Xenoform

by Mike Berry

City Six is a dark and brutal place, mired in crime and corruption. Gangs rule the streets of the Undercity and every private police force is for sale. The rich live in secure enclaves, oblivious to the suffering and violence that plague the city's poor. Sinister and powerful corporations trade stolen bodymods, fearless of the law, and human life itself is just another saleable commodity.

In this harsh environment an unprecedented threat is emerging. Whistler and her team of professional abductors start to see a new parasitic organ in the bodies of their victims. Debian, a young cyber-criminal turned commercial hacker, finds a terrifying computer virus in the databanks of an AI-research company.

An unknown enemy is attacking the city, altering the populace into nightmarish creatures and decimating computer systems. It seems unstoppable.

Can these unlikely heroes find a way to fight it? Or will City Six fall prey to an environmental and technological catastrophe on an unimaginable scale?

Xenoform: A near-future nightmare for the networked generation!

"...fantastic yet...highly believable."

"...deserves to be a movie..."

Genres: Science Fiction

350 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 12, 2011

About the author

Mike Berry is a British author who lives in Brighton on the south coast of England. His first released novel, Xenoform, is a dark-future tale of stolen bodymods, rampaging AI and alien invasion. The story was inspired by his interest in the darker side of urban life, cyber crime and all things sci-fi.

Besides writing and doing a day job, he still occasionally plays guitar with his band, Blossoming Psychosis, originally formed from the remnants of a rooftop martial arts club. These days, he likes to escape to the countryside around Brighton with his children, who are seemingly set on a mission to climb every tree within twenty miles of their home.

He would like to point out that he does not, as yet, have any bodymods himself. His early attempts to implant a computer in his own brain merely led to "excruciating headaches and a lot of dead batteries."

Macao Station, a story of madness, murder and an evil spirit that lives in an asteroid, was released on August 18th.

Reviews

[D.H. Nevins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark and gritty, Xenoform is an imaginative Sci-fi that easily transports you into the dangerous, futuristic ‘grid’ of City Six. The story follows a computer hacker and a gang of human harvesters as they struggle to survive events of apocalyptic proportions—a computer virus seizes the city and turns on its citizens, while an alarming disease rips through the populace.

Xenoform’s main characters are flawed villains, human and realistic, whose actions were entirely despicable at first (particularly the human harvesters). Yet the author aptly drew me into their world, wrapping me up in their struggles and garnering sympathy for their plights. Woven with such detailed description, the putrid smells and encroaching slime seemed to linger around my person even after setting the book down for the night. Ick! (But a good ‘ick’.) Xenoform is fantastic yet it is written in a way that makes it highly believable. The setting and its plot elements are both based on a plausible evolution of our computer systems, and Mike Berry’s obvious familiarity with technology comes through to provide a solid base for the story. For an imaginative sci-fi that is both dark and disturbing, Xenoform is a slimy little gem.

[[ J o ] · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise seems fine, but probably too big of a story for the capabilities of the author. There wasn't much to keep my attention, it was just a bit pile of sci-fi grunge cyberpunk with big techno words. Not really well written and it didn't spark my interest enough to continue reading.

[Sunshine✰✰✰ · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a city where body modifications to the extreme (computer chips in the brain, scales for skin, claws, spikes, tails, wings...) are as common as tattoos in today's age, an unknown disease is discovered infecting the bodies while a computer virus wipes through the minds. A group of "organ" harvesters and a computer hacker are both out searching for answers.

I picked up this book without really understanding what it was about and hoped it wasn't too sci-fi far fetched for me. No luck. It's described as dark and gritty and that's exactly what it is. The whole story is a no-win situation and it just got worse as it went. Honestly, I was just grossed out and struggled just to finish it.

[Steven Montano · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Xenoform" is my kind of novel: dark and gritty sci-fi with memorable characters, remarkable world-building, nail-biting tension and some incredibly well-developed (albeit not always likable) characters, "Xenoform" follows the misadventures of a colorful rogue's gallery of misfits, hackers and hoodlums through the underbelly of City Six. Told with a acerbic wit, a keen and even pace and some truly gruesome visuals, "Xenoform" is an absolute treat for fans of cyberpunk fiction.

