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pronkbaggins's review against another edition
4.0
3.75/5
The writing in this is very well done and is vivid. I think that is one of the best parts of the book.
The overall story is straightforward and ambient. I did not know what to expect going in. While it's a good story, it's not a thriller and does not have twists and turns. Some characters are more well developed than others, but overall it's a cool setting and a big social commentary. I would read from this author again!
The writing in this is very well done and is vivid. I think that is one of the best parts of the book.
The overall story is straightforward and ambient. I did not know what to expect going in. While it's a good story, it's not a thriller and does not have twists and turns. Some characters are more well developed than others, but overall it's a cool setting and a big social commentary. I would read from this author again!
samuraibunny's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Don't listen to the audiobook.
gjwilder's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
pilebythebed's review against another edition
5.0
Australian science fiction author Corey J White showed he could write science fiction action in his Voidwitch trilogy of novellas (Killing Gravity, Void Black Shadow and Static Ruin). Those novella’s were breathless in their pacing – short and sharp and yet anchored by some memorable characters. Repo Virtual, White’s first full length novel, takes some of the skills he showed in the shortened form and shows that he can apply them successfully over the longer form.
JD lives in Neo-Sogndo, a coastal Korean city close to Seoul, sometime in the near future. He works as a robot repairer but makes his money as a repo-man in the worlds largest on-line multiplayer game Voidwars, owned by the massive Zero Corporation. JD has a bit of a criminal past, which has left him with a gammy knee and is pulled right back in by his step brother Soon-Hyung who tempts him to participate in “one last job” a heist which will net him enough money to have his knee fixed and set his mother up in a new apartment. The job involves stealing from the dying head of Zero Corporation on behalf of Soon’s spiritual leader, a charismatic woman called Kali.
The first half of the novel is the heist. Getting the team together, planning it all out and then having to go earlier than planned to time the job with the Soccer World Cup final. While nothing goes exactly as planned, JD gets away but that is actually when the story really begins as JD keeps the prize for himself and tries to use it to blackmail Kali for more money. The second half of the book introduces Enda, an operative hired by a Zero executive to find the stolen item. At the same time, Kali is sending teams of violent, trigger happy youths out to track JD down. Meanwhile the object that JD has stolen, a small data cube, turns out to have a mind of its own.
Repo Virtual is almost a classic cyberpunk tale – band of street punks with computer skills who like spending time in virtual space, take on a giant corporation with a nascent artificial intelligence thrown in. Readers familiar with the genre will easily pick homages to classics like Blade Runner, Neuromancer and Snowcrash. But clearly fascination with the subgenre has not gone away with one of the most anticipated video games of 2020 being a title called Cyberpunk 2077. And while he leans on these traditions, White reshapes them to his own ends. His Korean setting is believable, as is the technology that characters employ or that is employed against them. And as noted above, White has a flair for writing action that comes through strongly here.
Repo Virtual, shows Corey J White taking some classic science fiction tropes and making them his own. He clearly shows a capacity to move to long form story telling with believable, engaging characters and a propulsive story that manages to pause for breath but never flags. The Coda clearly marks this as a stand alone novel, another breath of fresh air in a market filled with prequels and sequels and leaving an intriguing question mark as to what White will tackle next.
JD lives in Neo-Sogndo, a coastal Korean city close to Seoul, sometime in the near future. He works as a robot repairer but makes his money as a repo-man in the worlds largest on-line multiplayer game Voidwars, owned by the massive Zero Corporation. JD has a bit of a criminal past, which has left him with a gammy knee and is pulled right back in by his step brother Soon-Hyung who tempts him to participate in “one last job” a heist which will net him enough money to have his knee fixed and set his mother up in a new apartment. The job involves stealing from the dying head of Zero Corporation on behalf of Soon’s spiritual leader, a charismatic woman called Kali.
The first half of the novel is the heist. Getting the team together, planning it all out and then having to go earlier than planned to time the job with the Soccer World Cup final. While nothing goes exactly as planned, JD gets away but that is actually when the story really begins as JD keeps the prize for himself and tries to use it to blackmail Kali for more money. The second half of the book introduces Enda, an operative hired by a Zero executive to find the stolen item. At the same time, Kali is sending teams of violent, trigger happy youths out to track JD down. Meanwhile the object that JD has stolen, a small data cube, turns out to have a mind of its own.
