Stormblood by Jeremy Szal (2020)
Tedious: repetitive
Book cover blurb
Vakov Fukasawa used to be a Reaper, a biosoldier fighting for the intergalactic governing body of Harmony against a brutal invading empire. Now, he fights against the stormtech: the DNA of an extinct alien race Harmony injected into him, altering his body chemistry and making him permanently addicted to adrenaline and aggression. It made him the perfect soldier, but it also opened a new drug market that has millions hopelessly addicted to their own body chemistry.
But when Harmony tells him that his former ally Reapers are being murdered, Vakov is appalled to discover his estranged brother is likely involved in the killings. They haven’t spoken in years, but Vakov can’t let his brother down, and investigates. But the deeper he goes, the more addicted to stormtech he becomes, and Vakov discovers that the war might not be over after all. It’ll take everything he has to unearth this terrible secret, although doing so might mean betraying his brother. If his own body doesn’t betray him first.
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My Review
I was hooked on this book at the beginning. It's a pretty cool world with a nice variety of characters and some great backstory, so it's hard for me to say, as I progressed, it just didn't float my boat. It's probably very much a personal thing, I assume if you like this kind of content then you might love this, and from looking at the ratings and reviews, that definitely seems to be the case.
But I have to say I found this book to be far too long at 531 pages, and believe me those pages are word crammed. I can't help but think this story might have actually been gripping if it were condensed to around two thirds its size. Even before the halfway point I was simply bored with the abundance of times (I actually lost count, 4? 5? More?) the main character stumbled into being captured by one set of bad guys or another, get beaten or tortured close to death and then manage to escape. Sorry, but it just got tedious.
The forward momentum in this book is also very slow, it felt like everything else was just an excuse to show off the main character.
And the most irritating thing, to the point of swearing out loud, was the dozens of stray words that kept cropping up all over the place! The copy editor for this book needs shooting!
I'm sorry Jeremy, this one just didn't hit the spot for me.
My copy of this novel
Gollancz paperback edition.
Published in 2020
531 pages
ISBN 9781473227422