Alpha

Code Breakers #1

by Colin F. Barnes

Code Breakers: Alpha is a futuristic, high-stakes thrill ride. In a post-apocalyptic future, humanity survives within a single domed city run by a shadowy benefactor known only as The Family. Each week the death lottery claims more lives and Gerry Cardle, head of the lottery, inexplicably finds himself the next on the list. Something's wrong with the system. A deadly artificial intelligence has breached security. Gerry has just 7 days to live. Forced off the grid, Gerry has to do the unthinkable: willingly leave the city. What he finds in the abandoned lands will shatter his perception of what it means to be human. Everything he had been told before was a lie. In a deadly world of conspiracies, Gerry has to sacrifice everything he loves in order to save it, and time is running out. Look out for the other books in the series: Code Breakers Alpha Code Breakers Beta Code Breakers Gamma

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Cyberpunk, Dystopia, Amazon, Post Apocalyptic, Fantasy

262 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 2012

About the author

Colin F. Barnes is a British author of thrillers featuring working-class heroes doing extraordinary things. He is published by 47North, Audible, and Podium. He is represented by Paul Lucas of Janklow & Nesbit.

Reviews

[donna backshall · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel's highly repetitive and utterly derivative outline seems almost like it was created with code and fleshed out frantically:

define mainChar(Gerry);

inflict bewilderingKnowledge(mainChar);

delete comfortableLife;

for (0-5) do loop(mainChar)
	select painfulBlackout,
	add nearDeathExperience,
	randomize newSuspiciousChar,
	insert puzzlePiece,
	next madMaxLocation,
	do hack,
	get hacked;

return home();

inflict bewilderingKnowledge2(mainChar);

define cliffHanger();

end();

Granted, this stub is crappy code, but the tech and the hacking in this novel were hardly exacting either. Just how much research did the author do? I got the feeling the author isn't as tech-savvy as merely good at following his publisher's orders: he was simply given some key terms to utilize, so he did. For example, "VPN" was unnecessarily defined, and then used improperly multiple times. This is a basic telecom concept, and its misuse was impossible to overlook.

I finished it, only to discover no real resolution is given. This is just a teaser for the next novel. (Damn, I hate it when authors do that. Why can't we leave that kind of antic to sleazy clickbait scammers and reality show producers?) Unfortunately there is no character in the first novel I am willing to follow to a second, so we'll never really know how it all turns out for our guy Gerry with the nine lives and no clue.

[David Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starting the new year off with a 5 star book! I thought this one was great. It's like "The Matrix" meets "The Road Warrior" meets "Logan's Run". (If you remember "Logan's Run" you are showing your age like me) If you like science fiction and fast paced action, this is the book for you.

[Victoria Hooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Artificial Evil combines cyberpunk with a post-apocalyptic world. Many, if not all, cyberpunks tend to take place in some kind of dystopian future, but this felt quite unique to me, merging computer speak, hackers and high levels of tech with a desert-wasteland landscape where much of civilisation has been destroyed.

These two sub-genres actually seem slightly incongruous together – how is it possible for the kind of sleek, high-tech gadgetry and virtual reality of cyberpunk, not to mention its themes of militant capitalism and evil corporations, to exist in a world that has been decimated and where physical resources are scarce? Post-apocalyptic stories tend to feature bands of humans fighting for their lives, perhaps re-building civilisation, not hacking elite security networks and constructing artificial life.

However, the author does pull this off extremely well. There’s City Earth, a domed super-city more reminiscent of cyberpunk settings, protected from the ravaged outside world. Inside, the populace is controlled by The Family, a mysterious and powerful organisation. Outside the city the world is a wasteland, but survivors cling to their old way of life, with machinery and gadgets and even robots. There are computers left from before the Cataclysm, and life-forms that are part-human, part-A.I., as well as some intelligent individuals with their own mysterious agendas. Add to this the idea that evil can be programmed, and viruses infiltrating the city and its people like demons. Gerry and his friends are techxorcists, hackers skilled enough to be able to ‘exorcise’ the demons from the network.

There are so many ideas swirling around in this book, and the author keeps them under control at all times, so that they seem to slide naturally together. The overall feeling is of something between Neuromancer, Blade Runner, Mad Max and The Exorcist. It’s kinda crazy, but it works.

