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markyon's review
4.0
Now, I know that the idea of humans being adapted to a particular purpose is not a new one in SF – I’m thinking Frederik Pohl’s Man Plus, for example – and in terms of combat even Robert Heinlein’s soldiers in Starship Troopers and Joe Haldeman’s soldiers in The Forever War used mechanised suits and took drugs to help them before going into combat. Gordon Dickson's Dorsai were a planet of people who specialised in military skills who then sold their services to anyone who could pay..
Stormblood, a debut novel by Jeremy Szal, gets us to consider the idea that in the future humans would be prepared to be genetically altered to become an improved soldier, and what the impact of such a change would be.
Jeremy’s version takes those ideas and bring them up to contemporary speed. The book is fast paced – and ultraviolent.
The Plot
Vakov Fukasawa is a Reaper – a soldier bio-enhanced by being deliberately injected on enlistment with an alien DNA known as stormblood to help fight for the governing body of Harmony against a cruel and brutal opponent. Even though Vak is no longer part of the military, the Reaper War finished, like many others the changes to his body are permanent. There are painful and lengthy rehabilitation processes that reduce the feeling of need, although the hunger for more adrenaline never goes away. In short, Vak has become a drug-dependent ex-military asset, now a mercenary low life who survives by taking on tough jobs with the help of his cyberhacker friend Grim.
Both Vakov and Grim live on the lower levels of a hollowed out asteroid named Compass. Compass has levels that mimic society – the lowest life is at ‘the bottom’, whilst the hyper-wealthy are at ‘the top’ and Szal does well to describe the differences in lifestyle inbetween as Vak stomps around between them.
The murder of ex-soldiers that Vakov fought with draws him and Grim into trying to discover why. There’s a connection between the deaths and stormblood, which leads the pair to the places run by organised crime groups and ruthless hyper-corporations who have their own interests at heart. Vak finds out that his younger brother, Artyom, is involved. Artyom and Vakov have been separated since his departure to the Reapers, but Vak now discovers that Artyom is working for the House of Suns, one of the Corporations ruling the asteroid. If his brother is to survive, or at least be given a lesser sentence, Vak must work with the Harmony police, who he has little trust for.
Vak and Grim end up working with Harmony. He also develops a relationship with Katherine Kowalski, one of the police he is asked to assist. Together Vak, Grim and Katherine have to find the drug lords determined to spread stormblood throughout Compass and stop its spread. Vak also has to find and help his brother, one of those closely involved with the drug elite, which will involve him making some tough decisions and taking serious chances. At the same time Vak has to deal with his own stormblood, knowing that there is always the chance of a relapse the more he has to deal with it. And then there’s the revelation that an alien race may be about to return – and they’re not friendly.
Thoughts
This is one for those who like their military sf. It is hyperviolent, with the gore spread across many pages. There are lots of body parts and executed bodies everywhere, some lengthy scenes of the carnage caused by battle and some very nasty scenes of torture. They are in context and they are done well, but they’re not for the faint-hearted, and there were times when the visceral scenes seemed a little relentless. But Vakov’s an engaging character, enough to make you feel some sympathy for an ex-killer.
For those who like their future-police-procedurals, this one has gangs, drug-runners offering an illegal drug on the streets for the right price and the police doing a difficult job. In space. In an asteroid.
Its rather like Starship Troopers meets The Incredible Hulk, with a touch of Neal Asher’s work. Admittedly, Vakov has blue stuff travelling through his veins rather than going all-over green, but when he or his comrades-in-arms go on a full-out rage, it is Hulk-style impressive (and messy).
This is all told from the perspective of Vakov, through present time and in flashback. We discover through his memories his abusive childhood and his relationship with his sister and brother Artyom. In order for the story to be told by Vakov, there’s a few convenient plot coincidences and parts that tend to feel like we’ve been here before (What – Vakov beaten up again? And tied up, again?), partly because Vakov has a repeated habit of doing things that he shouldn’t. It can get a little repetitive. I lost count of the number of times Vakov put himself in danger, with everyone else telling him not to do something, to the point where I began to think there was some sort of reverse psychology going on, but I realise that it is in part to let the reader see what’s going on.
