Android Novel: Strange Flesh

Android

by Matthew Farrer

It is the future, and while the world has changed, crime has not. A tangled web of lies and corruption surrounds the New Angeles headquarters of Jinteki, a massive mega-corporation that leads the industry in cloning technology. When corporate watchdog and media blogger Tallie Perrault stumbles upon evidence of a shocking coverup, she begins to unravel a conspiracy with world-changing implications. Now, Perrault must share her story with veteran NAPD detective and troubled psychic Caprice Nisei. But can these two women uncover the truth before it's too late?

Genres: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Matthew Farrer writes mostly for Black Library. He lives in Australia.

Reviews

[Paul Schulzetenberg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ouch. The first standalone book based on the Android universe, Android: Free Fall, was a good-if-not-great book, which is a spectacular surprise for a tie-in book. As a result, I thought this book might follow in the same footsteps. No such luck. This was pretty bad.

The biggest problem here is the oh-so-flat characterization. The main character has a serious case of "woman written from a man's perspective," and the other three main characters are direly predictable and unbelievable. The plot should make this storyline a page-turner, but I found this hard to get through because of the clumsy and sometimes eye-rolling style.

[Alan Castree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me way to long to finish this, but overall I enjoyed it. If you’re a fan of the Android Universe setting it’s a nice exploration of a part of it.

[Jonathan Cassie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book at GenCon excited to see some additional development in the Android universe. Great games, but this book was just ok. There's a sense of paranoia in the game - a what's that again? quality that I would have expected in the book but wasn't there. I wonder if the narrative strategy might have been more compelling in a screenplay?

[Thomas Needham · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading a bunch of Arkham Horror novels, this was my first Android tie-in novel and I was more than a little disappointed. I didn't find myself immersed in the Android universe or engaged with the story or characters as much as I'd hoped. The story was basic and the characters weren't all that interesting, besides one character who ended up being completely unexplored and underused (more on her later).

I didn't like the jumping forward and back where most of the story was revealed in flashbacks because, as I suspected, it turned out there was absolutely no point to this convoluted story-telling. All it did was reveal the end of the story at the beginning of the book! No spoilers in this review. It's right there in the first chapter, and then what's the point in putting the protagonist in peril when you know they survive to tell their flashback story. "The Usual Suspects" format but no surprise ending here.

My hope was that it served to introduce the detective investigating the scenario early and the flashbacks would catch up to the present mid-way through the book with the story continuing on with the detective in a leading role, but despite the detective being the one character I was somewhat interested in, she got absolutely nothing to do. After a tantalising back story, the promise of a cat-and-mouse game with the protagonist (or maybe a team-up to take on the corporations) we get nothing. The most interesting character in the whole book just sits there asking questions like an exposition tool.

There was no character development to speak of and perilous situations were forced by having characters making stupid decisions and doing stupid things that were obviously stupid to everyone but them.

It was fun seeing some names and places from the game's universe, but the sense of paranoia and the underdog struggle to fight the corporations just wasn't there. Maybe I'm expecting too much from a commissioned novel where the author is probably handed a beginner's guide to the universe and told to churn out a novel in 8 weeks (honestly, I have no idea how this process works).

Overall, it kind of felt like a run-of-the-mill, filler episode in a good TV show. It was't terrible, but I wouldn't watch a show if this was what every episode was like. I may try another Android book in the future, but in the meantime it's back to Arkham for me.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s admittedly a tougher start to get into the swing of but pays dividends in the end I think. Valentin’s near suicidal actions seem out of place and it’s tough to think, given the context of the book, how he could exist for so long in quite that fashion. I felt the end wrapped everything up nicely but it wasn’t until the faint threads of emotion really came to the fore until those last 100 pages. It took a while to get there though and while I appreciated the exposure back and forth with Nisei it took a while for it to find its feet and was better for the growing focus on Tallie’s account. Once at the end though, there it nicely captures the betrayal, double dealing and self serving elements we expect from a cyberpunk future.

[Jim Street · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a good bit of world building throughout the book, which I enjoyed. But there were some character issues that made certain plot points unbelievable. The book was a bit too long for the story it actually told. As it was in the Android universe and that Detective Nisei was in it, I really wish there had been way more actual detective story, with her out in the world, and lots more of the cyber side of things. Nisei and the cyber/hacking stuff played way more of support roles than anything. I expected more, hence the 3 stars.

[Charles Lupo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the fifth Android universe novel I've read and I think it was the best one since Golem. It helped that we got a different perspective this time, and it was mainly about clones/Jinteki not bioroids.

I'm really only reading these because I picked them up at a deep discount, and to prepare for the Android RPG.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an Android setting piece, this does a lot of great world building The story checks the boxes for the detective noir theme as well as the unresolved justice of cyberpunk. However, I thought the detective was underexplored, and the primary plot resolution was a disappointing bit of a deus ex machina.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really great framing device for this book, but ultimately the plot is resolved in a bit of a strange way, which slightly spoiled it. Onto the novellas!

[Jason Panella · Rating 5 out of 5]

A treat of a pulpy sci fi novel. Maybe not as straight-forward as the other Android novels, it's the best-written of the bunch. I can't help but think that some of the people saying this is "bad" had very specific expectations based around a misunderstanding of hardboiled fiction and film noir. Strange Flesh is hardboiled in the purest sense, but it's coming at it from a James M. Cain approach as opposed to the more common Dashiell Hammett method.

[Queenosiris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little shocked at how many bad reviews this got...No doubt this is a pulp sci-fiction read through-and-through, but I thought it was a compelling, sometimes funny, story. The main character, while being largely absent and in the background, I thought was hashed out well. This was a fun, imaginative story, and as a huge fan of the Android/Netrunner franchise, really thought this helped peel back the complexity of the Android universe. I actually suggest this book!

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book surprised me; it's more of a "What was done?" Than a "who done it" mystery. It took some getting used to, but I enjoyed the delve into the Android universe. Also, and this may have been influenced by playing the detective noir game recently, but I was really pleased with how unsatisfying the ending was. It felt very true to the dystopia that is New Angeles.

[Taddow · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the Android universe and enjoyed Free Fall and Golem but I was a little disappointed in this book. Despite a few interesting parts, I just couldn't get into the story. Not sure what happened as I have enjoyed the author's past works.

[Meanderthal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Free Fall first. While not as engaging, I found Strange Flesh to be a pleasant snapshot of the Android universe. The internal dialog and psychic spillover of the detective was my favorite part.

[Kristýna Obrdlíková · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nevyužitý potenciál.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid cyberpunk writing with interesting characters and a plot that matches and expands the universe known from board/card games.

[Ramón Peña · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining mix of mystery and science fiction. Set in the Android cyberpunk world, and dealing with some dirty secrets in the rise of Jinteki as the premier megacorporation in the clone business.

[Owen]

On a bare-bones level, this story was effectively written. However, the characters' motivations seemed inconsistent to me, and there was a decent amount of deus ex machina about the ending.

[Rene · Rating 5 out of 5]

really great read. fast paced, action packed and building up a great case.