[Holly Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick note before starting: I ordered the print version of the book, which is what this review is for, and have left a short formatting note at the bottom of this review if you are interested in that. I am going to try to be specific and helpful but also vague, because I hate spoilers and don't want to give too much away, so hopefully I can actually accomplish that. Finally, this is kinda long, so bear with me :)

I was very intrigued by the description of this book and by the other reviews for it, which were all 4- or 5-star reviews at the time I ordered. The book definitely lived up to my expectations, perhaps even exceeded them! I really had not expected that the book would scare me or creep me out, but believe me, it did. I think it is very difficult to induce fear and/or unease with words (esp. as opposed to movies, etc.), so I was thinking I would like the subject matter of the book but didn't think it would be scary or creepy. Ha! Mike Berry did a fabulous job and I was definitely proven wrong. There were plenty of times that I felt like the hairs on my arms or back of my neck were raising, or felt butterflies in my stomach, or even felt that there was something else in the room with me! The green stuff, the creatures, the AI (the AI "talking" just freaked me out!), the FREAK (about which all I can say is...holy ****!), all of it was very well-done. I was pleasantly surprised by that aspect of the book and give Mr. Berry high marks for that.

I also thought the plot of the book was great, and the back story and world-building were really phenomenal. I was entranced by Mr. Berry's descriptions and his creativity from the very beginning. I honestly could make pictures in my head with the words he put on paper, and boy were those pictures disturbingly awesome! The body-mods he describes in this book are incredible and unbelievable (in a good way) and I was just fascinated with envisioning what humans in such a world would look like. The city itself was also easy for me to visualize through his writing (grimy, dark, creepy; burnt-out shells of buildings; seamy bars/clubs; floating vehicles; and so much more!). Again, high marks to Mr. Berry on his ability to make me believe and see all of these things with his writing.

I think you could read this book one of two ways. You could just fly through it and enjoy it on its face as an awesome sci-fi thriller (which you will!), or you could delve deeper into the questions the author seems to be presenting and have philosophical debates with yourself about: technology and our use of it; whether technology can be "good" or "bad," or is it only ever a neutral "thing" solely defined by how *we* use it; whether technology/artifical intelligence can ever learn, grow, change, feel, THINK and COMMUNICATE.... Either way, it's one heck of a story and I really think if you enjoy science fiction, dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction, tech- and cyber-thrillers, etc., that you will enjoy this one! I finished this book at least a month ago and it still hasn't left me - I often find my mind drifting and imagining whether some of what is written could ever happen. (On another note, I haven't yet worked to "crack the [binary] code," but I definitely plan to do so! Just another bonus to the story and another way to enjoy it!)

On to the characters - they were also fabulous! Whistler really stood out for me and I loved her character, literally from the first mention of her. She's a tough, bada** chick who leads her motley crew of scavengers (that's kinda what they are) and can be soft but also scary as hell. And, in truth, ALL of the characters were so well done, and had their own distinct personalities and "looks." (I did keep getting Roberts and Roland confused, which is ridiculous cause they're nothing alike and not even in the same group, so I think it's just because their names are kind of similar!) The author did a great job of creating characters that I identified with and actually cared about. They were most definitely NOT flat or uninteresting.

Finally, I would say that while there are still definitely some questions left unanswered at the end of the book, I am perfectly content with the book as-is and would be fine if the author never wrote a sequel to this one (although I definitely want him to continue writing!! and I have no idea if one is planned or not). You can just imagine your own answers to those questions or, heck, write them off as part of life's mysteries!! (Frankly I'm a little sequel-ed out, as it seems EVERY book *starts off* as a trilogy or part of a series these days, even when it's the only one the author has ever written!) Now, a PREQUEL could be kinda nice...just to let me know exactly what involvement Mrs. Smith and her company had in the whole thing, hmmm..., :) Basically what I'm saying is that the book is very satisfying in itself and is its own whole, and I would definitely encourage you to read it!!

