Plenty of action, average world-building, interesting characters but they lack depth. I loved the beginning of the book, it sucked me in, immediately. The next part felt meandering and somehow never improved. It offers plenty of thrills, great action sequences and solid characters, but it somehow feels too unfocused. and a little too technical.

A very original and interesting science fiction story world with fantasy elements, multi-layered characters and well done, fast paced, battle scenes.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There's something here that people will enjoy - it just wasn't hitting me right at the right time. I'll try to come back to it again some day.

If only someone had handed me this book when I was reaching for the Neuromancer! Sure, it has inherited some traits from its predecessor. Like it fails to explain the world it's set in too -- and no, I don't mean how it drops us right in the middle of the action. Or, how magic and science fit in. It's fast-paced too and I didn't experience one boring moment as I read this book. Aside from that, though, I didn't find much in common between the two cyberpunk novella. If it isn't crystal to you yet, I prefer The Chimera Code to Neuromancer.

That said, I didn't connect with Cloke the way I wanted to. She needs to be fleshed out a bit more -- and be given a new name because this one reminded me more of Cloaca than Cloak. Yuck! In comparison, Zee was more fun to read about. The same superficial quality is also there in the plot. It's quite straightforward and has no surprises. I would have liked some surprises.

In any case, I found this book a funny and quick read!

My Rating: 4.5 stars
Trigger Warnings for the book: violence, murder. implied sexual assault, misgendering of nonbinary character
Representation: Filipino-Irish MC, nonbinary MC

The Chimera Code is an action packed science fiction fantasy that makes the reader hold their breath at every turn. I was continously thrilled by the series of events that occurred and how the characters grew into their own. For me, it was a character driven book, constantly focusing on their certain traits and vices. While dealing with a very fun and complicated plot, the book also discusses how technology has taken over lives, for better and worse, the way corporations control an alarming amount of the human society and how this shapes lives.

Since this is an adult novel. the characters are very mature and they understand and analyse the world they live in. They talk about how most employees are just cogs in huge corporations wheels, just trying to get by, while a select few make decisions that affect the entire world. They regularly encounter the pitfalls of technology and the ethical dilemmas that come with it. The books also addresses our obsession with technology and leaving a trace on the world which leaves us immensely vulnerable, but at the same time it also shows how that helps people live better lives. I really liked how it presented both sides of the coin rather than taking one extreme end.

Cloke and Zee were also such contrasting and similar personalities. This is very apparent from the fact that Cloke is a combat mage and has to avoid most technological apparatus attached to one’s body because it messes with her magic; while Zee is the one who is waist deep in all of it. They are polar opposites of each other. They are also like mirror images with the kind of past they have had and their own motivations. The way they dealt with money, after both of them experiencing financial insecurity early on in their lives, was also a good contrast that highlighted their similarities. I liked how Cloke being the older in this relationship is not a pushy, overbearing presence in Zee’s life. Instead Cloke provides Zee with the best and lets xie make hir own decisions, even though she sees a startling amount of her own self in Zee. I also liked how each of these adult characters had their own childish quirks, small things they enjoyed, the banter they had; it added more flavour and depth to them.

I really liked how the worldbuilding was meticulous and properly explained to the reader than leaving parts of it to imagination. How magic was incorporated into the fabric of the world and used in tandem with technology to allow humanity to reach new heights. The way that the characters talked about magic, it felt like it was a science that they could not fully understand or define in concrete terms and yet they had learnt how to use it. The main conflict of the book relied on both magic and technology. It utilised the genres it had entered effortlessly and created a wonderful story. Not only that, it questioned the ethics of both these sciences, all the while giving us breathtaking action sequences that were not just the work of body but also mind.

I do believe that this book is a deliberate masterpiece but I did not know how to feel about the way Zee’s character is treated. The way xie exists, created through medical modifications to hir DNA, all of this done in-vitro, very much gave me an alien vibe which kind of felt like the “nonbinary and aro/ace representations only in aliens” trope. The way hir body is described to be extremely androgynous and Zee choosing to present as such felt like something meant to satisfy a cis person’s definition of nonbinary. (Note: I am not an OwnVoices reviewer for this rep.) The way xie is constantly misgendered in the beginning and the way that this society seems extremely cis-heteronormative made me uncomfortable.

