Ninth Step Station – a review
My third ‘cloak and dagger’ read of 2019 was a new approach for me – serialized fiction released in episodes week after week. The publishers, Serial Box offered me an ARC as I had read and reviewed a novel by one of the four writers, back in September 2017: Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi. I am grateful and glad I agreed to read the ARC for Season 1 of Ninth Step Station.
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Ninth Step
Station: The Complete Season 1
(Ninth
Step Station Series #1.1-1.10)
by
Malka Ann Older (Goodreads Author), Fran Wilde (Goodreads Author), Jacqueline Koyanagi (Goodreads Author), Curtis C.
Chen (Goodreads Author)
A local cop. A US
Peacekeeper. A divided Tokyo.
Years of disaster and conflict have left Tokyo split between great
powers.
In the city of drone-enforced borders, body-mod black markets, and desperate
resistance movements, US peacekeeper Emma Higashi is assigned to partner with
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Detective Miyako Koreda.
Together, they must race to solve a series of murders that test their
relationship and threaten to overturn the balance of global power. And amid the
chaos, they each need to decide what they are willing to do for peace.
Review 4.4 stars
I was pleased to receive this serialised fiction as an ARC
from Serial Box Publishing as it was an exciting read.
This police procedural set in a near future Tokyo consists
of ten engrossing episodes written by different authors, including at least one,
Jacqueline Koyanagi whose debut novel I’ve read and reviewed.
The style is reminiscent of US crime series, but with its
own interesting approach as the sense of an imminent future pervades but doesn’t
take over the plots. This could be ‘tomorrow’ with China occupying part of
Japan and a sector of Tokyo, and with the US playing what is meant to be
peacekeeper. Ninth Step Station has
some fascinating characters, interesting plots, futuristic tech and very real
political intrigue.
US peacekeeper Emma Higashi (Japanese-American)
is assigned to partner with Tokyo Metropolitan Police Detective Miyako
Koreda at Nine Step Station, one of the key TMP stations. The cases they are
tasked with solving are standalone, but there are overarching events that carry
through the novel/series with the usual TV-style cliff-hanger to lead into
Series 2.
The crimes in the ten episodes vary from suspected suicide and
domestic violence to assassination and terrorism with differing levels of
technological involvement such as body-mods, drones, data mining, and data
sleeves – all realistic evolutions of existing tech. The data sleeves
especially play a key role in enabling people to instantly communicate and interface
– although this is also a city troubled by regular power-cuts/blackouts. However,
the war and the gangs/Yakuza make solving crimes challenging with some data irretrievable
and some information obscured by human evasiveness.
Each of the writers gives an individual feel to each episode,
yet together they create a seamless story with consistent and evolving characters,
a realistic-feeling Tokyo post-occupation and those building overarching
events. The TV-style structure means the episodes are formula to some degree,
but they are enjoyable – although not as complex as some mysteries I read.
Both the two main characters and the supporting players are distinctly
portrayed, and there are developing attributes and discoveries as the episodes
unfold. The misunderstanding and conflicts arising between the two protagonists
due to cultural differences, personal secrets and political agendas create a
more complex relationship than an instant crime-fighting partnership and that relationship
has room to grow. I was also pleased to see that the issues of gender bias and sexuality
were addressed – although not as suspected.
Not knowing Tokyo, I assume that the world-building does
build on the present city, although I realise that the format only allows the
setting to receive less attention than the stand-out characters who are what
will pull me back here.
I look forward to the sequel as there is plenty to build on
in Ninth Step Station.
Story – four stars
Setting/World-building
– four stars
Authenticity –
four stars
Characters – five
stars
Structure – four
stars
Readability – five
stars
Editing – five
stars