Repo Virtual is almost a classic cyberpunk tale – band of street punks with computer skills who like spending time in virtual space, take on a giant corporation with a nascent artificial intelligence thrown in. Readers familiar with the genre will easily pick homages to classics like Blade Runner, Neuromancer and Snowcrash. But clearly fascination with the subgenre has not gone away with one of the most anticipated video games of 2020 being a title called Cyberpunk 2077. And while he leans on these traditions, White reshapes them to his own ends. His Korean setting is believable, as is the technology that characters employ or that is employed against them. And as noted above, White has a flair for writing action that comes through strongly here.
Repo Virtual, shows Corey J White taking some classic science fiction tropes and making them his own. He clearly shows a capacity to move to long form story telling with believable, engaging characters and a propulsive story that manages to pause for breath but never flags. The Coda clearly marks this as a stand alone novel, another breath of fresh air in a market filled with prequels and sequels and leaving an intriguing question mark as to what White will tackle next.
aiight's review against another edition
1.0
Excerpt from the book: "JD woke up to the rays of the cyberpunk sun streaming through the slats on his blinds. He stretched, his cyberpunk chest lifting with his arms as he greeted the sun. He rolled out of bed and put on a very cyberpunk shirt, then cyberpunked cyberpunkedly to the stairs, and cyberpunked downwards." DNF.
someonetookit's review against another edition
4.0
so badly wanted to love this because Corey is an absolutely amazing person and I will never stop shouting the praises of the Voidwitch novellas from the top of my lungs. I honestly think this whole thing went over my head so its not a novel thing, its a me thing. For this reason, I am not giving a star rating because that would not be fair.
It has amazing NB rep in the form of one of the MC most trusted companions and normalises the whole thing in a way that is truly remarkable; there's never discussion of why they present as they, they just are.
The whole thing is set in the future after the world as we know it has fallen and Korea seems to have taken over as the main power. Pretty much everything has been eastern-ised (I think thats a word) so its all video games, kimchi and some epic sounding tech.. Its cyberpunk at its finest but unfortunately, I just couldn't really get into it no matter how hard I tried.
Now I am not saying this is a bad quality novel because its not. The writing style is excellent and it is quite obviously a work of the heart. It creates vivid imagery with the turn of every page and I really feel like I could love it if I could just wrap my head around half the references.
Overall a great read if you are into cyberpunk. A kind of confusing one if you are oblivious to technology like me.
It has amazing NB rep in the form of one of the MC most trusted companions and normalises the whole thing in a way that is truly remarkable; there's never discussion of why they present as they, they just are.
The whole thing is set in the future after the world as we know it has fallen and Korea seems to have taken over as the main power. Pretty much everything has been eastern-ised (I think thats a word) so its all video games, kimchi and some epic sounding tech.. Its cyberpunk at its finest but unfortunately, I just couldn't really get into it no matter how hard I tried.
Now I am not saying this is a bad quality novel because its not. The writing style is excellent and it is quite obviously a work of the heart. It creates vivid imagery with the turn of every page and I really feel like I could love it if I could just wrap my head around half the references.
Overall a great read if you are into cyberpunk. A kind of confusing one if you are oblivious to technology like me.
jordanclarey's review
5.0
Just read this book and I promise you that you will have a good time. Then once you finish this book, pick up his Voidwitch trilogy for more enjoyable reading!!
ninj's review against another edition
4.0
Was rather mistaken about the premise of this one and was about a third of the way through when I started getting suspicious. Not necessarily a bad thing - you've got MMOs played out across the real world, a heist, some nascent AI, cults and a kick-arse operative with shady past thrown in the mix. I really liked the cityscape and AR elements, there were a lot of cool characters. But not so much the cult leader, who was ... lacking, and I'm not a big fan of real-world meets game-world, I think. A lot to like about the novel overall, but still felt like there was untapped potential.
skylar2's review
5.0
I went into this book thinking it would be a standard cyberpunk/heist story, which it is but certainly not standard. The characters are well thought-out and not stereotypes by any means, and the party even picks up a character that I did not expect at the beginning of the story. I had never read anything by this author before, but I’m looking forward to seeing what other books he writes.
devynreadsnovels's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, Murder, Torture, and Gun violence