While the world feels convincing, at the same time it seems slightly deceptive or false, like a high-def TV screen showing one, polished version of reality, as if we can never be quite sure what’s real and what’s not. The latter element complements the story perfectly, as everything Gerry has known collapses around him and he’s left struggling for answers as well as having to question his own humanity. Gerry is a very easy character to like; he’s confused but quick to adapt, is compassionate and skilled, he’s been cruelly torn from his old life, and despite everything that’s happened to him he manages to be sympathetic without being angsty. The book did remind me a few too many times just how special Gerry is, which got slightly annoying at points, but the revelation of who (or what) he is was very interesting.

The story is exciting and races forward from beginning to end without any bits that drag. There’s enough mystery to really intrigue the reader, but plenty of action and character development to keep all the unanswered questions from dominating the plot. Most of these are addressed at the end (in a great finale), with some cliffhangers for the second book. There’s also a satisfying revelation about The Family, turning them from what could have been a clichéd ‘bad guy’ into something much more ambiguous. I really liked this; it took the concepts and themes of cyberpunk but played around with the typical all-out-evil corporation-villain of the genre, while also exploring the more post-apocalyptic focus on normal humans' mistakes and immorality, and the fight to survive. I thought the book raised some interesting questions about evil (appropriately enough considering the title): where does evil come from? Can it be programmed? I would have liked the concept of artificial evil to have been explored even further, but I’m hoping that will be touched on more in the sequels.

An exciting story, good characters, a really well-written world, and quite a unique vision of a future setting – I really enjoyed Artificial Evil and I'm looking forward to book two!

This review also appears on my blog.

Thank you to Colin F. Barnes for providing a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

The characters aren't developed, and for what development there is, the characters don't do things any person plausibly would. The characters give trust like it's samples at chocolate convention. Great idea, but horrible implementation. This is the first book I have ever deleted without finishing. It IS fast paced. So fast paced that the author didn't have any way to move through the situations other than conveniences. "Oh, I don't have a key for this door, let me throw my hands up in exasperation; oh look at that, a bird dropped the key in my hand" type. There are story arc inconsistencies, lazy writing, incomplete thoughts, and poor grammar. I honestly can't understand how there are so many 5 star, let alone ones describing it as "cerebral" -- the only thing I can think of is paid reviews. The motives are weak, the interactions are false, and cheapens everything else. Every solution is so "gifted" that it's not even thrilling. The characters don't have to work for anything, but if you want to get through this book, you sure will.

Sorry to the author, this book just isn't there. I really wanted it to be. It's based on a great idea. It's just got the implementation of a middle school essay.

[Miramira Endevall · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise was very interesting, but:

1) The tech is ridiculous.

2) The 'hacking' is ludicrous.

3) Most of the time you have no fucking clue what's going on. This book beautifully illustrates the difference between keeping the protagonist in the dark while slowly revealing things to the reader vs. keeping everybody in the dark. (Note: Ancillary Justice does the former very well.) Even when someone tells the protagonist that they're going to tell him everything - they never fucking do! Even when they've ostensibly got plenty of time to do so. All the other characters other than the protagonist are unbearably smug, and there came a point at which I said to my hubby, "If I don't get some fucking exposition in the next three pages, I'm deleting this thing." This was on page 135.

4) The protagonist is dumb. Not just 'kept in the dark' dumb, but 'incapable of pattern-matching' dumb. So dumb that I can't possibly bear to read the sequel, in which he is about to do a Very Dumb Thing.

[Frédéric · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first post-apocalyptic cyberpunk novel and probably the last. I'm clearly more into near-future urban environments.

Apart this starting point that didn't appeal to me, the story just isn't great.

Gerry has been chosen by the Death Lottery. (Why is there a lottery? Heck if I know). That's impossible because Gerry has enginereed the Lottery under the order of the Family who rules the last city on earth after the Cataclysm . And so begins our plot.

From then on it's a rollercoaster ride, Gerry being flanked by 2 weirdoes (one being a kind of computer virus trashcan, that was a rather nice idea) and dragged from one point to another where people conveniently appear to give him confused pieces of intel in exchange of some stuff he can do (cuz our guy Gez his somehow "gifted" in cyberspace).
"I'll explain it all to you but later" is the gimmick coming back again and again for Gerry is always on the run so there's no time to explain! After awhile it starts to get really tiresome.