On the downside, there’s a couple of Idris Elba “We Are Cancelling the Apocalypse!” type moments, and one plot contrivance that I think the book could have done without at the very end that made me go “Really? REALLY?” But it’s all done with good heart and a determination to tell an exciting and great story, with the ending setting up the inevitable sequel.
Stormblood is a fast-paced, ultraviolent tale of life, love and redemption set on an impressively science-fictional world. The strong characters (in more than one sense of the word!) and super-gadgetry will make an entertaining tale that many readers will appreciate. It’s an impressive debut - I’ll be interested to see how this develops.
Stormblood, a debut novel by Jeremy Szal, gets us to consider the idea that in the future humans would be prepared to be genetically altered to become an improved soldier, and what the impact of such a change would be.
Jeremy’s version takes those ideas and bring them up to contemporary speed. The book is fast paced – and ultraviolent.
The Plot
Vakov Fukasawa is a Reaper – a soldier bio-enhanced by being deliberately injected on enlistment with an alien DNA known as stormblood to help fight for the governing body of Harmony against a cruel and brutal opponent. Even though Vak is no longer part of the military, the Reaper War finished, like many others the changes to his body are permanent. There are painful and lengthy rehabilitation processes that reduce the feeling of need, although the hunger for more adrenaline never goes away. In short, Vak has become a drug-dependent ex-military asset, now a mercenary low life who survives by taking on tough jobs with the help of his cyberhacker friend Grim.
Both Vakov and Grim live on the lower levels of a hollowed out asteroid named Compass. Compass has levels that mimic society – the lowest life is at ‘the bottom’, whilst the hyper-wealthy are at ‘the top’ and Szal does well to describe the differences in lifestyle inbetween as Vak stomps around between them.
The murder of ex-soldiers that Vakov fought with draws him and Grim into trying to discover why. There’s a connection between the deaths and stormblood, which leads the pair to the places run by organised crime groups and ruthless hyper-corporations who have their own interests at heart. Vak finds out that his younger brother, Artyom, is involved. Artyom and Vakov have been separated since his departure to the Reapers, but Vak now discovers that Artyom is working for the House of Suns, one of the Corporations ruling the asteroid. If his brother is to survive, or at least be given a lesser sentence, Vak must work with the Harmony police, who he has little trust for.
Vak and Grim end up working with Harmony. He also develops a relationship with Katherine Kowalski, one of the police he is asked to assist. Together Vak, Grim and Katherine have to find the drug lords determined to spread stormblood throughout Compass and stop its spread. Vak also has to find and help his brother, one of those closely involved with the drug elite, which will involve him making some tough decisions and taking serious chances. At the same time Vak has to deal with his own stormblood, knowing that there is always the chance of a relapse the more he has to deal with it. And then there’s the revelation that an alien race may be about to return – and they’re not friendly.
Thoughts
This is one for those who like their military sf. It is hyperviolent, with the gore spread across many pages. There are lots of body parts and executed bodies everywhere, some lengthy scenes of the carnage caused by battle and some very nasty scenes of torture. They are in context and they are done well, but they’re not for the faint-hearted, and there were times when the visceral scenes seemed a little relentless. But Vakov’s an engaging character, enough to make you feel some sympathy for an ex-killer.
For those who like their future-police-procedurals, this one has gangs, drug-runners offering an illegal drug on the streets for the right price and the police doing a difficult job. In space. In an asteroid.
Its rather like Starship Troopers meets The Incredible Hulk, with a touch of Neal Asher’s work. Admittedly, Vakov has blue stuff travelling through his veins rather than going all-over green, but when he or his comrades-in-arms go on a full-out rage, it is Hulk-style impressive (and messy).
This is all told from the perspective of Vakov, through present time and in flashback. We discover through his memories his abusive childhood and his relationship with his sister and brother Artyom. In order for the story to be told by Vakov, there’s a few convenient plot coincidences and parts that tend to feel like we’ve been here before (What – Vakov beaten up again? And tied up, again?), partly because Vakov has a repeated habit of doing things that he shouldn’t. It can get a little repetitive. I lost count of the number of times Vakov put himself in danger, with everyone else telling him not to do something, to the point where I began to think there was some sort of reverse psychology going on, but I realise that it is in part to let the reader see what’s going on.
