COLDWIRE

Ready Player One meets Six of Crows in this pacy cyberpunk adventure.

In a future world ravaged by floods, toxic air, and global pandemics, most people have left their physical bodies downcountry in Pods that keep them alive and migrated upcountry to StrangeLoom, a virtual reality created by NileCorp, a powerful global conglomerate based in Atahua. Atahua is in a state of tension with nearby Medaluo, and it depends on NileCorp-trained soldiers for defense and to control the civil unrest triggered by the corporation’s steady erosion of the economy through AI and surveillance. On a mission to apprehend an anarchist in Atahua, Eirale Ward, a downcountry NileCorp soldier, finds herself framed for a murder and then kidnapped by her quarry. Before long, she’s coerced into helping his team steal critical files from Medaluo. In a parallel narrative, Lia Ward, the adopted daughter of an Atahuan senator, is a star student at StrangeLoom’s Nile Military Academy. On her first posting, she’s sent virtually into Medaluo to track down and capture Chung Yin, the inventor of Coldwire, an AI weapon that could give Medaluo control over StrangeLoom. With classmate and rival Kieren in tow—and a romance ready to blossom—Lia follows a trail of cyber breadcrumbs. This series opener maintains a crackling pace, with inventive worldbuilding and a cleverly executed reveal. The characters, while largely well developed, occasionally feel like stock players, however. Atahuans present as white, while Medans read Asian.

Inventive and engaging.