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A review by sydneyfwhite
Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace
4.0
This was a really interesting story!
Mal is in a desperate situation, like many others. She lives in a hotel room with 9 people, works many jobs in order to afford food and water, and plays a VR war game that she streams with roommate and friend Jessa. After a really successful stream, a mysterious water donor requests to meet them and so Mal and Jessa meet B. B lets them in on a conspiracy about SpecOp operatives. Instead of creations from Stellaxis HQ, B tells Mal and Jessa that SpecOp agents are actually people who have been modified from childhood. This unlocks something within Mal and she must do everything in her power to save the few SpecOp agents left.
This was a really unique premise of a dystopian earth. Stories like this one that focus on corruption and corporate greed really frighten me, since they aren't very far away from something believable.
I also thought the author made a smart choice with how she wrote Mal as aro/ace because it was never blatantly obvious, in fact, I had no idea until I read a note from the author online... however, they was no romance or mention of it really. I found this refreshing since most stories have some kind of romance, and so having some stories with aro/ace representation is really awesome.
I did think there were some issues with pacing, and I found Mal as a character a bit boring. But otherwise, the story was fun and I enjoyed it!
Mal is in a desperate situation, like many others. She lives in a hotel room with 9 people, works many jobs in order to afford food and water, and plays a VR war game that she streams with roommate and friend Jessa. After a really successful stream, a mysterious water donor requests to meet them and so Mal and Jessa meet B. B lets them in on a conspiracy about SpecOp operatives. Instead of creations from Stellaxis HQ, B tells Mal and Jessa that SpecOp agents are actually people who have been modified from childhood. This unlocks something within Mal and she must do everything in her power to save the few SpecOp agents left.
This was a really unique premise of a dystopian earth. Stories like this one that focus on corruption and corporate greed really frighten me, since they aren't very far away from something believable.
I also thought the author made a smart choice with how she wrote Mal as aro/ace because it was never blatantly obvious, in fact, I had no idea until I read a note from the author online... however, they was no romance or mention of it really. I found this refreshing since most stories have some kind of romance, and so having some stories with aro/ace representation is really awesome.
I did think there were some issues with pacing, and I found Mal as a character a bit boring. But otherwise, the story was fun and I enjoyed it!