing.

Savage Legion is primarily centred on Evie’s time in the Savage Legion as she and her fellow Savages are thrown into battle after battle, Lexi as the new the leader of Gen Stalbraid as she searches for her husband Brio and realises that she can be so much more than just a host to her husband’s guests, and Dyeawan’s induction into the mysterious Planning Cadre. Evie is the raw brutal reality of the Savage Legion; Lexi experiences the terrifying corruption of Crache’s governing and policing entities; while Dyeawan is an insight into the machinations of those driving society for the betterment of its citizens.

Crache as a nation seems modelled on democratic socialism quite heavy handily, showcasing the good and the bad (the bad obviously being the more fun to read about and having the most impact on the story). It’s an engaging world to play in for Wallace that we can all likely relate to in one way or another, and the history of Crache’s change from a monarchy-style governing approach a thousand years past to an approach that favours the people and their value to society, and how the history of that change has been controlled and changed to suit the paradise narrative, is an interesting theme that I enjoyed reading about.

With the author being US-based, it’s relatively clear that Crache is a fantastical representation of the US with all of its current problems. The allegories for police brutality, government manipulation of its population, and the downtrodden, disabused, poor, and unwanted banding together against the machine are very starkly and bluntly written, with little subtlety. Things such as Aegins needing to hit unofficial arrest quotas, and people using money and influence to become more equal than others, for example, I felt were quite heavy-handedly done. I will say, however, that Wallace’s approach to including plenty of human diversity and inclusivity was welcome, though not as smoothly done as Alex Marshall’s The Crimson Empire trilogy in my mind. It is also likely, based on how bluntly some of the other themes in this book are written, that this is entirely purposeful–after all, the time in the US of subtle messaging is years dead and gone.

For the grimdark fan, while on the surface this felt like a book where I would find plenty of gritty anti-heroes to read about, it is an epic dark fantasy. The good characters might be covered in a bit of muck and blood, but they are good characters, and by the end some of the antagonists become at times almost comically evil. There are plenty of characters in this book worth investing in–Evie, Taru, and Dyeawan, for me–and readers will likely get plenty of enjoyment from the bold themes and messaging throughout, but the nuanced anti-hero and villain the grimdark fan chases is not what I found in this book.

Savage Legion is a barnstorming and bloody adventure with plenty of modern themes amongst the medieval fantasy world brutality for readers to connect with. Dark fantasy and epic fantasy fans–especially those US-based ones–are likely to get a very big kick out of this book. I, most certainly, will be picking up book two, Savage Bounty, immediately so I can continue this story.

3.5/5

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REVIEW: The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

In The Ten Percent Thief, Lavanya Lakshminarayan immerses us in Apex City, formerly known as Bangalore, once the Silicon Valley of India and now governed by a technocapitalist meritocracy. The Big Brother of the tale is Bell Corp, a corporation that has created its own technocratic caste system by ranking individuals on its signature bell curve. Individual productivity and the virality of social media posts help to improve one’s score, propelling them toward the upper tail of the bell curve. But it’s not enough to reach the top percentile: citizens must continually strive toward perfection to maintain this privileged ranking. Bell Corp has a zero-tolerance policy toward failure: anything less than perfection is unacceptable.

The harshest dichotomy in the neo-caste system of the novel arises between “Virtual” citizens at the upper end of the curve and “Analog” individuals at the lower tail. The Virtuals enjoy a technologically privileged, purportedly utopian lifestyle. But in reality, this existence has taken the humanity out of humankind. Despite numerous technological luxuries, being a Virtual is a stressful existence, with the constant fear of becoming unproductive and sinking to a lower caste. Moreover, Virtuals are implanted with a chip that monitors their thoughts and nudges them toward making decisions favorable for Bell Corp.

In the lowest caste, Analogs of The Ten Percent Thief live an existence similar to our own with (gasp) face-to-face conversations, trips to the grocery store to buy food, and newspapers that are printed on actual paper. The Analogs are the new untouchables, treated like zoo animals by the Virtuals who observe them through glass but are forbidden from interacting directly. In a further act of dehumanization, Virtuals even refer to Analogs with the pronoun “it.” The Analogs who fall to the lowest part of the curve are considered beyond saving and are ultimately harvested for their organs.

The Ten Percent Thief is constructed as a set of interconnected short stories, shifting perspective among a diverse set of characters from both the Virtual and Analog worlds. Lavanya Lakshminarayan employs both first- and third-person narration to show us different facets of Apex City. My favorite chapter is actually told in the second person by an AI algorithm implanted in the brain of a Virtual news reporter, addressing the reporter as “you” from within her own brain. She struggles against the AI algorithm as it tries to optimize her as an individual. It is difficult to separate her own genuine thoughts from the whispers of the AI.

The point of view characters in The Ten Percent Thief include a Virtual schoolchild having contact with Analog society for the first time, a Virtual citizen who has become unproductive and demoted to Analog status, and a Virtual worker who compromises his own ethics to reach the upper echelon of the bell curve. We also see a Virtual social media influencer terrified of people discovering the truth behind her carefully crafted persona, a pregnant woman who defies Bell Corp’s draconian rules about procreation, and a group of Analog revolutionaries plotting to secure justice and equality for their people, including the titular Ten Percent Thief herself.

