Is "technological horror" a genre? It probably should be. This is technological horror. Remember that episode in Buffy where Willow scans a magical tome, and suddenly there's a demon in the computer? Jinx.
This techno-horror is set in a world in which the Dark and the Light are battling for supremacy, using people as weapons. People like Lela, a technophobic journalist and her blind niece Hannah, who uses "Mirage", a brain-connected system which lets her see both the mundane world and the supernatural hidden behind it. Also involved are Sarin and Juniper, a vampire-like immortal and an ex-fundementalist minister.
They must prevent "Cloven" from destroying the world with the power of "The Dark Net" (yay, title drop!) which is apparently not just for drugs, weapons and child porn, but also incubating demons. It's a bit moral panic-y.
Still, there's enough of a plot in here to make it worth a read once, given the relative scarcity of the genre. The lives of our protgaonists aren't sold cheaply, and the trials throught which they're put are rather interesting. It's a fairly decent read, but does seem to be a bit torn between whether it's fantasy or textbook.
It's one of those books that I think has been written to tap into the zeitgeist, because the author saw a market trend coming. There's probably a few bloody good books on their way about the oncoming infomation apocalypse, but this doesn't quite dip deep enough into it.
One for fans of that scene in Johnny Mnemonic where he explores the internet with VR.
Recommended.
Tagged: Book Thriller Techno-thriller Novel Print