Daemones ex Machina by Russel Anders is one wild action packed adventure, and unlike anything I’ve read before. That is to say I never quite seen this mixing of genres. Crossing supernatural with cyberpunk was definitely a bold choice and one I wouldn’t have expected to work, and yet Anders pulls it off in impressive fashion. Would make for a great show or even video game. I’ll be eagerly awaiting Anders next book. Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/daemones-ex-machina-russell-anders/1147629980?ean=9798885281294&bvnotificationId=a12d1ed8-684b-11f0-a2fe-0affddc4ef6b&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/352656018

Daemones ex Machina is set in a thrilling, dark, gritty cyberpunk world intermingled with the demonic and possession. This is exactly why I wanted to read this book, and I am so grateful to have been afforded an early read. Within this world we follow a few characters, it is these characters that are pivotal to the story and we see their journeys of heartache, betrayals and decisions both bad and good.

When I was reading this book the setting and concept kept me going, and the pace of the narrative dragged me a long from start to finish. However, I did often find the narrative confused, or confusing. I often had to re-read sections and ask myself ‘right, what’s happened’ or ‘why has that happened’ and ‘what does that mean?’. So as a result, the impact of narrative began to become lost on me as I continued on. I wanted to connect with this book so much more than I did, the setting and ideas begged me to but ultimately it just did not click. Now, I know there are people who will adore this novel, and they should rightly so but I was not one of those unfortunately

This felt like an awesome first draft of something that could be a great book. The concept is interesting and unique and the characters were generally well crafted and easy to invest in. The struggles come from the pacing and the world building, which felt really scattered and unstructured. More of a focus early on what is actually happening to Jon and the others plus a more consistently paced plot could really turn this into something great. Complaints aside, I am looking forward to more from this author.

I decided to give this another shot after a DNF. The book has such a unique plot but felt extremely disjointed at times. This was mainly down to the writing as I struggled to keep up with it but I acknowledge that is a complete ‘me’ issue. Unfortunately writing style is super important to me and can make or break a book. But I’ve recommended this to people I know would adore it.