I really liked this book for how it effortlessly balanced its scifi and fantasy elements, the action packed stortyline and the very intriguing and relatable characters. I look forward to more of this in its sequel and to see what new horizons it explores next.

The Chimera Code by Wayne Santos is a great take on SF/Cyberpunk, with plenty of worldbuilding, tech deep dives and action to keep any reader entertained. Santos does a great job at allowing the reader to slowly learn about the world he's created; no heavy-handed exposition ruins the flow of his story. His character development is solid, with each character's motivations and ambitions discovered through their actions and words with shifts and growth over time feeling organic rather than plotted. Santos has an eye for action, as both combat and hacking feel tense and impactful. Best of all, this book sets up perfectly for a sequel (or series), which should allow the reader to peel back more and more of the intertwined nature of magic, technology and history Santos has woven together.

eARC provided by NetGalley , thank you to Solaris/Rebellion. All opinions are my own.

Recommends it for: Science Fiction enthusiasts. Them people that wanted Ready Player One to be more Adulty

ACTION, MAYHEM, SCIENCE FICTION: THE TEAM FOR ANY JOB HAS FINALLY MET THEIR MATCH.

Wow. From the start this book was out of control – in a good way. I am loving the representation in this novel.

Cloke is a tough-as-nails mage, she is also the unofficial leader of a resourceful and dangerous team that has a gender-less hacker and a menacing cyborg. Offered a job were the reward is a new magical skill, Cloke knows that this is going to be harder than anything they have ever done.

I really enjoyed everything about this novel, the writing was smooth. The story line was packed full of action and I kept thinking “this is novel is made for the movies”.

The only con for me was that I had a rough time forming a connection to the characters. I think overall there was something missing, depth and heart. I really need a good balance between action and characters. Every time I felt I was making a connection another action scene happened, but nonetheless all of the characters were really interesting and the novel was enjoyable. Wayne has a freaking brilliant talent for writing action scenes! Maybe it needed to slow down more, there was so many interesting things about this world - either way, definitely give this book a try.

Rating: 3.8
The Chimera Code by Wayne Santos
Standalone
Publish Date: This title will be on sale as eBook 23 July 2020 and in paperback 10 November 2020 US, 12 November 2020 UK.
Cover Rating: 4/10
Adult – Science Fiction – Urban Fantasy

this was a really unique scifi read, the characters were great and I really enjoyed how different it was from other scifi books.

Plenty of action, average world-building, interesting characters but they lack depth. I loved the beginning of the book, it sucked me in. Immediately. The next part felt meandering and somehow never improved. Don't misunderstand me - it offers plenty of thrills, great action sequences and solid characters, but it somehow feels too long and too unfocused.

3.5/5 or 7/10

There’s a lot of punk around these days. Between cyberpunk, steampunk, ecopunk, dieselpunk and myriad others, it sometimes seems that fans won’t be satisfied until every novel has its own specific genre. I’m being flippant of course, and it must be said that I quite like knowing what genre a book has been placed into (even if it’s so I can disagree with the decision). And all these punk genres do mean it’s fairly easy from a cursory glance to know where The Chimera Code sits. Cyberpunk, right? Or is it… something else? Could we have another punk sub-genre on our hands here? If we do, I’m calling dibs on naming it. Magepunk? Spellpunk? Witchpunk? You see the direction I’m going in here. The Chimera Code has everything you might know and love about cyberpunk - faceless corporations, virtual reality, artificial intelligences knocking about the place, plucky misfit hackers - and mixes it with a healthy dose of magic to produce something highly entertaining.

The magical side of things here is really serving the purpose of facilitating massive action sequences, doing away with the fallibility of humdrum reality. The laws of physics and the like are not allowed to get in the way of the fun, resulting in some enormous, summer blockbuster style set pieces. They’re the sort of scenes that would perhaps feature in VR in other, similar works, but thanks to the suspension of the natural order that magic allows can take place in the physical world. Much of the riotous and well-choreographed action is centred around spell slinging, sword swinging combat mage Cloke. She’s half Irish, half Filipino, all badass, recruited at a young age to serve in a Chimera unit (so named because they combine conventional arms, digital warfare and combat magic). Along with Marcus, a combat cyborg, and Darma, a prodigious hacker - or “console jockey” - Cloke has toppled governments, rubbed shoulders with royals and more besides. The relationships between Cloke and her handler Victor, and between Cloke and her trusty allies are nuanced and believable, with dialogue feeling as slick and cool as the team themselves. The squad really comes across as tight knit, with in jokes and quips aplenty, many of which go right over newcomer Zee’s head and serve to remind us of hir newbie status frequently.

Zee hirself is a particularly interesting character. Their mysterious origin story of being grown in a lab and designed to be genderless is intriguing in itself, but the effect this has on hir psychology and general outlook on life informs hir every action. The trauma of Zee’s past is ever present, with any mention of the man who designed hir and the other “specimens” opening up old wounds. The discussion around what Zee’s preferred pronouns are also comes up more than once in the opening few chapters, and whilst this might feel slightly repetitive, it serves the purpose of showing how open-minded and accepting the rest of the team is, making it an understandably necessary discussion. There was the odd occasion where I stumbled slightly over some of the sentences, as I was reading Zee’s preferred pronoun of xie as a homonym of their name, so it felt a little like the characters were saying the same word - Zee and xie - lots of times within a few sentences. That could just be my own mistake though - the intention might be for it to be pronounced differently to the way I read it.

Now, onto the hacking, where we’re in Zee and Darma’s domain. When you’ve got a character like Cloke who can hurl fireballs and lightning, it might seem like these sequences will struggle to stack up in the excitement stakes. Happily, this isn’t a problem. Early on, a variation of the “if you die in the matrix, you die in real life” card is played, making everything Zee and mentor Darma do feel dangerous as well as significant, whilst the hacking on display carries with it a level of cool akin to that seen in Neuromancer. I’ll admit, some of the terms flew over my head a little bit (I’m somewhat ironically - and unfairly, I would argue - seen as something of a technophobe by friends, despite my sci-fi junkiedom) but the same could be said for some of Gibson’s revered cyberpunk originator. Much of the hacking action takes place in the virtual world, making for an interesting mix of settings; we even get a hellscape (and I do love a good hellscape).

Some readers might demand more answers than Santos gives here, such as what caused magic to come into the world, why Cloke is so incredibly skilled at manipulating it and so on. These questions did occur to me during my time with the novel, but they didn’t really bother me enough that they impacted on my enjoyment. If you’re the sort of person who likes everything to be explained, this might be more of a sticking point, but personally I was happy to just enjoy the ride. Whether or not these questions will be answered in subsequent books remains to be seen, but there are plenty of threads for Santos to pick up at a later date, which is encouraging. There’s also a lot of depth here anyway, much more than you might perhaps expect - a rather literal “ghost in the machine” moment early on is surprisingly affecting, bringing up existential questions on what it means to be human, whilst Zee struggles to come to terms with hir past and open up to others.

The Chimera Code has memorable, exciting action sequences that build to an absolutely massive climax, explorations of humanity and personal identity, and likeable characters. It successfully melds spell slinging, cyber warfare and run-and-gun fun, with just enough breathing room in between them to get to know those perpetrating all three. It’s fun, slick and cool - what more could you want?

Thank you Netgalley, Wayne Santos and Solaris books for the Advanced reader copy. This is my honest review and not affected by this in any way

The Chimera Code by Wayne Santos is an action-packed science fiction novel.
A diverse group of mercenaries A mage, a Cyborg, a hacker, and a dead friend now AI, are hired by a virtual construct to destroy the other copies of himself. In this book, you mostly follow the Mage Cloke and the Hacker Zee through this mission.

Representation : Zee is Non-binary (Xie, Hir), Cloke is half-Irish, half-Filipino
Content Warnings : Murder, Rape

CAWPILE Rating: 6.50 => 3 Stars
Characters : 6
Atmosphere : 6
Writing : 7.5
Plot : 8
Intrigue : 6
Logic : 6
Enjoyment : 6

I thought this book has amazing writing and plot. The plot was fast-paced and I flew through the chapter. I just wasn't invested in the story as I hoped I was.
I think the disconnect is mostly because I am a character-driven reader and this book was action-packed driven. There were too many high-risk big action sequences and too little down low scenes to connect to the characters.
The last couple of chapters, actually made me connect with the characters for the first time in the novel, and this was after all the action was done.
Due to this, the action scenes did not impact me and I just didn't feel the high risks that were into play. I think this story would work for me personally better as a movie.

I do think the world was written well and I think Wayne Santos is well-travelled because the places he describes and the cultures are well done and let you travel to those places. I however was confused for a long time about how technology and magic worked together.

I recommend this book if you are more of a plot reader and love action-filled books.

DNF @ 10%

When it comes to science fiction, I can be rather picky, and after a few chapters, I found myself bouncing off this book too much to enjoy it. The book launches you into a world with very little explanation and a lot of jargon, and I found it difficult to orient myself in the setting. Prose was middling, and plot and action seemed to be at the forefront of the book’s priorities. Not saying this is a bad thing—it’s just not what I look for in a book.

One random positive I want to mention is that it’s clear the author is either well-travelled or from a multicultural background, because he weaves references to other cultures and cuisines fluidly in the book.

I’m reluctant to give it a bad rating because I stopped fairly early, hence I don’t know if I’m being fair with my review. I’ll just say this was not for me, but it could very well be another person’s favourite book.

What can I say … this was a fast and fun, cyberpunk/mission impossible style story. World building was pretty much stock, but the author didn’t make any grievous mistakes throwing all of the tech jargon around (major props for that). Editing was also clean, so I never had any “WTF?” moments that sometimes interrupt the flow of the story with grammar or word choice mistakes. Characters were solid and interesting (although development was limited)… with a sub-genre combination you don’t always see: mage (check), cyborg (check), hacker/ai (check), … and it was this cross genre style that I really really enjoyed. So what drives this story? The over the top action of course (and character camaraderie and some interesting mission prep/build-up). The only serious critique I might raise here would be the predictability of the plot … but I had so much fun watching it unfold, that was really a plus for me (sometimes I like low stress stories with happy endings … sue me). In short, this is pure escapism … perfect for a relaxing day poolside or at the beach.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheChimeraCode #NetGalley

I adore Cyberpunk so once i'd started this novel i slurped my way though it like a smoothie on a hot summer's day. It really reminds me of a Jet Li movie called "The One". If you're a fan of Gibson, Tad Williams or Austin Dragon you'll love this. Everything a cyberpunk futurist needs in a novel.

There's a lot to commend about this book, but it's also lacking in quite a few ways, for me.

It's billed as a new Neuromancer, and that's very apt - in fact, it actually reads like a fanfiction of Neuromancer. As a reader, it seems that you're expected to have already read Neuromancer, because there is zero explaining of the world. I hate an info-dump at the beginning as much as anyone, but 'The Chimera Code' really goes to town with leaving the reader in the dark. This also extended to characters - Cloke is pretty boring. Not coloured in at all. Zee is far more interesting, although I did find them problematic in that the only non-binary character in the book was genetically manufactured that way. It's a little progress, but could have gone further (and I'm always uncomfortable with rape being used as a backstory).

There's a ton of imagination in this book - magic and technology!!! But it took so long to find out anything about how those two things mesh together. I was able to keep reading to the end, and the climax battle features a super-cool magic storm/weather system (and space station - this being a tribute to Neuromancer after all), but I wanted more. Stronger characterisation. Better world-building (and what happened to climate change?) and better world-explaining. Add those in, and this could be a really great story.

Additional notes for the publisher - 1) There is an error in Marcus's dialogue (early on; I can't recall which page) where he says he's saving for his daughter's college fund; however, British people say "university" not college. 2) It is surprising that Cloke would express difficulty (when first meeting Zee) with handling non-binary pronouns. This is 100 years in the future - surely the average person will be used to interacting with non-binary people on a daily basis.

Thank you so much to netgalley for sending me a copy of this book. I found it to be very dry and uneventful. If you would like to read this book you might like it

A punchy, compelling cyber-thriller that deftly weaves magic and technology together.

<i>The Chimera Code </i> starts off at full-speed, and Santos has a definite gift for writing action scenes, but the book's actually at it's most compelling when it slows down - the world-building here is meticulous and convincing, and the character development of Zee, one of the two protagonists, is sympathetic and well-drawn. A detailed, exciting read.

This book honestly wasn't for me. I didn't like the main character and I really struggled to connect with the book. The concept the book was based on seemed really interesting but I really just didn't care about the outcome and reading the book felt like a chore.