Stars: 3.5 out of 5

I don't usually read a lot of cyberpunk. Mostly because the few books I tried, I couldn't get into the story. I did love the game Cyberpunk 2077, even though it had its own bugs and frustrating moments. So when I read the description of Dogs of DevTown, I decided to give it a try, and I'm happy I did. This is more of a novella then a novel, so it's short and very readable. I think I knocked it out in two evenings, even though I wasn't rushing myself.

I like the imagery the author created. The multicolored holograms reflecting off the skyscrapers of DevTown. The sea of humanity clogging the streets at any time of day or night, looking for their next vice. The rain, the stench... It is a tantalizing but also depressing image, since this DevTown, even though modern looking, seems soulless and unforgiving. I reminded me a little about the dystopian landscape of Blade Runner, and I love that movie (the original one.

I also liked our protagonist. Shan is prickly and can come across as rather rude and uncaring, and she tries very hard to live like she is an island, but I have known people like that. In her line of work, the only person you can trust is yourself. The only person you can afford to care about is yourself as well. She tracks and kills people for money after all. So if she wants to stay on this side of the grave herself, she can't ask too many questions. Just enough to find the person she is paid to kill and get the job done. She gets paid, then she forgets about it. Much safer to live that way... only nobody is really an island, no matter how much they try. And sooner or later something happens that will make even the most isolated person decide to dig deeper. The other characters in the book were sufficiently fleshed out to be interesting, even memorable for some of them. I found the main villain rather over the board though.

Also, there is a big logical hole with the villains motivation. I won't talk about it here because that would spoil the book, but that made the villain a lot less believable for me, and elicited a few eyerolls until I finished the story.

My biggest problem with this book, and the reason I only gave it 3.5 stars, is a huge plot hole that the author left in the story. I understand that he probably wrote himself in a corner and didn't know how to keep the story going if he patched that particular plot hole, but it was so big and obvious, a semi truck could have fallen into it. 

So the author goes to great lengths to tell us that Shan has no mech augments whatsoever. He also makes sure we know that she has never been on the Net, because she doesn't have mech augments or a port to jack into the system. So how can she catch a virus that transmits itself through the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals that connect different mechs to the Net? She doesn't have any, remember? Okay, maybe it's a virus that can jump the hardware to wetware barrier (insert eyeroll here). It's a cyberpunk book, so everything is possible. So I could have rolled with the fact that unaugmented Shan caught a computer virus. The problem though is that she is a closed system. She doesn't have mech. She isn't connected to the Net. No Wi-fi, no Bluetooth, remember? So how is the creator of the virus able to communicate with her? It's a virus that infects mech. She is full human. There is no logical way for it to happen.  That's the point where I lost interest in the story. I can only suspend my disbelief so much.

But if you are willing to ignore that particular problem and just roll with it, this book is a fun read. Plus, it's short, so it's a nice little pallet cleanser between longer books.PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

this was a wonderfully done scifi novel, the characters were interesting and I enjoyed going through this book,

Dogs of DevTown is world-imagining and inventive storytelling. Perfect reading for fans of William Gibson and Philip K. Dick.

So far this is the only sci fi book I’ve 1) been able to read all the way through and 2) actually enjoyed. A nice change of pace that the main character was a woman written by a man and yet there were no stereotypes or weird moments. I loved Shan, Kim and Adromeda. Their characters were all very distinct and separate, I loved Andromeda’s flamboyant language contrasting his appearance. The world was very vivid and interesting. I definitely felt the cyber punk vibe of DevTown. I liked the element of mystery, it felt vaguely like a crime drama in a futuristic setting. I’m a bit mad that Shan and Andromeda did not fall in love but there we are. Clearly a follow up book is coming and the epilogue put my on edge. There was a section where Andromeda was injured by his mechs but then seemed fine right away? That was confusing and not very clear but otherwise I really enjoyed this which was a nice surprise.

There are no good people in DevTown; Shan Hayes included. As a gun for hire, she fills her days assassinating criminals for other criminals with no questions asked. With the ability to reshape her body and senses at will through the use of resynth serum and possession of a sentient parasite that can weaponize her blood, Shan never fails to deliver on a contract. When she is hired to find a missing henchman for one of the city’s most powerful crime lords, everything seems business as usual. However, as Shan follows the trail to her target, she begins uncovering some of the city’s darkest secrets. She knows better than to dig deeper than a job requires, but perhaps there are some evils that simply can’t be ignored.

This book is a good blend of mystery and action. I was invested in the characters and found some new concepts like the resynth serum interesting. There was some of the “man vs. machine” trope happening, but thankfully it wasn’t a central focus. Shan is against using the Net and mechanical augmentations herself, but she never fixates on the issue as a whole or expects others to agree with her. It was refreshing to read about a character that seems to respect the complexity of issues like this and prefers to focus on practical problems as they arise. I also liked how the characters feel like products of the world created in this story. They feel natural in their strengths, flaws, interactions, and how they operate in the city.

This book has all the makings of brilliance, but a couple of things make it fall just short of the mark for me. The first is that Aldis’s character is underdeveloped. The story sets him up as a character that can bring levity in addition to some cool insights and abilities. However, as the story progresses, Aldis becomes more of a recurring deus ex machina than a character. Additionally, I didn’t feel that all the ‘pieces’ really came together in a satisfactory way. There are little breadcrumbs throughout the story, but many of them are not addressed or developed the final revelation. As a result, the stakes seemed arbitrary for anyone outside of our direct circle of character.

All of this said, the epilogue suggests that this book is the beginning of a series. It is very possible that some of the things I felt were missing from this read will be picked up in a sequel. I still rate this book highly and would recommend it to cyberpunk fans. However, if you do not have much experience with cyberpunk, you may want to try some other stories first to get a feel for it. Though this is a decent example of cyberpunk, some of the more novel things the author tries might be jarring for those unfamiliar with this sub-genre.

This was... different. I picked it intially due to the cover and description reminding me of altered carbon, and whilst it was similar in some ways, I would say that the tech was unlike something I've come across in sci fi before - so well done this author !
I will admit to being a little taken aback by the idea of resynth initially, but after I got my head around it, I actually quite enjoyed the way that the story went.
One aspect of this story is that there is no romantic connection, BUT there is friendly and earning trust connections, and tbh that was actually thoroughly refreshing.
Whilst this book is no world breaker, and I doubt that it'll be winning any prizes any time soon, it did make me care about the characters, and it was most definitely an enjoyable read, whilst introducing 'new tech' (or new to me, anyway) so I will class it as time well spent.
3 stars.
Thank you #Netgalley for allowing to read this book in exchange for my honest review. #DogsofDevTown