Amazingly, for a guy that's just seen his whole life blown up to pieces Gerry adapts just quite well. Grows a pair after a few days and dreams of becoming Savior of the Human Race, no less!

As for the bad guy of the story, he apparently wants revenge for something but for the love of me, I just can't tell you what for.

The half-revelations of the end half-convinced me and the final cliffhanger left me totally cold since by that time I knew I wouldn't pursue with the next volume.
The pure "cyber" stuff is not too bad, though. But that can't make up for this contrived plot.

[Penney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea how this plot could possibly go on for 4 books. It's like watching Roadrunner outsmart Coyote for hours while talking in binary code.

[Sylvan · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I have been given an copy of this book as an ebook through a giveaway on booklikes from the author in exchange for a fair review. I was not reimbursed or paid for this review.)

This story centers around a guy named Gerry Cardle who finds himself the winner of the lottery, which isn’t really worth much at all. It means that he has been chosen for his death and he only has a certain amount of time before he’s forced to ‘kick the hatchet’. This wasn’t supposed to happen, ever, especially since he’s one of the two people who helped program The Lottery in the first place. Once he’s forced off the grid, he travels with two friends to find the answer as to why this is all happening and slowly discovers that everything that he has known could potentially fall into pieces anytime soon.

This story has an interesting concept. It’s in the future where everyone is dependent on being wired. No one sticks to computers- it’s all in their bodies. Humans have been wired to program many things. If it’s anything like what Gerry does at the beginning of the chapter, they can also go into work by simply scanning the chip in their arm. It’s a very technological savvy world, but not everyone has their own tech in their bodies. Many live ‘off the grid’, so to speak, without what most humans have. They connect via wires to get what they need without attracting much attention.

This book could benefit to a better editor, if it did have one in the first place. It’s just over minor stuff, but there are mistakes that should have been taken care of already. The next issue I’ve had are the characters. Part of me loved Petal and how different she is. I mean, a girl who can store viruses without damage for a certain amount of time is a pretty impressive task I would imagine. But there has been many close calls with her that it just made me wonder if she actually just made it this long by luck. I have to admit- I didn’t really care much for Gerry either. It just seemed like that, with his ‘awesome’ skill, his intelligence just seemed really lacking to an irritating level.

Maybe one of the main issues, I think, is the organization of the story. There is a lot of information, which isn’t a bad thing. There is a lot of stuff in the book that I liked and found quite interesting. This book might actually be slightly better if it was longer just because, if it could be well thought-out and organized, it would benefit it in the long run in my opinion.

Overall, it’s an interesting book with an interesting concept, but due to the problems with it I just couldn’t really get into it as much as I wanted to and it frustrates me to think that I’m one of the rare people who think this way about this book, from what it seems. With that said, I would still recommend this book for those who love science fiction and are looking for something different.

[Blaine Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay - it's a cyberpunk thriller that's a bit over the top with a lot of stereotyped characters. The main problem I had was that there were only momentary suspensions of disbelief. The story itself was relatively complex and moved at a good pace, but there were a lot of points in the book where I considered just putting it down and not finishing it. It did keep me reading to the end, where there were a few good places that the book could have concluded. The cliff hanger at the end sets up the second book pretty well, but I don't see myself continuing in the series. A lot of that could just be that I really didn't like the main character. If the future books were told from a different point of view, I might be interested in looking at them, but definitely don't see continuing on with Gerry as the main character. From a technical standpoint, I was often confused and drawn out of the narrative by random emphasis...literally half of a word would be in italics, sometimes the second half of one word and the first half of the next, which seemed like it might be important the first time or two it happened but eventually just became an annoyance that pulled me out of the story and probably led to my inability to get lost in it. (Probably what led to it taking a couple of weeks to read...)

[Fabi NEEDS Email Notifications]

Early dnf. Started out good but quickly turned into a cloak and dagger.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

November 27th, 2012 5:53 pm | Author: pablocheesecake | Edit
Three hackers. A deadly plot. One chance to save humanity.

2153. Post-cataclysm. The last city exists beneath a dome where the mysterious benefactors ‘The Family’ tightly control the population with a death lottery and a semi-autonomous network.

