Rafał Kosik

Very interesting book set in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe.

In essence story is reminiscent of the Usual Suspect and Ronin plot. Group of individuals from various walks of life - from high level corporate officer to military veteran to people forced to do things they do not like in order to survive - get recruited for a job, raid on Militech convoy, because of a single reason - they have required skills, are unknown to police, they do not have records and criminal underworld does not know about them. Idea for their handler is to test the concept and see how it goes.

Problem is that after the initial successful heist, this group decides to try themselves at another one with aim to help one of team members and this is where things go wrong. Very soon they find themselves targeted from all directions, not just by the insidious corporations and their private armies but also by underworld psychotic heavy hitters with a grudge and wounded pride.

As story progresses author starts to weave other elements into it, and it becomes clear that in the background of all of this high stake game is in play, one that could bring great benefits to the humanity (to move it from the stagnation humanity currently finds itself with lots of knowledge lost due to the deadly historical events, as stated by the Arasaka corporation representative) but also could doom the humanity to utter destruction and loss of great, almost epic, proportions from which there is no recovery. It is just that nobody knows what exactly lies ahead but since all the decisions are made by feudal like corporations (new nobility) everything is looked at through prism of experiment where the unwahsed masses will pay the price (and who cares about them, right?).
Author very vividly depicts how technology is now such a part of human existence that life without is impossible (I especially liked comments how "old school" skills like reading are becoming forgotten because why read when you have everything on voice command).

Aya's cyber implants start to behave weirdly and malfunction - comment on this is that this is known quality-control implemented to force further upgrades, if person in question can pay for it. Otherwise, who cares. This is excellent remark on what awaits people when they decide to "enhance" themselves with whatever technology that can be made obsolete just after few months - this forces people to enter the vicious cycle where it is required to pay ever more to be able to live at all. There is simply no way back.

Only reason I am giving this book 4 instead of 5 stars is the ending. I understand that this is dystopian SF story but I would like to see at least some light at the end of the tunnel. Ending as it is, while very thrilling, is also very sad and grim ending. I could see book ending in Keyser Soze way, and this would be a very interesting and satisfying twist. Unfortunately all our heroes are dealt some very lousy hands (Albert's ending can be made into a horror story on its own - Event Horizon style) which seems to bea trademark of this universe (at least in literary format).

There are also some open questions about some of the characters. I am not sure what to make of Aya. When Stanley finds her in the wreckage of the aircraft, I am not sure what her role actually was. If one looks at Stanley's comment, it seems that Militech had her under control for a whole time, and they just used her as a plant in the group to motivate Zor (and indirectly Ron) to get involved in the follow up disasters of the heists and armed conflict with the underworld. Considering her abilities it could be that she is just a sleeper agent (ghost in the shell style) to be reactivated in the future.

Additional unknown is Warden (and his boss Renner) - at the end they just .... disappear. It is clear that they work with Militech but the way they just abruptly disappear is a little bit weird. What was their true role in this story, QA team (maybe unwillingly)?

All in all very good action thriller, highly recommended. I hope we get more books of this quality set in Cyberpunk 2077 universe, one can never get tired of sleeper agents, crazy criminal brutes and in general high technology in which this entire world is wrapped in.

Recommended to fans of SF crime noir.… (mehr)