On the downside, there’s a couple of Idris Elba “We Are Cancelling the Apocalypse!” type moments, and one plot contrivance that I think the book could have done without at the very end that made me go “Really? REALLY?” But it’s all done with good heart and a determination to tell an exciting and great story, with the ending setting up the inevitable sequel.
Stormblood is a fast-paced, ultraviolent tale of life, love and redemption set on an impressively science-fictional world. The strong characters (in more than one sense of the word!) and super-gadgetry will make an entertaining tale that many readers will appreciate. It’s an impressive debut - I’ll be interested to see how this develops.
junglewriter's review
5.0
Stormblood is a fast paced sci-fi action thriller. It's Bloody and violent, and the book gut punches you in the very beginning and never let's up.
"Beg, borrow and steal to read this book" (yes I'm quoting/paraphrasing from the dubbed Verses DVD)
"Beg, borrow and steal to read this book" (yes I'm quoting/paraphrasing from the dubbed Verses DVD)
oleksandr's review
3.0
This is a military SF /space opera debut novel by [a:Jeremy Szal|8296791|Jeremy Szal|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1483078639p2/8296791.jpg]. I read is as a part of monthly reading for September 2020 at SFF Hot from Printers: New Releases group.
The story is about Vakov Fukasawa, a human, who lived in a colony planet called New Vladivostok. As a young boy he was recruited by an alien intergalactic governing body of Harmony against a brutal invading empire of Harvest. “Reapers to clear the Harvest away.” – was a chart of Harmony’s bio-modified soldiers and he was one of them. They were changed using a virus from an extinct alien race, which gave them almost superpowers (including a kind of spider sense and quick regeneration), but made almost impossible to withstand urges and mood swings. It is known as stormtech or stormblood.
Seven years passed after the war, which Reapers helped to win. Now Vak is living in an asteroid turned space post called Compass, one of the major Harmony’s space hubs. After some recovery, Vak, together with a hacker genius Grim, is in semi-legal business of helping clients getting what they need. In this case attempting to steel a genome from an organized crime lab. However, the work hasn’t gone smoothly and quite soon Vak in in the middle of political and social crisis.
The start of the novel was quite strong and the concept – quite interesting. This is more a story in SF entourage than true SF, with wars between hi-tech aliens won by grunts, even in hand-to-hand combat; the asteroid has no problems with different gravitation pull, etc. This is no different from say, Star Wars, so this is only a problem if one expects SF.
The story is partially a variant of a soldier, who was addicted to drugs during the war and now in a painful withdrawal/recovery. To some extent as a story set after the global conflict as opposed to mil-SF in the middle of it, it reminded me of [b:Embers of War|30748899|Embers of War (Embers of War, #1)|Gareth L. Powell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1502367097l/30748899._SY75_.jpg|51294683], despite the plots are quite different. In addition, there is a history of abusive parenting, a family turned against each other…
While the beginning was strong, the story weakened as it progressed, so the result is just an average space opera
The story is about Vakov Fukasawa, a human, who lived in a colony planet called New Vladivostok. As a young boy he was recruited by an alien intergalactic governing body of Harmony against a brutal invading empire of Harvest. “Reapers to clear the Harvest away.” – was a chart of Harmony’s bio-modified soldiers and he was one of them. They were changed using a virus from an extinct alien race, which gave them almost superpowers (including a kind of spider sense and quick regeneration), but made almost impossible to withstand urges and mood swings. It is known as stormtech or stormblood.
Seven years passed after the war, which Reapers helped to win. Now Vak is living in an asteroid turned space post called Compass, one of the major Harmony’s space hubs. After some recovery, Vak, together with a hacker genius Grim, is in semi-legal business of helping clients getting what they need. In this case attempting to steel a genome from an organized crime lab. However, the work hasn’t gone smoothly and quite soon Vak in in the middle of political and social crisis.