All is well until the day family man Gerry Cardle, head of the death lottery, inexplicably finds himself the no.1 target of a malicious Artificial Intelligence. Gerry’s numbers are up, and he has just 7 days to save himself, find the source of the AI, and keep the last stronghold of humanity safe.

Gerry finds help in the shadows of the city from two rogue hackers: Petal – a teenage girl with a penchant for violence, hacking systems and general anarchy, and: Gabriel – a burnt-out programmer-turned-priest with highly augmented cybernetics.

With his new team, Gerry discovers there is more beyond the dome than The Family had let on, and his journey to find the source of the AI leads him through a world of violence, danger, and startling revelations.

Everything is not as it seems.

Gerry is not who he thinks he is.

Evil can be coded….

can Gerry and his friends stop it before it destroys humanity?

There’s always something inherently intriguing about a sprawling dystopian metropolis and City Earth is no exception. In City Earth everything is fine as long as you are willing to follow the rules but if you deviate from the norm, the powers that be will hunt you down. The all-encompassing control that The Family attempts to exert feels like a referential nod to the likes of the Tyrell Corporation from Blade Runner, or the faceless bureaucracy from Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. For the citizens of City Earth, The Family appears to be a benign leadership, for the most part at least, but the truth of course is far more sinister.

Forced to go on the run, Gerry falls in with Petal and Gabe. Both of whom are more than a little odd, but they seem to at least have some sort of idea about what is going on. Slowly, Gerry begins to embrace his new life, and the scene is set for a confrontation with The Family.

Gerry spends a large chunk of the novel try to make sense of events that often appear to be spiraling out of his control. There are various factions, each trying to wrestle power away from one another. In the midst of all this mayhem, Mr. Cardle is finding it increasingly difficult just trying to survive, everyone seems to want a piece of him. I like the air of uncertainty in Gerry. It makes it easy to empathize with his situation. He’s more than a little bewildered by everything that’s going on and it’s his drive to discover the truth that keeps things moving forward.

Artificial Evil really excels when it comes to the interactions between characters. The author has a keen ear for dialogue and the conversations, in particular the one liners that Petal and Gabe deliver, feel like they’ve come direct from my favourite action movies.

"Ninjas, man. This sh*t’s gettin’ serious."

As an aside, I think we can all agree that ninjas are indeed an ever-increasing problem. (Sorry I couldn’t resist, that line made me smile when I read it).

Aritifical Evil is a solid start to The Techxorcist trilogy. There are some great characters, an engrossing plot, and some first class hi-tech action. Barnes has successfully made the sometimes difficult jump from short fiction to something more substantial look easy. The fact that he has managed to make it all appear so effortless is a mark of his skill as a writer. I’m looking forward to part two of this trilogy already.

Artificial Evil is published by Anachron Press and is available now.

[Dylan_balesteri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Code Breakers: Alpha is a book written by Collin F. Barnes. This author is a full time writer of science fiction and techno thrillers. He went to school at London School of Journalism and the open University. He’s worked at several technology based business along with some other workshops and looked around the back streets of London searching for characters and stories.
In this book the main character Gerry Cardle works on something called the death lottery. In this you don’t want your numbers being pulled in any way shape or form, because if they are, you die in 7 days. Here is the thing though because he was one of the government officials he was excluded from the list. Well, in typical story book fashion, he’s numbers came up thus resulting in his job being lost for some odd reason and him being threatened with death right around the corner. Gerry meets up with 2 other people after being knocked out and they must figure out what is going on in the city, and why he’s numbers got pulled.
This book has a very clear meaning, anyone could pick it up really, its that things aren't what they always seem to be. Gerry think’s everything is fine and dandy, but in reality everyone in the city are puppets. Gerry doesn't seem to care too much, but because he’s on the verge of dying, he gets pulled into a new mess entirely. So don’t always believe what you are told, because sometimes it isn't true, even if you don’t seem to care.
This book had an interesting idea, well, that's what it seemed to have at first. This book took that idea and threw it away. No i don’t mean the idea in the middle of the book was changed in the middle of it, but the flow of this book was rather poor and many events for the “action” scenes felt really unnecessary and shoe-horned in. This book had next to no pauses, just action, action, action. That sounds great though right? Well, at one point I would have agreed, but this book felt so poorly written it seemed as though one of my classmates sitting in front of me wrote it, and that would be an insult. I’m no writer myself, but the book could have used some pauses every once ina while to just take a break and explain a few things because this story has many holes. It never address anything because the main characters are always on the run and it is incredibly frustrating.
To put in short, I wouldn't recommend anyone reading this unless you have nothing better to do, you are locked inside, and have nothing better to read. I mean the book is free, if you have nothing to do might as well right? Other than that, I felt as though reading this book was a waste of my time but was forced to finish it one way or another as it pained me to chug through the entire thing. Don’t let my opinion discourage you from reading though, I’m just one of thousands with a voice, maybe I just got a bit too excited over the topic and ruined it for myself, who knows.