I will mention that the *only* negative for me was that I felt like the book started to drag a little somewhere about halfway or 1/3 of the way through. It seemed to me that maybe 50-75 pages could have been cut out to make it just a bit tighter. However, when I mentioned that to my husband, I then tried to think about what 50 or 75 pages I would cut, and I couldn't do it! So it's not that there's a big chunk of the book or part of the storyline that could have been eliminated, just maybe that tightening up some things throughout the book would all add up to removing 50 pages or so and get rid of any dragging. But who knows, perhaps I was just having trouble with my concentration when I was at that point in the book!! Overall, it's really great and a fun read, and if this is the only negative I can come up with, that means I'm a very happy reader. Thank you to the author for such a great book; I am humbled by your creativity as well as your technical and technological knowledge!

As promised, here's my final note about the formatting, since I believe this is a self-pubbed book (??). As mentioned, I got the print edition. I am a stickler for grammar, punctuation, etc., and I love the down-and-dirty process of editing, and I can tell you that I saw *maybe* 3 or 4 errors in the entire book. That's what you can find in a print edition from a huge publishing company, in all truth, so I was very pleased about that! The *only* unusual thing I noticed is that the chapters start at the top of the page, when we're all used to seeing them at 1/3 or 1/2 of the way down the page, but that is such a minor point and was not an issue once I got used to it after 2 or 3 chapters. All in all I was very happy with the print edition and I think the author (and editor(s), if he had any) did a phenomenal job with the technical stuff.

I wholeheartedly recommend Xenoform by Mike Berry and I hope you enjoy it as well. Happy reading!!

(cross-posted at Amazon)

[Anders Hejnfelt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though this is on the surface a pretty interesting concept, it never really caught my interest.

The characters feel flat, the romance seems unearned, the villain(s) seem too ephemeral.

There's a lot of in between chapters, that show the plot from regular people's point of view. But it never really becomes notable.

The cast/crew of main characters feel like the characters in a Pen & Paper campaign, they bicker and do silly, out of character stuff, they each have things they're supposed to be good at but that others occasionally can also do, or even do better, and there's even a Character that dies and is immediately replaced with someone else, so the crew is the same number of people. Almost like this player needed a new character

Honestly I come away from this book with vey little, which is a shame because even a kernel of something interesting could have lifted this up, but I think this will be entirely gone from my memory in a few months.

[Arlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very odd book. There are characters mentioned that are never developed. The "hero" is a computer brainiac but we never really learn much about him. This a crazy world were people get bizarre body modifications. Just a strange read.

[Lucy Georges · Rating 1 out of 5]

Self-published shite that any reasonable editor would put down after a couple of pages of this inelegant and cumbersome drivel masquerading as prose.
The writer is wasting his time as well as the reader’s. I do hope he has a main job.

[Bella Crow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very messy but interesting details. I'm only 40% of the way through and I've been having to rewrite something on every page. This last chapter was apparently Opposite Chapter, he'd describe something then offer something totally opposing.
I haven't guessed the plot so that still keeps me reading.
I have barely any empathy or connection with any character, maybe the van (*snerk* oh yes he did).
Also, Too much telling, Not enough showing.
Why did his editor not rein him in?
I'll add to this when I've finished it.p

[Nate · Rating 1 out of 5]

The "protagonists" in the book were set up to be such despicable villains at the beginning of the story that I could never find myself caring about them. They deserved to be captured or killed during their adventure for what they were up to and the lack of sympathy for them led to anticlimactic confrontations void of suspense. Overall it's a somewhat interesting action story that ticks all the boxes of the Cyberpunk genre, but without any attachment to the main characters the whole thing felt very hollow.

[Chris Bullock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting situation. Very dark and gory, but no more so than Alien etc. Very good concept and certainly kept you on your toes as the world disintegrates. Well written in terms of content and layout, although an occasional typo or missing words kept creeping in. My only real disappointment was that the ending was very predictable, and too abrupt. Perhaps it needed some 'aftermath' or tying up of loose ends to finish it off. On the whole quite enjoyable and readable.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A return to the cyberpunk stylings of early William Gibson. I enjoyed it like listening to an old Blue Oyster Cult album.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather chaotic novel, although there were some interesting ideas and themes in there.

[Sam Freeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty shonky... not terribly well written, not a particularly interesting plot and a case of too many ideas crammed into a single story.