Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Emeraldsky is a datajacker, one of the best at stealing corporate secrets. He's hired the zonewarrior Steel-Or to protect him while he makes a dangerous run. When things go bad, Steel-Or finds himself in the position of taking care of an injured Emeraldsky. Torn between the need for money, memories of the datajacker, and the desire to look out for #1, Steel-Or has to decide: does he take the money and run or protect the only man he's ever loved, even if Emeraldsky might not love him back?

NOTE: This book was previously published by Torquere Press in May 2013.

Book Review

I have to admit, I like reading about the occasional gritty version of the future. One like Michael Barnette is so good at portraying in Hajiri's Pet (which I read and loved) or the 'Through Neon Eyes' series, which is still in my TBR pile. And now there is 'Beneath an Emerald Sky', and it is just as gritty, and scary, and wonderful in its own way as the others. It's written with a lot of imagination, projecting what the technology we have now might look like in the future, adding a good dollop of corporate greed and its consequences, and the result is a scary world in which human emotions and values like loyalty, trust, and love have become very rare.

Emraldsky, or Em, is a datajacker. He has enhanced his body and mind to the point where he can connect to computer systems and networks, go in and steal information. He is good at it, but there are occasional challenges that require him to have protection in the real world. That is where the zonewarrior he hired comes in. As the story develops, it becomes clear that Em may need the guy for protection against his current client's treason, but he wants so much more. He knows that he has no right to expect anything other than protection and maybe getting paid for the data he acquired, but he hopes for more. That spark of something other than greed and cold calculation has been keeping him going, emotionally, for a very long time. Not that he can admit this easily.

Stell-Or, the zonewarrior, is even colder and more calculating than Em. He is also in a lot of trouble, and desperately needs money, and lots of it, to pay off his gambling debts. So far, he has survived by being ruthless and ignoring any kind of feelings that might surface. Somehow, this case is different, and it was interesting to see how feelings slowly surfaced, were repressed and ignored, until they became too strong for Stell-Or to ignore.

If you like sci-fi that is just a little on the bleak and scary side, if you enjoy reading about men with a history between them to see how they fare years later when life reunites them, and if you're looking for an imaginative read with plenty of action and a very sweet conclusion, then you will probably like this short book.

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by the publisher for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Short Story, 11286 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	09-October-2015
Price	$1.99 ebook
Buy Link	http://bit.ly/2e6gcLn