[Gary Bonn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colin F Barnes never fails to impress me with his extraordinary imagination. This book, recommended by a friend and way out of my normal genres, had me drawn into a vivid world of surprising depth and complexity. The main character has a way of thinking that must be so hard for a writer to explain - and yet Barnes does it with great skill and to such an extent that the reader feels they are doing the thinking themselves. Never a dull moment, I gave in trying to work out what would happen next.
If I were to find a negative, it would be that I found things a little complicated at times, but this may be my lack of familiarity with the genre. Overall - I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes spectacular world-building and plenty of action.

[David Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well written sci-fi techno thriller. For the computer geek in all of us. Hard to compare it to other books or movies. Maybe a little bit "Matrix" with a little bit "Mad Max". This is the first of three (so far) stories set in the Techxocist world. Fits into the end of the world stories, or better yet, life after the end of the world. Picked this one for free and Part II and III for $0.99 each. I will check out the 2nd book real soon.

[Emma Sea]

This is free today on kindle, if anyone's interested

[Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm realizing that I rate self published novels along a different metric than enterprise published novels. Probably because enterprise novels already have a baseline for editing/etc, so I don't usually have to get distracted by the writing for things like that.

Anyway, given that, Artificial Evil is pretty solid self published 3. No spelling or formatting errors (that I noticed), but it could stand a once over for consistency and tone. Things like the spelling of "mould," which, to its credit, was consistent throughout the novel, but made no sense within the larger content of the book. Characters magically appeared out of nowhere (most glaringly, the protagonist's mother lacks a name til it's casually dropped about 6 pages in to her existence, but in such a manner that it's assumed that we already know it.) Most of the characters lack any real interpersonal development - it's very obvious that Gerry and Petal are destined for some sort of romantic interest in each other, but it's danced around and never solidified until it's thrust in our face at the very end. Complicated plot dumps are also a hindrance, especially when they're dumped in the middle of key action sequences. And, of course, it comes with my number one complaint about self published kindle novels: it doesn't resolve. The final chapters very obviously build to an immediate sequel, introducing new characters and elements at a point where the book, if it were actually its own entity, would be resolving what we've spent the last 330 pages engaging in. Here, as everywhere, I find that to be a trite and misleading attempt to get readers to buy more material. (If you'd like to release a novel in sections, that's one thing, but please be upfront about the fact that your 3 part "series" is not, in fact, a series, so much as 3 parts of the same book.)

But the pacing is good, the story is interesting, and nothing about this novel is so completely unlikeable or uncouth as to render it unreadable. I know that doesn't sound like high praise, but for self published works, it can be.

All in all, I'd describe this as a sci-fi beach read. If anything, it's several steps above Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Postscript, apologies to Barnes for using this review and taking his work to task over issues that I have with most of the self publishing industry, not specifically his work. I think I threadjacked my own thread.

[Brian's Book Blog · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting dystopian technothriller

3.75 out of 5 stars

Sometimes a book hits you at the right time. And sometimes it hits you at the wrong time. I've had this happen to me on numerous occasions. When I first started Code Breakers: Alpha I had a really hard time getting into it. It was a confusing techno-world that I should have loved. So, instead of forcing my way through it and giving it a sub-par review. I decided to back-burner it. This might be the first time I've done this and gone back to the book and enjoyed it more. I'm glad that I did because I've been wanting to read this series for quite some time.

With that disclaimer out of the way, Code Breakers Alpha tells the story of Gerry who runs the lottery. Sadly, this isn't a lottery you want to win (any time I hear of a lottery that's not good all I can think of is the movie The Island [one of Michael Bay's best movies IMHO]). There is a lot going on with lots of undertones of "The Family" and a dystopian world that isn't all that it appears to be.

