Recommend by: Riley
In Cyberella you have a heroine without a past and a hero who is putting part of his past behind him.
Ella doesn’t really know who she is or how she got to be the way she is. Finding out could be dangerous, but being left out of the loop is really annoying.
Strictly speaking, Ella is not a cyborg. Her neurocyber content is less than the legal limit of 25% that requires a person to be DC – Declared Cyborg. But the Sicar hate borgs and Torgeir Rakkel doesn’t know what she is. Well, not entirely anyway.
What Torgeir does know is that a) Ella is being hunted b) he is drawn to her and c) she is his bondmate. Hmm. How to make sure she stays with him. Or at the very least has a hard time leaving.
Torgeir’s method of making sure Ella sticks close by is two-fold. The first fold is a lot underhanded but insures he will always be able to find her. It does not make Ella happy. At all. The second fold is, well, also a bit underhanded. And while Ella may start out protesting, eventually she is purring. The erotic scenes in Cyberella are sexy and fun and through, them Ella and Torgeir really start to bond.
For both characters, I would have liked to learn more about their pasts. What Ella went through and why, are not definitively explained, just – sort of – mentioned. And while Torgeir talks about his past to Ella, the conversation is held off-page, which I found a bit frustrating. However, I jumped into a book set in the Preyfinders universe without having read any of the Preyfinders series. It is possible that the series might have put some perspective on my reading issues.
Ella’s character is a bit wishy washy. At times she is strong and purposeful. After all, she is smart and has some pretty awesome cyber alterations. But at other times, Ella is unsure and weak. Part of this is due to her unknown past. But there were times when I really wished she would stop with the self blame.
I enjoyed the world that Ms. Silverwood created in Cyberella. One of my favorite parts is the pyramid building that Ella and Torgeir lived in on the 183rd floor. With its labyrinthine access and its 15,000 residents, the building seems to have a life of it’s own on a planet that is covered by city. Despite the slum-like conditions, people appear to be content making do with whatever they have. It is a lively colorful world that is the backdrop for Ella’s mission to figure out her past. Included in that color is the team from Hack and Slash Cyber Repairers. At Hack and Slash, Ella finds three geeky friends. She also finds she as an affinity for the same kind of geekiness.
Ella also finds a pet —- rock. Really. Well, Mimi started as Torgeir’s pet, but she/it switched loyalties pretty quickly. Mimi is handy to have around and I started to look for the lovable little rock every time Ella got into trouble.
Cyberella has a lunatic evil villain. Remember, I mentioned that someone is looking for Ella. The lunatic’s motivation is pretty warped. But then again he is a lunatic. He didn’t have a big role until closer to the end. Up to then you only get a hint of him through anonymous communication with Henchman. Henchman was a predicable character. In the beginning, when I was reading the Henchman passages, I did not like his predictability. But as the story continued, I began to realize that he behaved like any typical (not very smart) henchman would. Care to guess what happens to lunatic and Henchman in the end?
If you have not read the Preyfinders books, you can still enjoy this standalone novel. Cyberella is a sexy, fun, gritty, fast-paced adventure set in a strange and wonderful universe. Having read Cyberella, the rest of the Preyfinders books are on my TBR list. I think that is enough of a recommendation!
Through NetGalley, the author provided a copy of this book so that I could bring this post to you.
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