The Duchess: A thrilling science fantasy prequel

by Claudia Blood

A prodigious hacker, a shattered past, what will she sacrifice to uncover the truth?

Cynthia is a mostly normal geeky eleven year old when tragedy strikes. A devastating explosion strips her hearing and claims her parents' lives, altering the course of her life.

Devastated. Lost. Lonely.

Cynthia embarks on a perilous path of vengeance. But her relentless pursuit attracts the attention of an unknown stalker, and she must rely on her friend Thomas to protect her. Together, they challenge the boundaries of legality as Cynthia merges with the net and harnesses its power in her quest for justice.

Cynthia must become the villain to be a hero."

122 pages, ebook

Published July 20, 2023

About the author

In spite of a busy life wrapped around a military husband, two young children, a dog, bunnies, and a day job, Claudia Blood manages to pen cozy, urban, and science fantasies.

My upcoming books:
A Christmas Tail, Horizon Echo, and Scale of the Dragon

Reviews

[Cath · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is part of the Renegades Rising series and the main character is Cynthia, who as the story begins is only eleven years old and has lives at home with her parents. That is until the night she is told to grab her go bag, phone and coat and get outside by the mysterious Philetagain8, who sends messages to her secret mobile phone, where she is known as The Duchess. Shortly after she gets out of the house, her family home explodes, killing both of her parents and leaving her almost deaf from the concussion blast. A few horrible years in foster care have to be endured until her mysterious friend helps her learn how to hack and eventually set up an alternative identity and rent an apartment and another safe house. She survives by hacking and has promised to discover who was behind her parents deaths, knowing it must have been linked to CynGen, where her father worked and had raised an issue about a faulty product which had to be recalled and must have caused the company to lose a lot of money! At the same time experiments were being carried out to connect people’s brains to the web, but of six who tried, most had come out of it damaged it not dead, so no more attempts were allowed.

When she is about seventeen, she keeps seeing a man called Thomas in the coffee shop she frequents when she does get out of her apartment, and although she finds him attractive the place isn’t conducive to talking with her hearing loss. After feeling someone might be following her, Thomas becomes her hero as she is attacked and takes her home, only to find someone has been in and wrecked everything she owns already. He offers her a place to stay and wants to make her his partner in finding out information on his rival at CynGen where he works. She feels she can trust him and starts to help, but it is only by her merging with the net personally and setting a crawler and her bots into action, that she finds what he needs just in time! She eventually reveals her true age but that doesn’t seem to faze him as he says he will wait for her and wants her in his life forever. He offers her serum, something that will prolong her life for centuries, and they are married. He pulls out a report he had already, when she asks for help to find out the truth of her parents’ house fire, and decides to let it go for now and believes him that it was an accident. Decades pass with her helping through her hacking, to find information for Thomas, to aid him in his work.

Only at the end does she find out about a number of other hackers who have been in the mix of her life and possibly linked to her parents death and her stalker. One has sent a hacker style warning to the apartment she shares with Thomas, leaving her to realise something is up and bugging out would be a lifesaving move. Her friendship made in the net still exists and is helpful to her with navigating the net, but computers and their systems have evolved since she started hacking and information and secrets are harder to come by and also harder to avoid detections whilst doing so. Soon she will come across one of the hackers who turns out to be an ally not a foe. Shocking revelations will leave her devastated and having to start over, as she has even more revenge to gain now! I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.

[Sharon Mariampillai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Read

I received an advance review copy for free from Hidden Gems, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you, Claudia Blood for the opportunity to read your book. This was an enjoyable read. This book is part of the Renegades Rising series. However, this book can be read as a standalone as well. In this book, we meet 11-year-old Cynthia aka “The Duchess,” and follow her story. She is a prodigious hacker. She is trying to find out why a company name CynGen ordered for her parents to be killed in a supposed “fire”. On the course of her journey to find the truth, she meets this mysterious man named Thomas. They become a couple and fall in love. This story was engaging and full of suspense. I wanted to continue the story and I read wanted to see how it ended. I also was surprised by the plot twist. I just wished the book was a bit longer. I thought Cynthia was a great character. She is determined, witty and smart. She is my type of heroine. The one that never backs down. I cannot wait for the four of them to be together in the last book. I am looking forward to book 5. Also, I cannot wait to read more Claudia Blood books. Overall, a great read.

[Delphia Von Heeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Duchess is book 4 in the Renegades Rising by Claudia Blood. The story opens in 2064 with Cynthia 11 years old. She is deaf and her parents are dead as a result of an explosion. Her friend, Thomas, is helping her as she seeks vengeance. Cynthia ages from 11--87. I found an interesting story with surprises along the way. I am looking forward to reading book 5 which is the conclusion of Cynthia's story. I received an arc for free and am leaving my review voluntarily.

[Kat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This had everything that I enjoyed from the previous three books in the Renegades Rising series. The characters continued to work in this sci-fi series, they felt like the same in this universe. Claudia Blood does a fantastic job in writing this and leaving me wanting more.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Anne Curry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book in the series. Pulls you in with intrigue. Well written easy, clean read. Good dystopian fantasy. Leaves you on a cliffhanger. Could be read alone or in any order but really should read entire series.

Betrayal, hacking, love?, murder, loss of parents, hope, investigation,.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.