As I stated above. I had a really hard time getting into this book. But after taking a step back and just trying to enjoy the flow of the story -- everything started to fall into place. And soon after that Gerry (and the book) started to all makes sense to me. The book picked up and honestly I didn't look back.

The story itself was really enjoyable. I've read other stories like this with similar stories and similar protagonists but it was still nice to look at this another way. Barnes is a great storyteller and I just think that Code Breakers Alpha struggled from the first book syndrome that some first books have (I might have made this term up). An author has to explain who people are and why they do the things that they do -- but do that without confusing the reader or going into too much detail. It's a tightrope to walk and sometimes you fall.

The narration was done by Marc Vietor who does a great job. He made this book easy to listen to.

Overall, Code Breakers Alpha was an intro story that definitely had its moments. It's not a perfect book, but most aren't. By the end of it, I was glad that I'd read it and that there were more books in this series. I will definitely be continuing Code Breakers.

[Fred Wagner · Rating 2 out of 5]

What did I think? I think I wasted nearly 7 hours of my life. This book has me questioning if I should bother continuing forward with book 02. The end of book 01 lends itself to making book 02 seem to have SOME potential to not be pathetic. PLUS, the book Prequel, "simple" as it was, was written after the 4 books in this series and it at least was pretty good. So perhaps the author starts growing as a novelist and story teller; at least with regards to this series as I am unaware presently of anything else he has written. Ya know, this had a lot of potential as a story. But it was poorly portrayed. Not sure if the author knows the first thing about hacking. Seems like he doesn't. Or does he know a lot about it? But simply can't express it simply (so the average reader can have some pseudo-understanding or whatever. I fortunately know a lot about computers and electronics. Not as much about networks. And very little about hacking. I also am trying to take into account how incredibly much more this is a science fiction book having been written in 2012 with regards to AI's. As far as I know we are still now 9 years later pretty freaking clueless about AI's. And probably too keeping our understanding growth in such at a slow pace so as to avoid potential disasters of epic proportions and even extinction level events. So yeah, 9 years ago the subject of AI's was still VERY, very much science fiction. Anyways, I just don't know here. I suppose I will start book 02 in the hopes that it will prove to minimally be a 3-star book and HOPEFULLY a 4-star book. But I sure as hell am not expecting to give a 5 star review to any successive novels. Giving 5 stars to the prequel was generous. It was also a hopeful gesture.

[Tammy K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this dystopian techno-thriller to be a ‘better than average read’ (4 stars). However, there were parts (especially the computer programming details/ jargon) that I found overwhelming. So much so that I had to read this story in several sittings.
There are a couple things happening throughout this book all at once; a dsytopian/post apocalyptic storyline, a romance storyline, and a techno-heavy corporate sabotage storyline.
For me, the trick to reading and enjoying this story was to ‘not get too caught up in’ the techno-heavy corporate sabotage plot, which I found mind-numbingly over-complicated, and to keep my eyes (mind) on the books other plot progressions.
It was a good read, don’t get me wrong. It is just that I found this story jumping around from here to there and back again. When I reached the last 1/4th of the book, I found myself asking, "How did this come about?" It seemed that the story had morphed it’s sub-genre once again.
If I were to compare this book to other stories, I would say that if you took a copy of the movie Tron, the book Lawnmower Man and a stack of PC World magazines and threw them into a washing machine in hot water and allowed for shrinkage & color blending, you’d probably get something similar to this story.
It is action-packed, suspenseful, innovative and complex .... Yet it was not always an easy or smooth read.

[Norm Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a second book to earn my "neither recommend nor discourage" slot. As the stars indicate, it was ok. I would have given it 3 stars, liked it, but between the time I purchased it, and went to read it, it had gone through changes I really didn't want to try to figure out.

When an indie author changes book names and series names, you can bet they are not giving much of a damn about their readers. So, as a reader, I don't feel obliged to waste much time with a review.

I did pick it because I liked the sales pitch and all the basics are there. I didn't notice any of the normal indie author issues. It starts in media res and keeps things interesting.

It isn't so much a book as a ??. Tough to say. It had a beginning, middle, and end.... but then there were around 5 more chapters that made it a book without an ending. Or is a book and the beginning of the next book... Probably why there's all that name and series changing going on. Who knows?