The start of the novel was quite strong and the concept – quite interesting. This is more a story in SF entourage than true SF, with wars between hi-tech aliens won by grunts, even in hand-to-hand combat; the asteroid has no problems with different gravitation pull, etc. This is no different from say, Star Wars, so this is only a problem if one expects SF.
The story is partially a variant of a soldier, who was addicted to drugs during the war and now in a painful withdrawal/recovery. To some extent as a story set after the global conflict as opposed to mil-SF in the middle of it, it reminded me of [b:Embers of War|30748899|Embers of War (Embers of War, #1)|Gareth L. Powell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1502367097l/30748899._SY75_.jpg|51294683], despite the plots are quite different. In addition, there is a history of abusive parenting, a family turned against each other…
While the beginning was strong, the story weakened as it progressed, so the result is just an average space opera
joshuas_space's review
4.0
I first want to mention that I don’t typically read military science Fiction as 1) I just discovered it and 2) it is difficult for me to read often as it is a lot to take in. That being said I thoroughly enjoyed this novel!
It did take me a little bit of time to fully grasp what was going on as there was quite a bit of world building and info during the first half. However, it was not excessive as it was well needed in order to understand the story. I would say once I made it 1/3 off the way through it fully captivated my attention! I still had to take my time reading it as there was quite a few moving parts. By the end of the novel I was sad it was over.
You can also see at the end how the author did a magnificent job preparing you for the next novel. Now that the world building is set up, the second novel will start off at a faster pace (I’m assuming). I’ll know for sure soon as I already ordered it!
It did take me a little bit of time to fully grasp what was going on as there was quite a bit of world building and info during the first half. However, it was not excessive as it was well needed in order to understand the story. I would say once I made it 1/3 off the way through it fully captivated my attention! I still had to take my time reading it as there was quite a few moving parts. By the end of the novel I was sad it was over.
You can also see at the end how the author did a magnificent job preparing you for the next novel. Now that the world building is set up, the second novel will start off at a faster pace (I’m assuming). I’ll know for sure soon as I already ordered it!
wspence's review
3.0
I wanted to love this book. Reading the premise of this book, with a mix of the "future soldier" and "Thriller" I was prepared for a roller coaster ride. Instead, I felt there were a lot points in the plot that really dragged. It wasn't necessarily the flashbacks either, the chapter "Stormblood" itself I think was a 5 star, there were just points where I was almost ejected from the book, either pace, or setting, I'm not sure.
barb4ry1's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
I'll try to write a longer review later. It has a lot of awesome stuff but also a bit of not so awesome stuff. Definitely worth reading/listening to.
I'll try to write a longer review later. It has a lot of awesome stuff but also a bit of not so awesome stuff. Definitely worth reading/listening to.
bookish_benny's review against another edition
4.0
I have a SFF Blog! You can check it out at sffoasis.co.uk and there is a great SFF discord too!
So, Stormblood by Jeremy Szal is a military sci-fi story and I always felt that having the words 'military sci-fi' in the description or genre tag meant it would be less fun than a sci-fi only sotry because it would potentially have lots of military jargon taking away the fun and speed of the story but thankfully this is not the case at all.
Stormblood follows Vakov Fukasawa. Vakov is a super soldier who had previously been injected with alien DNA to help fight off Harvest, an enemy force in a previous war. Now the war has ended and Vakov has walked away from Harmony, the people responsible for injecting him with the alien DNA. Only walking away isn’t that easy and Vakov finds himself pulled back into a war on the streets surrounding the very drug he had been injected with as he hears of old colleagues being murdered and family members dragged in for questioning.
“It’s amazing how well you sleep when you’ve got a military-grade, high-velocity autocannon watching your flank.”
Jeremy does a really good job of building what I would call a 'hub' in Stormblood. Compass is a giant asteroid which has been mined out and is now host to thousands of lives from different races across the universe. It’s kind of like the citadel from Mass Effect which brings me onto another point. Stormblood has a Mass Effect feel to it and I love it. The other alien races really give you a grander feel for the universe he is creating. I expect in Blindspace we will see and hear more about other alien races since he touches on them in this story. The areas on the asteroid that Jeremy creates are full of life from casinos to bars to restaurants to apartments and workshops. They are all described well in enough detail to let you form an image in your imagination which of course brings it all to life.
