Heather’s Bookshelf: Cyberblade: The City of Five Skies
Author: William Z. Stone
Released: 11/14/20
Genre: Dystopian SciFi
“They passed golden halls and walked through a crystal doorway into a garden with an artificial blue sky. The grass was lush, the trees tall and the bushes full of colorful flowers. Turning off her nose-filters, Lex drank in the sweet scent of blossoms in bloom as she was led further inside the private forest to a circle of steel chairs. Her eyes wanted to dance between the trees, but her mind was all business, and her Inner Empire helped her to focus on the enemy.”
“Cyberblade” introduces Lex, a young woman trying to find her way in an oppressive world where everyone around her seems to make decisions for her. She’s a female and an Empyrean- the combination restricting her options and her desire to be a roboticist and provide for her family. Events occur that intertwine Lex’s family with the dangers of the world around them and put her in a position of power and leadership.
Lex is a strong and determined young woman with physical (heart defect) and emotional (family/personal) drawbacks. She’s a gifted roboticist and her skills allow her to interact well with a talking droid who is more like family. She soon finds that she has inherited a gift from her mother that enhances her connection to anything made with ones and zeroes.
Her decisions quickly lead her smack dab into the middle of a world battle for power and place. She uses the gifts that she has been given along with the connections that she makes along the way to rise to a place where she is not only in a position of power, but in a position to change the world.
Trigger Warning: Violence, murder, racism, sexism
Overall, I found “Cyberblade” to be a vividly written and interesting ride into a dystopian world. There are interesting scifi elements throughout but my favorite was the droid Talos. Lex was also a well developed protagonist. She had her flaws, but was endearing in a way that you wanted her to succeed. She was also driven, smart, and powerful. Her interactions with Schmidt, Hector, and Ander were believable and the overall world building was really well done. Her personal dilemmas about her physical enhancements and deciding between following her heart and her head were relatable. However, I found portions of the story difficult to follow especially near the beginning. Scenes seemed to come out of nowhere and I felt like I was playing catch up at times. This was also absolutely a battle-centric book, meaning that there was one fight scene after another. I found it a little drawn out and redundant at times but did appreciate how the author incorporated character development into those scenes. The ending was satisfying as I thought that it tied everything up nicely enough while still leaving it open ended for a sequel and future villain. I look forward to seeing what the author does with the world moving forward.
I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.
OVERALL REVIEW:
A strong and passionate leader emerges in a vivid dystopian world filled with a few too many battle scenes
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