I'll likely finish the series while doing mindless chores and want something to listen to. I'll not be doing chores when I read Iron Gold.

Read in two sessions, 11-10-19 & 11-17-19.

[Nicholas Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Code Breakers: Alpha -review

I was very excited when I started this series. The concept seemed to be original and highly inventive. The first few chapters were gripping and kept me reading longer than expected. However, the plot took a turn that was more than unexpected. The middle of the book seemed to not make much sense (to me anyway) as the plot jumped from one runaway train to another. But I kept on reading because I did want to see where the book would end.

I admit I was a little disappointed in the frequent times I experienced more telling than showing and how often new characters were introduced without names, and then seemingly out of nowhere their names where used.

I think Colin Barnes has a fantastically creative mind, spinning webs of storyline using terms I can only assume are intrinsic to computer programming. I wish him all the best with the rest of the Code Breakers series, however I did not feel invested enough in the characters to continue the ride.

[K.C. Sivils · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author definitely has a vivid imagination and the writing skills to describe in detail this cyberpunk story.

Unfortunately, it just wasn't my thing. I finished it and don't feel like it was a waste of my time. The plot twists were good, the character's interesting but the idea of humans who turned themselves into human/computer hybrids left me cold.

Sometimes I like cyberpunk, sometimes I don't. This one was one of those I didn't like.

The story deserves a minimum of a three because the author did do a good job creating his world, writing a plot that moved and had twists, etc. I'm just not a fan of the world he created.

For people enamored of the idea of becoming a hybrid, this will be a good read for you.

[Jennifer G. · Rating 1 out of 5]

By an Author from a Different Culture..........

I can't... haha that's my review. 8 billion ideas on every page just exploding in your face. It was a little too fast paced for me. I loved the concept, but it felt really spastic jumping from one battle to another. It felt like the battles started in the first 10 minutes of reading and the only break in the drama was a nap he took on a ship maybe halfway through the book. Oh but he gets woken up after maybe 5 minutes by their ship "goin down" because of yet another conflict. This book could have used a very strong editor in my opinion, but maybe it's just not my genre. Clearly it's a great series as there are 4 books.

[Dave Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a cerebral cyberpunk thrill ride (think Mad Max meets Blade Runner meets Logan's Run) through a dystopian postapocalyptic world run by "The Family," Gerry must sift through cyborgs, AIs, computer viruses, and technological demons to find out who he really is, what he really is, and stop City Earth from being annihilated by a rogue hacker in the meantime.

Barnes effortlessly blends religion, sci-fi, and horror into an unsettling story of survival, identity, and morality. He has created a truly unique world that I can't wait to visit again.

[Krazykiwi · Rating 4 out of 5]

tl;dr version: Fast paced action-filled dystopian cyberpunk, well written, particularly the technological aspects. 

Not entirely unproblematic for me as a reader, but definitely competent. 

Full review @ booklikes

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not as much a novel as it is a collection of vignettes. It is as if the author thought of some interesting events and tried to stick them together without literary glue. There is no character development, no world building, no reason to care what happens. Characters are dropped in with no backstory, and the protagonist is far too comfortable with everything that is going on. All action, no story. Not believable and definitely not enough depth for me.

[Toby Goodwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a reasonably interesting story, à la mode de Gibson. The "hacking" sequences are well done. The setting is interesting, although could have done with much more description. On several occasions I was gripped by the action sequences.

But I'm afraid it is badly let down by the quality of the writing. Odd clichés appear at inopportune moments, and sometimes the language is just clunky. Disappointing.

[Dani · Rating 1 out of 5]

"In 2153 the lottery didn’t just change lives, it ended them."

The first sentence is the best of the book. After that it only goes downhill...

OK, this is a bit too harsh. The first chapter is decent and even promising.

But after that... it definitively goes downhill.

At 67% I received a revelation when I read

“That was fucked up,” he said. “Worst experience of my life.”
“What now?” “Are we done here?”
“Yeah, we can go.”

Yep, that about sums it up! End of the story (for me).

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea of hacking something by visualising something tangible is annoying. The author has created a half arsed alternative future Earth with characters I didn't care about. Who cares if the residents of the dome all die? Not me. Struggled through to the end in the hope it would get better, but it didn't.

[Anne Michaud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool, weird, futuristic world where I would NOT want to live. Recommended for those who like Philip K Dick.