Shattered Minds, Laura Lam
Received to review via Netgalley; publication date 20th June 2017
Shattered Minds is set in the same world as False Hearts, with endless possibilities for body modification and indulging all your fantasies, and no crime. Sort of.
Naturally, both books give the lie to that, but especially this one, exploring the world of an addicted woman struggling with her urges to kill, and how she ends up exposing a company’s lies for what they are — and getting back her whole self, since it turns out it was that very company who programmed her and made her the way she is. It also features a group of hackers who are trying to get the word out, whose paths converge with hers.
I love the diversity of Lam’s world — Dax, who becomes a love interest, is trans and Native American; Raf has a boyfriend who’s a cop… This isn’t as warm a read as False Hearts — lacking the love between the twin protagonists that drives that story — but the characters made up for it, drawing me in and making me wonder how they would ever all fit together. Even Roz, the villain of the piece, is compelling in her way — I have so many more questions about her and what drives her.
Basically, if you’re looking for another thriller like False Hearts in a nearish-future sci-fi setting, Shattered Minds delivers, with more than a dash of the Firefly feel (circa Serenity, though; less funny and fuzzy than some of the episodes): disparate group of wanted criminals takes down a mind-hijacking superpower of their world.
Ahhh, I want to read this so much! I’m sad we won’t be following the twins anymore, but the story in this sounds even better!
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The story is awesome, though I loved the characters in False Hearts more, apart from Dax who is total awesome.
Roz fascinated me. I was a bit disappointed that she was just all out gung ho Evil Antagonist at the end – there were hints of more nuance in places, and I really wanted to know how she became what/who she was.
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Yeah, I know what you mean! Roz could’ve been more interesting.