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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Bleak, depressing, and overly suffused with allusions and comparisons of all sorts. Finished it because I love sci-fi, mysteries, and baseball, and I live in New York. Just such a depressing read. Especially in 2025, things are bleak enough already; give this a miss.
DNF @ 25%
I am beginning to doubt that I actually like neo-noir, since I can't think of one I have read that I particularly like. This neo-noir is set in a bleak future that takes every negative aspect of modern-day America and stretches it out to its worst form. A game show has dying people competing for new organs they need for entertainment. GoFundMe for medical treatment has expanded to people begging on the streets with videos of their medical needs. And medical debt is now collected by old school loanshark thugs who show up to threaten and injure ("We need to send in photos of at least one injury or our boss will dock our pay.").
Kobo is an ex-baseball player who got a taste for cybernetic modifications in his professional days and is now addicted. Unfortunately, he cannot afford them anymore and barely keeps one step ahead of the debt collectors. His childhood best friend/adoptive brother, J.J. Zunz, is one of the most popular of the genetically modified, juiced-up baseball players on the Monsanto Mets (corporate sponsorship has reached its own extreme). When J.J. Zunz dies during a game, Kobo is obsessed with figuring out who is responsible.
While some of the ideas are intriguing, the unrelenting dreariness became too much. It felt like every detail was added just to make the world darker. At the same time, it was a bit cartoonish - the medical debt collectors are a pair of sisters (ex-conjoined twins) that are the old classic of an oafish buffoon and a sharp-tongued one who abuses their dimmer half. There are also Neanderthals (!?)"cloned and grown to work the Siberian mushroom farms." (!?!? Every part of that sentence is pretty silly).
I can see that this will appeal to the right audience. If you're looking for a bleak but slightly cartoonish story that leans hard into the noir tropes, then this is probably the book for you.
I am beginning to doubt that I actually like neo-noir, since I can't think of one I have read that I particularly like. This neo-noir is set in a bleak future that takes every negative aspect of modern-day America and stretches it out to its worst form. A game show has dying people competing for new organs they need for entertainment. GoFundMe for medical treatment has expanded to people begging on the streets with videos of their medical needs. And medical debt is now collected by old school loanshark thugs who show up to threaten and injure ("We need to send in photos of at least one injury or our boss will dock our pay.").
Kobo is an ex-baseball player who got a taste for cybernetic modifications in his professional days and is now addicted. Unfortunately, he cannot afford them anymore and barely keeps one step ahead of the debt collectors. His childhood best friend/adoptive brother, J.J. Zunz, is one of the most popular of the genetically modified, juiced-up baseball players on the Monsanto Mets (corporate sponsorship has reached its own extreme). When J.J. Zunz dies during a game, Kobo is obsessed with figuring out who is responsible.
While some of the ideas are intriguing, the unrelenting dreariness became too much. It felt like every detail was added just to make the world darker. At the same time, it was a bit cartoonish - the medical debt collectors are a pair of sisters (ex-conjoined twins) that are the old classic of an oafish buffoon and a sharp-tongued one who abuses their dimmer half. There are also Neanderthals (!?)"cloned and grown to work the Siberian mushroom farms." (!?!? Every part of that sentence is pretty silly).
I can see that this will appeal to the right audience. If you're looking for a bleak but slightly cartoonish story that leans hard into the noir tropes, then this is probably the book for you.
Such a fun twist on the capitalistic hellscape we currently live in! A beautiful Sci-fi/genetic engineering take on all our current issues: racism, global warming, corporations basically owning people, medical debt, loan sharks, and a dash of ableism. Also there was a lot of great unexpected twists towards the end
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The world building is the standout feature of the book. It plays on some tropes of the cyberpunk subgenre, but feels unique in its approach of looking at this type of world from the perspective of an average person. The mystery at the heart of the story, however, is mostly predictable.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The plot makes little to no sense, the ending is infuriating, the characters aren't well flushed out. Huge gaps in sense.
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes