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A review by bookish_benny
Stormblood by Jeremy Szal
4.0
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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.