The story did feel slow at first and the best way I can describe this is if you’ve ever been on a rollercoaster that goes up slowly then goes down at speed. I felt that the start of the story was worldbuilding and creating depth to Vakov which was fine and then Jeremy takes it off the rails and that’s when I felt I couldn't put this book down.
I loved the story and thought it was a really unique and interesting concept. I won't give away any spoilers but the story plays out like a science fiction detective story but with lots of pain, death, brutality, tense scenes and oh shit! moments. I really enjoyed it.
Vakov as a protagonist was great. I felt that he had a good personality to him and this was super important since the book is told in a first person perspective. I felt that he had a soft side which stayed hidden but slowly came out as bonds were made with new characters once Vakov felt he could trust them or he felt like he had no choice but to share information with them. I really liked the way Vakov talked about the Stormtech (alien DNA) inside his body which let me know exactly how it was affecting him.
There were a lot of secondary characters or characters that played supporting roles and I found that these all played a part in driving the story forward. I really hope that some of these come back for Blindspace and have no doubt that Jeremy will kill some of these off causing me to send him a rude tweet.
The whole idea that alien DNA is put into Vakov’s and others’ bodies is a really cool idea and I loved it. It was brilliant to see how it worked and how people can take too much of it and overdose. The idea that this was being used for a drug war on the streets was a really neat idea and was executed really well.
Rating - 4/5 Stormblood is an exciting debut novel which pushes the boundaries of what pain and trauma you think the main character can take in a brutal world. The Stormtech is a wholly unique idea that is used so well to help craft a brilliant story with rapid, heart pounding prose. Jeremy's imagination is scary as he invents ways to make you wince as you ride through the story as a passenger on a virtual reality ride through hell.
If you buy the book from https://www.thebrokenbinding.co.uk/ use the code BLURB5 for a discount on all of your orders.
So, Stormblood by Jeremy Szal is a military sci-fi story and I always felt that having the words 'military sci-fi' in the description or genre tag meant it would be less fun than a sci-fi only sotry because it would potentially have lots of military jargon taking away the fun and speed of the story but thankfully this is not the case at all.
Stormblood follows Vakov Fukasawa. Vakov is a super soldier who had previously been injected with alien DNA to help fight off Harvest, an enemy force in a previous war. Now the war has ended and Vakov has walked away from Harmony, the people responsible for injecting him with the alien DNA. Only walking away isn’t that easy and Vakov finds himself pulled back into a war on the streets surrounding the very drug he had been injected with as he hears of old colleagues being murdered and family members dragged in for questioning.
“It’s amazing how well you sleep when you’ve got a military-grade, high-velocity autocannon watching your flank.”
Jeremy does a really good job of building what I would call a 'hub' in Stormblood. Compass is a giant asteroid which has been mined out and is now host to thousands of lives from different races across the universe. It’s kind of like the citadel from Mass Effect which brings me onto another point. Stormblood has a Mass Effect feel to it and I love it. The other alien races really give you a grander feel for the universe he is creating. I expect in Blindspace we will see and hear more about other alien races since he touches on them in this story. The areas on the asteroid that Jeremy creates are full of life from casinos to bars to restaurants to apartments and workshops. They are all described well in enough detail to let you form an image in your imagination which of course brings it all to life.
The story did feel slow at first and the best way I can describe this is if you’ve ever been on a rollercoaster that goes up slowly then goes down at speed. I felt that the start of the story was worldbuilding and creating depth to Vakov which was fine and then Jeremy takes it off the rails and that’s when I felt I couldn't put this book down.
I loved the story and thought it was a really unique and interesting concept. I won't give away any spoilers but the story plays out like a science fiction detective story but with lots of pain, death, brutality, tense scenes and oh shit! moments. I really enjoyed it.
Vakov as a protagonist was great. I felt that he had a good personality to him and this was super important since the book is told in a first person perspective. I felt that he had a soft side which stayed hidden but slowly came out as bonds were made with new characters once Vakov felt he could trust them or he felt like he had no choice but to share information with them. I really liked the way Vakov talked about the Stormtech (alien DNA) inside his body which let me know exactly how it was affecting him.
