Coil

The overly florid writing style jars with the dark sf of the plot, and remains intrusive frequently during the entirety of the book. Which is a shame because otherwise it's quite good. The details of the world slowly become clear, and the characters just about rise above the violence of the situations they find themselves in. It is frequently somewhat graphically gory, and a few paragraphs of again excessively flowery prose linger far too long on sections of mental turmoil, which can be safely skipped as it's of no consequence.

The dystopian world is some future Detroit, flattened by global catastrophe, barely remembered, and now run as an uneasy alliance between the gangs on the outskirts and a more corporate centralized control. Even the corporate life doesn't seem that smooth - although all of the characters come from a gang background so we don't really meet the details. It appears that this city Spires, is somewhat more anarchic than many with the gangs having greater control show more over a larger area. Bodily modifications are the norm, marking identity and allegiance, and can vary from subtle gene-tweaks to hair colour, through to more prominent tattoos, or piercings of quite extreme levels of metalwork.

The story opens with a police captain Stark summoned to one of the more unusual bodies discovered in the city. The gangs normally keep casual violence to a minimum by imposing harsh penalties on transgressors, and those are seldom found. This body is an artwork, carefully positioned by a network of rope. However all identity has been removed, no tattoos, no mods, just the faintest of scars where they'd once been. Stark knows there's no point investigating this through the usual routes, and gets in touch with one of the few people who knows who has access into the Zone, and deep into the gangs. The only un-modded person in Spires, the Mortician, the Bone-Man. As more bodies are discovered Stark and Bone realise this isn't just a casual psychopath but someone who has a personal interest in their investigation.

The interaction between the gangs and the corporate Zone needs a lot more explanation, and description of the Zone in general, but it works, you slowly understand how people live through the lives of the characters, there are a few sidekicks who play important roles of their own which helps.

The ending sadly doesn't reach a conclusion, and appears to be set for a sequel and probably a trilogy, although these may not yet be written. I'm not so impressed with the prose that I'll seek them out, but the worldbuilding is worth the read. show less

Cyberpunk police procedural – incredibly good

Oh my this is a good book. I had not heard of Ren Warom till I got this one and now I have to search out her others. Ms Warum's cyberpunk world building is stunning, her characters are impeccable, and the murder mystery plot is convoluted and believable within the world construct. No one else writes cyberpunk police procedurals, do they?

I received a review copy of "Coil" by Ren Warum from the author through LibraryThing.com.

Book source ~ ARC. My review is voluntary and honest.

There’s a twisted serial killer on the loose in the Spires. City Officer Stark needs the best mortician he can get and that’s Bone Adams. Except Bone is not part of his jurisdiction, so Stark has to find a way to get Bone in on the case before more bodies pile up. Once he accomplishes that, they are off and running, but it seems like the serial killer they’ve named Rope, is always steps ahead of them. In the course of trying to find Rope, Stark finds out more than he could possible believe, about his city, his old friend Burneo, and about Bone. What is seen and known, cannot be unseen or unknown.

Set in the distant future, this is one twisted and dark Sci-Fi story. I wish I could say that I came away from it with that deep euphoria one gets after finishing a really good book, but I can’t. I was confused for most of it and the writing just isn’t my style. It seems like everything is a simile or metaphor. I have nothing show more against these things when used judiciously, but when I can’t read more than a page or two before the entire thing becomes entire passages of symbolism…well, it just gets tiresome. For me anyway. And that ending? Totally didn’t get it and I feel like I missed something huge. There is a lot that I did like: the descriptions of the city and the people are fascinating. Stark and several other characters are pretty good, but I couldn't get a handle on Bone. I thought I'd love him, but I didn't. Rope is terrifying. What I brought away from this is the future is pretty damn bleak. I hope we can avoid that particular path. show less

Not my style, I found the writing to be difficult and it didn't flow for me. Started it,, put it down, started it again and realized I just couldn't decipher it, and wasn't worth the work, I don't care for books that I feel I have to put in work to read. It was also too gross and gory for me. I can handle some of that but the level in this book was too much for me. Its part of the story and fits but from my POV its off putting. That said I always appreciate the time and effort an author puts into writing a novel, that is way more than I could even hope to do. This is just not my cup of tea.

DNF on page 29. Sordid, unpleasant torture-porn in an extreme dystopia.