Stormblood

Full video review here -https://youtu.be/zxQ6fQZ7njg

With elements that felt familiar and unique, Szal spins an action-packed ride with a protagonizt that's isn't all anger and brawn. There's a human side to his characters that I really appreciated. Sci-fi on a asteroid city with an expansive plot that doesn't get too heavy.

This cyberpunk (biopunk?) debut is an intriguing and impressive read. Jeremy has constructed a world where some alien biotech was repurposed to create super-soldiers, but this came at a price to the users that was very high, leading to an addiction to violence and thrills. With the old war that these people were created for over the biotech has taken a new life of its own as a super drug, highly addictive and forming a drug abuse epidemic in society. With echoes of some of the aftereffects of modern wars (think Agent Orange) and the references to modern drug abuse issues this sits in a powerful story telling niche.

This is some impressive world building, the world providing a suitable foil to our current and yet being distinctively its own. Over the top of this we have an almost noir style private investigator type story, with our main protagonist one of the super-soldiers who has managed to combat his addiction and taking on an investigation on behalf of the governing organisation. Add into this some familial tension and a mysterious and nefarious syndicate trying to control the drug with ambiguous motives. This is an impressively nuanced and constructed debut. The prose is finding its feet in a couple of places but that is not surprising in debut. Overall this is a solid start and I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy

By the blurb, I expected to love this, but it just failed to grab me. Honestly, it feels like written by a teenager. Also, it's a debut and it shows.