There were a lot of secondary characters or characters that played supporting roles and I found that these all played a part in driving the story forward. I really hope that some of these come back for Blindspace and have no doubt that Jeremy will kill some of these off causing me to send him a rude tweet.
The whole idea that alien DNA is put into Vakov’s and others’ bodies is a really cool idea and I loved it. It was brilliant to see how it worked and how people can take too much of it and overdose. The idea that this was being used for a drug war on the streets was a really neat idea and was executed really well.
Rating - 4/5 Stormblood is an exciting debut novel which pushes the boundaries of what pain and trauma you think the main character can take in a brutal world. The Stormtech is a wholly unique idea that is used so well to help craft a brilliant story with rapid, heart pounding prose. Jeremy's imagination is scary as he invents ways to make you wince as you ride through the story as a passenger on a virtual reality ride through hell.
If you buy the book from https://www.thebrokenbinding.co.uk/ use the code BLURB5 for a discount on all of your orders.
mariocoelho's review
5.0
Kickstarting this review with a weird compliment: Stormblood is what would happen if a blockbuster screenwriter tried his hand at writing a novel, and discovered he's also great at the whole prose aspect of it. This is an intensely visual book, with some of the most vivid, sensorial descriptions I've read in a long while. It's all the more impressive because we're stuck in Vakov's deliciously tormented first-person POV the whole time, jumping from his mangled introspections to well-crafted scenes of worldbuilding and climaxing in good old ultraviolence.
I didn't expect to enjoy Stormblood this much. I'm usually more into literary-ish spec fic. I could throw a couple nitpicks here and there: some of the dialogue can be Hollywood-cheesy, Grim's hacking abilities stretches suspension of disbelief, and the talk about stormblood itself overstays its welcome a couple times.
But, really, these flaws are peanuts. It's 4:06 am over here and I gotta be up in 5, pretty sure that's a resounding quality stamp. Stormblood is simply fun. If you're a fan of stuff like Mass Effect, The Expanse and Altered Carbon, you'll love this. If you're more of the Kim Stanley Robinson type, you'll probably still like Stormblood, but you might lament the lack of 5-page intricate explanations of space toilet plumbing physics (I kid! - Kim Stanley Robinson is the OG).
One more piece of praise before I drag myself to what'll by now be a night-time nap: the interspersed slice-of-life details are great. Making the setting of a novel feel lived in is an overlooked quality, and more difficult to do than one would think.
Finally, shout out to the Bunny. I'm with you. Vakov and Grim are meanies.
I didn't expect to enjoy Stormblood this much. I'm usually more into literary-ish spec fic. I could throw a couple nitpicks here and there: some of the dialogue can be Hollywood-cheesy, Grim's hacking abilities stretches suspension of disbelief, and the talk about stormblood itself overstays its welcome a couple times.
But, really, these flaws are peanuts. It's 4:06 am over here and I gotta be up in 5, pretty sure that's a resounding quality stamp. Stormblood is simply fun. If you're a fan of stuff like Mass Effect, The Expanse and Altered Carbon, you'll love this. If you're more of the Kim Stanley Robinson type, you'll probably still like Stormblood, but you might lament the lack of 5-page intricate explanations of space toilet plumbing physics (I kid! - Kim Stanley Robinson is the OG).
One more piece of praise before I drag myself to what'll by now be a night-time nap: the interspersed slice-of-life details are great. Making the setting of a novel feel lived in is an overlooked quality, and more difficult to do than one would think.
Finally, shout out to the Bunny. I'm with you. Vakov and Grim are meanies.
annarella's review
5.0
A fast paced, action packed and gripping sci-fi thriller that kept me hooked till the last page.
The plot is well crafted and flows, the world building is fascinating, the characters are well thought and interesting.
I look forward to read other books by this author as I loved this one.
Strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
The plot is well crafted and flows, the world building is fascinating, the characters are well thought and interesting.
I look forward to read other books by this author as I loved this one.
Strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
catsy2022's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Rating: B-
I wish I had liked this more.
‘It wasn’t anything serious,’ I rasped. Then stopped as the medskin expelled two silvery objects as if it was spitting out watermelon seeds. They hit the floorboards with a distinct tap, one after the other. The bloody, armour-piercing bullets gleamed up at us like two little lies. The room was very, very quiet. I opened my mouth to speak and closed it again.
Stormblood is a cyberpunk science fiction novel with elements of military scifi and inspired by Mass Effect (I read somewhere). Vakov Fukusawa is an ex Reaper, a soldier enhanced by an alien implant injected into his body years prior by the military company Harmony. The implant turned them into berserkers, basically, able to keep fighting and killing until they were literally torn apart due to the healing properties of the implant. Unfortunately, the soldiers also developed an addiction to combat (through adrenaline and other chemicals) and usually went crazy. Now recovered, Vakov has been approached by Harmony again to investigate a series of deaths seemingly brought on by the same alien injection he received. (Phew)
This book contains a rich and interesting world full of mystery and horror, but the way this is shown is in lengthy and continuous infodumps spread through the story, almost in every single chapter. The element of family and loyalty is brought up very early on and constantly. We are inside Vakov's head in first person perspective - he has a LOT of trauma from his upbringing and his past as a veteran - so we get a lot of philosophising about his beliefs. I personally felt that this really did bog down the story a lot, especially in action-packed scenes. His brother in the story came up way too early to be impactful yet showed up in so few scenes that their relationship couldn't be developed. The backstory had to do all the developing.
I was constantly lost in the setting. There were so many scifi terms the author created to give his world life, so many new aliens that he briefly described, I just couldn't keep track of it all. How is a slingshiv different to a butterfly knife, or a normal shiv? I can't remember any of the alien names and I just finished the book. How about a glossary of terms? That would be really cool.
I did like the writing style and the diversity of the characters, however, it did appeal to me in general (rather than the structuring of the book). Vakov himself is mixed Siberian/Japanese - his home planet/country is actually based around their cultures and even has landscape to match. Rolling mountains, icy tundras, etc.
There’s a unique kind of silence after the echo of a gunshot dies down. Pure. Complete. As if every living thing is scared of drawing any attention to itself. It gets the survival mechanism kicking in like no other sound does.
The supplementary main characters were decently developed but sort of fell into some archetypes. Grim was the computer hacker who is just a normal dude, he's a refugee from the war between the Harvesters and Harmony. He reminded me of the pilot in Mass Effect. I couldn't really empathise with the "brotherhood" between him and Vakov. Then Katherine Kowalski, the Harmony agent supporting Vakov in his mission. She seemed cool, very business-like and focused, but then suddenly in the middle of the book she has a more sensitive and human side and the story has an element of romance - which I felt was not really necessary and came totally...out of nowhere.
I think what I needed were more bonding scenes between the characters. I really liked the scene where Katherine and Vakov drink together and talk about their lives. There was just almost near-constant action there was not much room for anything else.
People compare overcoming addiction to climbing a mountain, but that assumes there’s a peak to climb towards. Stormtech was more like swimming in an endless, churning sea. You never truly beat it. You just found temporary ways not to drown.
And on those action scenes... Like I mentioned before, I felt they were bogged down by introspection from Vakov. When he's knocked unconscious or even between some key chapters, there's an entire chapter dedicated to his past with his old squad of Reapers. More and more backstory. Then you have backstory in the main timeline and more reflection from Vakov. Then there are several chapters in a row of Vakov pushing his body to the limit. Getting to the end turned out to be a real slog...
Maybe it's just been the last 2 books I finished in not having a good time with books, but I just struggled with this one. I might come back to it in a year or so.
Some nice quotes:
The people that matter to us aren’t always meant to be in our lives for ever. But the things they did to make you a better person can be.
It’s not such a terrible thing, grief. It means you carry a bit of them with you.
Because trauma never goes away. Loss never goes away.
Instead, I allowed the sensation to crash over me like a wave on a beach, accepting its existence but holding my urges in check until the feeling ebbed away. (some mindfulness in this book)
I wish I had liked this more.