The Ten Percent Thief has an undeniable Orwellian flavor, with citizens constantly monitored and punished for any views that oppose those of their tyrannical government. It is especially interesting to read how the Virtual people attempt to control their own minds, pushing out any nonconformist thought and focusing their attention on corporate-approved ways of thinking.

Although it embraces all the familiar tropes of techno dystopian science fiction, The Ten Percent Thief shines because of Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s finely honed prose. Lakshminarayan succeeds in establishing emotional connections to the rotating cast of characters in each chapter, while providing a broader view of Apex City society. Lakshminarayan’s pacing is excellent throughout, with none of the chapters outstaying their welcome. The book ultimately circles back to the beginning, providing new perspectives based on everything we have witnessed in between.

The Ten Percent Thief is a deeply thought-provoking and timely novel that updates the traditional notion of castes for a near-future meritocratic society infused with artificial intelligence. The future caste system is every bit as rigid and frightening as the old system India discarded decades ago.

5/5

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REVIEW: Wraithbound by Tim Akers

Wraithbound presents a world that is literally coming apart at the seams. Reality-warping elemental Chaos is only barely restrained by monumental, magically-infused barricades. The fortunate and affluent live deep within the Ordered Lands, while those less privileged are relegated to the outer borders, suffering the corrosive influence of the roiling Chaos just outside the walls. As the creators and maintainers of the so-called “orderwalls,” the mages of the Iron College have become a prominent pillar of society. Known as spiritbinders, these mages interweave a portion of their souls with an elemental spirit, gaining power over that spirit’s domain. Each spiritbinder dedicates themselves to a single element. Air, water, fire, and stone are some common choices, while others form pacts with more abstract entities, such as manifestations of law or life. Rumors also exist of renegade spiritbinders who entangle themselves with darker entities, such as demons or the souls of the deceased. With the continued survival of civilization at stake, the Iron College has established the justicars, a ruthless security force tasked with both policing the ranks of the spiritbinders and also hunting down unsanctioned “feral” mages operating outside the strictures of the College.

Young Rae Kelthannis finds his comfortable lifestyle turned upside down when his father, a minor weather-controlling stormbinder in the employ of Baron Hadroy, becomes entangled in a justicar-led purge of heretical magic. The Kelthannis family flee to the edge of civilization, eking out a meager life in the shadow of an orderwall. Despite the risk of justicar scrutiny, after a miserable decade of self-exile Rae gives in to the temptation to follow in his father’s footsteps. He attempts a spiritbinding of his own, using his father’s fractured sword as a focus for the magic. Instead of joining with a minor air elemental as intended, he finds his spirit entwined with something much more treacherous: a wrathful soul from the realm of the dead. This disastrous summoning has lethal consequences for Rae’s loved ones, and he immediately finds himself pursued by both justicars and an even more implacable foe: a brutal mage encased in a mechanical suit. To survive, Rae will have to come to grips with both his father’s hidden past and his dangerous new spiritbound partner.

Wraithbound is an epic fantasy where magic takes center stage. The various types of spiritbinding and their myriad manifestations are examined in intriguing detail, providing fun daydream fodder to readers and making this book an easy recommendation to fans of Brandon Sanderson’s intricate magic systems. Command of elements like fire and water are common enough in fantasy stories, but Rae’s tumultuous alliance with the wraith is both fresh and compelling. Rae is reckless and untrained, while the wraith bristles at being compelled into servitude. With the wraith seeking ever more control over his earthly host’s body, the reader is given the sense that Rae has caught a tiger by the tail. He requires his deathly companion’s dark assistance if he is to live to see another day, but the wraith’s agenda and Rae’s own are often at odds.

Wraithbound is also rich with layered mystery. Although it’s given away in the title, Rae doesn’t discover the true nature of his bound spirit until the halfway point of the book. The actual identity of the wraith isn’t revealed until much later. The role of Rae’s father in the magical catastrophe that has come to be known as the Hadroy Heresy and the ultimate goal of Rae’s pursuers are also crucial parts of the puzzle he must solve. I felt clever whenever one of my suppositions turned out to be correct, and absorbed even further into the narrative with every unexpected twist. Akers keeps the reader guessing.

Promoted as the first book in The Spiritbinder Sage, Wraithbound concludes with some tantalizing hints about the future direction of the series. However, prospective readers can rest assured that Wraithbound provides a self-contained tale with a proper ending, rather than merely a fraction of the story with an arbitrary or abrupt conclusion.

Much like Rae himself, the reader is whisked from one danger to the next, with very few pauses to rest. Rae’s perilous journey takes him far beyond the Ordered Lands and into the Chaos-infested wilderness, the skies, and even the shadowy land of the dead. Fast-paced and packed with cinematic magical duels, Wraithbound is an exhilarating ride from start to finish.

Read Wraithbound by Tim Akers

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