What happens when you hit one of the world’s largest companies? They hit back. Hard.
I was granted complimentary audiobook access to Corroded Cells by Matthew A. Goodwin through Audiobook Empire. Thanks for the opportunity to continue listening to the series! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.
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About the Book
Corroded Cells
A Cyberpunk Saga Book Two
by Matthew A. Goodwin
Print/eBook
Published 31 October 2019
Page Count: 256
Audiobook
Published 5 October 2021
Narrator: Zachary Johnson
Length: 5 hours and 44 minutes
Genre: Cyberpunk, Science Fiction
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
What happens when you hit one of the world’s largest companies?
They hit back.
Hard.
Moss and the crew are reveling in their recent success when a cryptic message changes everything. Moss enters a virtual realm to recover the message before returning to the real world to find everything has changed. With his friends in peril, he undertakes a rescue mission outside the relative safety of the city.
Life beyond the walls is dangerous. Threats face him at every turn as he makes his way to an impregnable prison city where the citizens are as threatening as the guards.
Can Moss recover the information he needs and escape before being found out?
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My Review
My Rating: 4 Stars
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I was granted complimentary audiobook access to Corroded Cells through Audiobook Empire. Thanks for the opportunity to continue listening to the series! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.
I absolutely loved Into Neon when the audiobook toured with Audiobookworm Promotions, so when my most recent check-in on the books for review offering at Audiobook Empire revealed that the audiobook for the second title was available, of course I requested it! I was not disappointed.
Corroded Cells picks up where Into Neon left off. Moss and the gang are fighting the good fight from the outside now and we continue to get a whole lot of fantastically rich cyberpunk world-building and witty character dialogue throughout this one as well. Actually, I’d say we get a lot MORE worldbuilding, and I’m really loving this world. Most of what made me adore Into Neon is present here in spades, so if you also loved the first book you’ll definitely love the second. Somebody let me know the moment the third book is ready for audio review because I’m in!
Corroded Cells is definitely grittier than Into Neon. While Into Neon was the wake-up call, the call to action, the glitch in the matrix that revealed the flaws, Corroded Cells is the gang in the throws of accepting, fighting against, and trying to change reality. I’ve seen some people comparing it to Ender’s Game and I see that as a comparison for the setting, but not at all the plot. I would also call Ender’s Game YA and this book is much more mature.
The reason I think this book impressed me ever-so-slightly less than the previous title is that Into Neon felt like it had a good self-contained arc while still clearly being the start of a series, but Corroded Cells is very much a continuation of a bigger story that trusts and expects that you’ve read the previous title completely and recently enough to remember details. By definition that’s fine and expected for a second book in a series, and getting right into the action is usually a good thing to do, but I prefer sequels that encourage me to pretend I would have been fine reading that book first. I don’t think someone jumping in at this point would have a terrible time, I think the characters are great and the world is very compelling, but I think any line-jumping readers would immediately find that the plot has left them behind at warp speed. There’s aren’t enough subtle reminders of key points. There isn’t enough new motivational spark for the characters right at the beginning to feel like a starting place. For the average reader who reads these in order that’s not going to be a problem, but it will for readers who (intentionally or unintentionally) skip the first book, and for readers like me to read a couple hundred titles a year and read these with 8 months in between…
Overall this is a fantastic cyberpunk sequel and if you loved Into Neon then I highly recommend checking out Corroded Cells. Also check this series out if you like cyberpunk or any of Goodwin’s other works! (But read them in order, please!)
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