‘It wasn’t anything serious,’ I rasped. Then stopped as the medskin expelled two silvery objects as if it was spitting out watermelon seeds. They hit the floorboards with a distinct tap, one after the other. The bloody, armour-piercing bullets gleamed up at us like two little lies. The room was very, very quiet. I opened my mouth to speak and closed it again.
Stormblood is a cyberpunk science fiction novel with elements of military scifi and inspired by Mass Effect (I read somewhere). Vakov Fukusawa is an ex Reaper, a soldier enhanced by an alien implant injected into his body years prior by the military company Harmony. The implant turned them into berserkers, basically, able to keep fighting and killing until they were literally torn apart due to the healing properties of the implant. Unfortunately, the soldiers also developed an addiction to combat (through adrenaline and other chemicals) and usually went crazy. Now recovered, Vakov has been approached by Harmony again to investigate a series of deaths seemingly brought on by the same alien injection he received. (Phew)
This book contains a rich and interesting world full of mystery and horror, but the way this is shown is in lengthy and continuous infodumps spread through the story, almost in every single chapter. The element of family and loyalty is brought up very early on and constantly. We are inside Vakov's head in first person perspective - he has a LOT of trauma from his upbringing and his past as a veteran - so we get a lot of philosophising about his beliefs. I personally felt that this really did bog down the story a lot, especially in action-packed scenes. His brother in the story came up way too early to be impactful yet showed up in so few scenes that their relationship couldn't be developed. The backstory had to do all the developing.
I was constantly lost in the setting. There were so many scifi terms the author created to give his world life, so many new aliens that he briefly described, I just couldn't keep track of it all. How is a slingshiv different to a butterfly knife, or a normal shiv? I can't remember any of the alien names and I just finished the book. How about a glossary of terms? That would be really cool.
I did like the writing style and the diversity of the characters, however, it did appeal to me in general (rather than the structuring of the book). Vakov himself is mixed Siberian/Japanese - his home planet/country is actually based around their cultures and even has landscape to match. Rolling mountains, icy tundras, etc.
There’s a unique kind of silence after the echo of a gunshot dies down. Pure. Complete. As if every living thing is scared of drawing any attention to itself. It gets the survival mechanism kicking in like no other sound does.
The supplementary main characters were decently developed but sort of fell into some archetypes. Grim was the computer hacker who is just a normal dude, he's a refugee from the war between the Harvesters and Harmony. He reminded me of the pilot in Mass Effect. I couldn't really empathise with the "brotherhood" between him and Vakov. Then Katherine Kowalski, the Harmony agent supporting Vakov in his mission. She seemed cool, very business-like and focused, but then suddenly in the middle of the book she has a more sensitive and human side and the story has an element of romance - which I felt was not really necessary and came totally...out of nowhere.
I think what I needed were more bonding scenes between the characters. I really liked the scene where Katherine and Vakov drink together and talk about their lives. There was just almost near-constant action there was not much room for anything else.
People compare overcoming addiction to climbing a mountain, but that assumes there’s a peak to climb towards. Stormtech was more like swimming in an endless, churning sea. You never truly beat it. You just found temporary ways not to drown.
And on those action scenes... Like I mentioned before, I felt they were bogged down by introspection from Vakov. When he's knocked unconscious or even between some key chapters, there's an entire chapter dedicated to his past with his old squad of Reapers. More and more backstory. Then you have backstory in the main timeline and more reflection from Vakov. Then there are several chapters in a row of Vakov pushing his body to the limit. Getting to the end turned out to be a real slog...
Maybe it's just been the last 2 books I finished in not having a good time with books, but I just struggled with this one. I might come back to it in a year or so.
Some nice quotes:
The people that matter to us aren’t always meant to be in our lives for ever. But the things they did to make you a better person can be.
It’s not such a terrible thing, grief. It means you carry a bit of them with you.
Because trauma never goes away. Loss never goes away.
Instead, I allowed the sensation to crash over me like a wave on a beach, accepting its existence but holding my urges in check until the feeling ebbed away. (some mindfulness in this book)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, and Torture