Title: Delirium
Author: Susan Kaye Quinn
Genre: Cyberpunk/Thriller
Book Blurb:
What's your life worth on the open market?
In this gritty urban fantasy, debt collectors take your life energy and give it to someone more "worthy"... all while paying the price with black marks on their souls.
Lirium plays the part of the grim reaper well, with his dark trenchcoat, jackboots, and the black marks on his soul that every debt collector carries. He's just in it for his cut, the ten percent of the life energy he collects before he transfers it on to the high potentials, the people who will make the world a better place with their brains, their work, and their lives.
That hit of life energy, a bottle of vodka, and a visit from one of Madam Anastazja's sex workers keep him alive, stable, and mostly sane... until he collects again. But when his recovery ritual is disrupted by a sex worker who isn't what she seems, he has to choose between doing an illegal hit for a girl whose story has more holes than his soul or facing the bottle alone--a dark pit he's not sure he'll be able to climb out of again.
Review:
Wow...just wow...this was a very well crafter short story (the series is broken up into 9 "seasons", each about 50 pages long.) Since this is the first part of the series, much of the book is dedicated for acclimatizing readers into this gritty, new world and introducing characters. But that doesn't mean it's boring! No, the world building was well planned with no info dumps. Although there are some concepts the author does have to outright describe (ie. the job of a debt collector), most of the world building was relayed across to the reader through descriptions and word character interaction--basically showing, not telling. It's done so subtly that readers don't really notice the author is sneakily presenting information about this futuristic society :)
So basically there is no such thing as "money" in this society; credit is measured in "life" or "life energy." Basically once a person no longer contributes to society, his/her life energy is transferred to a person who is considered worthy of living a longer, youthful life. The debt collectors--what Lirium, the MC, is--are basically the people who take the "life" from one person and transfer it to another. It should be noted that only authorized "high potential" people are allowed to receive life energy; transfers to other people are forbidden and highly illegal.
And gosh--that character voice! Lirium (aka Delirium) has such a distinct, almost cynical, voice. I love how beneath his tough guy exterior he is still human. I thought the author made an awesome choice choosing to write in first person, because I loved seeing what was going through Lirium's mind; his snarky remarks really livened up the pages!
I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a futuristic thriller with a gritty setting.
Rating:
About the Author
Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the
bestselling Mindjack Trilogy and the Debt Collector serial, as well as other
speculative fiction novels and short stories. Her work has appeared in the
Synchronic anthology and has been optioned for Virtual Reality by Immersive
Entertainment. Her business card says "Author and Rocket Scientist"
but she mostly sits around in her PJs in awe that she gets to write full time.
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