Scan barcode
justanother_alan's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
frasersimons's review against another edition
4.0
I'm back! After work being soul crushing for the last stint, it's eased up so I can actually have time to do things I want to do, like reading books and designing games!
Virology is the sequel novel to Escapeology, which I enjoyed immensely. It picks up virtually right after the first one, Shock, a hacker is in a weird/bad/interesting state. He'd melded with Emblem, is hunted by virtually everyone. And Amiga, the cleaner, is on the run with the hornets, a group of J-Hacks who kind of remind me of a Shadowrun group--if they were written well and it wasn't all about striking at corps and taking jobs and stuff.
What you need to know is that basically, they're all together and being hunted and there's more bad guys than the last one. Good news is that combined with these things, such as Zen, infecting people with virads in order to spread and infect more people to terrible ends. All of these bad folks are well written and I loved that the women were allowed to just be plain bad people, not used as specific plot devices or sexual scenes, or embodying one specific idea.
In addition to that, so too do the J-hacks. Where in the first book they were secondary or tertiary characters, now they feel more fleshed out and like a more cohesive family. One that Shock and Amiga, the main characters latch onto and have lots of great interactions with.
The novel plays out like it could be a very good action flick, great characters and motivations and gun play, and fight scenes, etc. But it also has the same underlying focus on being marginalized people, for various reasons depending on the character. And the exploration of what addiction looks like and does to a person on a case by case basis, without the stigmatism and tropes generally used in first and sometimes second wave cyberpunk books.
It's clean Ren has experience with this and the writing is quick, snappy, and versatile, suiting the perspectives of each character well. Helping separate them by syntax was very helpful because it felt like a lot more going on with the characters this go around.
Some people couldn't get through Escapelogy because of how harsh the world was to Shock, a trans character, simply because for them, it hit a bit too close to home. I think if that is the case you could jump into Virology well enough and not have that same experience. And also, I quite liked that character development by the end of the first book, when Shock's identity played a huge role in the end game, and the oppression he faced.
In short: is good, you should read it. More good cyberpunk, yes! Although I'd probably label it as post-cyberpunk as I would argue it subverts some pretty shitty tropes established in first wave. And I like to think having a well done trans character also struggles against the initial conventions. Whatever you label it as, I recommend it!
Virology is the sequel novel to Escapeology, which I enjoyed immensely. It picks up virtually right after the first one, Shock, a hacker is in a weird/bad/interesting state. He'd melded with Emblem, is hunted by virtually everyone. And Amiga, the cleaner, is on the run with the hornets, a group of J-Hacks who kind of remind me of a Shadowrun group--if they were written well and it wasn't all about striking at corps and taking jobs and stuff.
What you need to know is that basically, they're all together and being hunted and there's more bad guys than the last one. Good news is that combined with these things, such as Zen, infecting people with virads in order to spread and infect more people to terrible ends. All of these bad folks are well written and I loved that the women were allowed to just be plain bad people, not used as specific plot devices or sexual scenes, or embodying one specific idea.
In addition to that, so too do the J-hacks. Where in the first book they were secondary or tertiary characters, now they feel more fleshed out and like a more cohesive family. One that Shock and Amiga, the main characters latch onto and have lots of great interactions with.
The novel plays out like it could be a very good action flick, great characters and motivations and gun play, and fight scenes, etc. But it also has the same underlying focus on being marginalized people, for various reasons depending on the character. And the exploration of what addiction looks like and does to a person on a case by case basis, without the stigmatism and tropes generally used in first and sometimes second wave cyberpunk books.
It's clean Ren has experience with this and the writing is quick, snappy, and versatile, suiting the perspectives of each character well. Helping separate them by syntax was very helpful because it felt like a lot more going on with the characters this go around.
Some people couldn't get through Escapelogy because of how harsh the world was to Shock, a trans character, simply because for them, it hit a bit too close to home. I think if that is the case you could jump into Virology well enough and not have that same experience. And also, I quite liked that character development by the end of the first book, when Shock's identity played a huge role in the end game, and the oppression he faced.
In short: is good, you should read it. More good cyberpunk, yes! Although I'd probably label it as post-cyberpunk as I would argue it subverts some pretty shitty tropes established in first wave. And I like to think having a well done trans character also struggles against the initial conventions. Whatever you label it as, I recommend it!
More...