This is the third part of the Techxorcist series. If you haven’t read the first two yet (you really should) then I strongly suggest you do before reading this book. Although this story does stand alone as a story you lose some of the richness of character that only comes from knowing the characters. The story carries on from where Assembly Code finished. Unlike some trilogies I didn’t find myself skimming through the final one just to get to the end. If anything this book was more gripping than the first two. There is a definite feeling of hopelessness and despair through much of this book. Thankfully the author didn’t spoil the book with a joyous ending. The end of the book works perfectly. It wraps things up without getting all sweetness and light. There are a few unanswered questions at the end but for me the major one is what will happen to Gerry? I don’t think things have ended as they seem where Gerry is concerned and I can’t help thinking there will be some kind of Gerry spin-off to follow at some point (pretty please Mr Barnes).
My favourite part of this story is when Petal finds a book. A real book. A novel. She had not heard such a thing existed. A story for the sake of entertainment. That scene pretty much sums up how much of a dystopia the world has become in this story. The fact that the book in question is a seminal (not that type you weirdo) work in the cyberpunk genre only adds to it. The way that scene makes certain choices about how things work in this series click in to place. I’m not going to spoil the fun by saying any more but that scene stands out for me as a really talented piece of writing.
I think I’ve read all of Colin’s published works and this is his best work so far. I would highly recommend buying and reading this series. At the moment you can get the electronic versions of the whole series for under £5 so why delay. Go buy them all now. Start your 2014 by reading some excellent cyberpunk.
Tony's Thoughts 