Ren Warom's Escapology was published by Titan Books in June 2016.
Information about Ren Warom:
Ren Warom lives in the West Midlands with her three children, innumerable cats, a very friendly corn snake, and far, far too many books. She haunts Twitter as @RenWarom, and can be found on her YouTube channel talking about mental health issues and, of course, books.
Information about Escapology:
Shock Pao is not just any Haunt - he's the best. There isn't a system that he can't crack into, no virtual lock he can't pick, nothing he can't steal for the right price. Outside virtual world the Slip, though, he's a Fail - no degree, no job, no affiliations to protect him from angry ex-customers. Of which he has quite a few. So when his ex brings Shock a job which could help him escape his miserable existence, he accepts, little realizing that it will turn out to be his most impossible, illegal and incredible assignment yet.
Amiga works for Twist Calhoun, one of the toughest crime lords in the Gung, as a Cleaner - assassin. Trapped in a world of kill-or-be-killed, she wants out. But when Shock's war comes to her, she doesn't have a choice: it's her job to bring him to Twist, dead or alive - or it'll be her head in a bag in Twist's vault.
A REVIEW OF REN WAROM'S ESCAPOLOGY
Let me start this review by saying what a stunning cyberpunk novel Ren Warom's Escapology is. It's a gorgeous, gritty and weird glimpse into a brutal future world where things have changed a lot. It's an addictive and immersive debut novel for fans of fast-paced cyberpunk fiction, because it's everything that fans of the genre could ever hope to find in a single novel.
Escapology is a fast-paced, furious and imaginative novel with an intriguingly brutal atmosphere that holds readers spellbound as they let the story unfold and become immersed in it. Once you start reading this novel and let it sink its hooks into you, you won't be able to put it down until you've reached the final page. The author takes you on such an epic and amazing journey to the future world that you simply won't be able to turn your gaze away from the pages of this novel.
Considering that Escapology is Ren Warom's debut sci-fi novel, she's done an amazing job at creating a different kind of a story that is filled with action and well-developed characters. Her descriptions of the happenings are breathtakingly vivid and multilayered with a dash of realistic details. She excels at creating an intense atmosphere and keeps the thrills coming at a relentless pace.
Here's a bit of information about the story:
Shock Pao meets his ex, Mim, who has a job for him. He knows that he may end up in trouble, but he accepts the job anyway, because he can't refuse it due to being broke and having too many enemies waiting to take him down... Amiga is a Cleaner who kills people for his boss, Twist Calhoun. She becomes involved in dangerous things as she takes a side job that sets her on a collision course with Shock... Bosun Petrie is aboard a land ship Resurrection and allows a young woman called Volk to come aboard the ship. Volk has secrets of her own that may put the ship and everyone on board in danger...
I won't go into more details about the story, because the less you know about the various happenings the more you'll enjoy them. I'll only mention that what I wrote above is just the beginning. The action-filled story goes full speed ahead and the author keeps readers entertained by various events.
Ren Warom writes engagingly about the protagonists. Shock Pao and Amiga are both fully-fleshed characters with lives and problems of their own that haunt them and cause grief to them. They're not your normal kind of sweet and endearing characters without problems, because they've suffered a lot and many things have happened to them. They're strikingly three-dimensional and believable characters who do their best to stay alive under threatening circumstances.
Shock Pao is a Haunt who can crack into any system. He's the best Haunt in the sprawling city of Foon Gung. His life has not been easy, because his childhood was complex. He is broke and has to do jobs that he doesn't necessarily want to do. He is anything but perfect, because he has many problems and enemies. Although he's not perfect and he's a bit rough around the edges, it's easy to relate to his problems and like him as a character.
Amiga is a Cleaner, an assassin, who works for the crime lord Twist Calhoun. Her job is all about swift, discreet violence (she removes threats and kills people for her boss). Her job fills her with loathing nowadays, but she has to do it in order to eat and stay alive.
I like the way Ren Warom writes about the problems of her protagonists. She makes her characters come alive by writing about how they feel about their lives and problems.
The worldbuilding is exceptionally good, because the author paints a vivid picture of a post-apocalyptic world that has changed drastically. In this novel, the breaking of the world has changed everything, because the quakes have permanently broken the land. The world is ruined and flooded beyond repair, and huge land ships sail the ocean.
It was fascinating to read about the virtual world Slip and Hive (the central nervous system of Slip), because they were interesting concepts. I enjoyed reading about how the artificial intelligences called Hive Queens were controlled and what would happen if they ever got out of control.
One of the best things about Escapology is that Ren Warom doesn't explain everything to her readers, but lets readers to do their own thinking. Certain things are revealed about the world and the characters throughout the story, but not everything is explained. I respect this kind of storytelling very much, because I like to figure out a few things for myself.
The author wrote well about certain things related to sexuality. In order to avoid writing spoilers, I won't reveal much about the happenings, but I can mention that she fluently writes about a transgender person in this novel.
When I read this novel, I noticed that the author combines various cyberpunk elements and spices them with a dash of New Weird. The New Weird elements are skillfully interwoven in the story, but don't actually manifest themselves in a visible way.
I was totally enthralled by this novel, because it was much more than I expected it to be. I've often found several cyberpunk novels to be a bit boring and tedious and lacking in characterisation, but this novel was totally different from what I've read recently. It's the ultimate cyberpunk novel that rivals the best of the genre and even outshines many well-known and respected novels in terms of action, depth and characterisation.
If you're in need of an addictive, fast-paced and immersive cyberpunk novel with thriller elements, you don't have to look elsewhere, because you've just found what you're looking for. Ren Warom's Escapology is everything you need to escape reality for a while, because it's perfect escapism. It's cyberpunk at its best and should be read by all who love gritty and well written sci-fi entertainment.
My final words are:
Ren Warom's Escapology is excellent and thrilling cyberpunk fiction!