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A review by liviajelliot
Cold Rising by Rohan O'Duill
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This is a quirky, fast-paced, innovative, and easy-to-read novella, with a flavour of cyberpunk and a low-sci approach. It works perfectly well as an introduction to the author's series, and it gripped me from the start.
First, many readers are sometimes deterred by the prose on sci-fi books, as they can be filled with jargon. Nevertheless, O'Duill's prose is simple and straightforward, modern and sleek, and it gets across very well. It's snappy, and it conveys that fast-paced approach from the novella—especially because a lot happens here.
Second, there are three PoVs here. The first chapter focuses on Josh who, regardless of being named afterwards, doesn't appear again in the novella. The other two PoVs are Olgo (they/them) and Suon, who start as independent lines but then merge into one story as the plot advances. The chapters are not named as the character, but they are very easy to read and "guess who narrates". There is no hopping between them—each chapter is one character only.
Now, what I want to focus on is the world and the plot, without being spoilery. This is certainly cyberpunk-flavoured, in the sense of low life & high tech; however, the author managed to blend that concept with a queernorm world, which was very refreshing to read--the author speculated not only on the tech, but also on how society would change, and overall, that produced a lived-in, elaborate setting for which is clear that there is more than meets the eye.
Because of that setting, we have characters of all types, and a setting with no apparent racial/gender discrimination. The problems and the plot happen because of something else, and the high-tech/low-life cyberpunk-ish approach takes the forefront there.
There are some interesting things in the plot, and I'm hoping they'll get explored more in the series. For example, Olgo uses an emotional stabiliser device, and it made me think of the classic "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and its empathy boxes; it was an interesting take, and it made me think quite a bit—something I love to do with spec fiction books!
There is a small but clear subplot about Olgo's past that was teasing enough to give them complexity, but also to leave the door open for more exploration in the series. The ending is quite open. While it closes the plot of the novella, the epilogue is open enough to hint at what will come in the main series.
I'll definitely recommend it for those wanting a snappy, easy read in a queer-norm cyberpunk-ish setting!
First, many readers are sometimes deterred by the prose on sci-fi books, as they can be filled with jargon. Nevertheless, O'Duill's prose is simple and straightforward, modern and sleek, and it gets across very well. It's snappy, and it conveys that fast-paced approach from the novella—especially because a lot happens here.
Second, there are three PoVs here. The first chapter focuses on Josh who, regardless of being named afterwards, doesn't appear again in the novella. The other two PoVs are Olgo (they/them) and Suon, who start as independent lines but then merge into one story as the plot advances. The chapters are not named as the character, but they are very easy to read and "guess who narrates". There is no hopping between them—each chapter is one character only.
Now, what I want to focus on is the world and the plot, without being spoilery. This is certainly cyberpunk-flavoured, in the sense of low life & high tech; however, the author managed to blend that concept with a queernorm world, which was very refreshing to read--the author speculated not only on the tech, but also on how society would change, and overall, that produced a lived-in, elaborate setting for which is clear that there is more than meets the eye.
Because of that setting, we have characters of all types, and a setting with no apparent racial/gender discrimination. The problems and the plot happen because of something else, and the high-tech/low-life cyberpunk-ish approach takes the forefront there.
There are some interesting things in the plot, and I'm hoping they'll get explored more in the series. For example, Olgo uses an emotional stabiliser device, and it made me think of the classic "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and its empathy boxes; it was an interesting take, and it made me think quite a bit—something I love to do with spec fiction books!
There is a small but clear subplot about Olgo's past that was teasing enough to give them complexity, but also to leave the door open for more exploration in the series. The ending is quite open. While it closes the plot of the novella, the epilogue is open enough to hint at what will come in the main series.
I'll definitely recommend it for those wanting a snappy, easy read in a queer-norm cyberpunk-ish setting!