Blackstar Act Two: Awakening

by Joshua Viola, Klayton

The city of Central was the last bastion of human civilization. Its people enjoyed security and peace in exchange for the absolute control wielded by their overseer, Kaine. Rezin was a Reaper, able to decrypt any system in Central and steal information to sell on the black market. His exploits kept him from dwelling on the mystery of his own past - and the woman he'd watched die, a woman named Venus. But then a routine job changed everything when Rezin reaped something he hadn't been looking for, something he didn't understand - and couldn't control.

Forced to flee into the dangerous Outlands, Rezin dodged Kaine's forces and entered an uneasy alliance with Elara, a rugged and beautiful Outland survivalist. Drawn to one of the Blackstars, mysterious alien craft that had rained down on the Outlands, they found Vray and Bastian, two unearthly twins who seemed to know more about Rezin than he himself.

Now, with the twins' help, Rezin searches for his past, which remains obscured within the depths of his own mind. But with Kaine's deadly assassin closing in, time is running out. Rezin must identify the force that hijacked his last reaping - the force that even now is at work within him. He must discover what connects him to everything he faces - to Vray and Bastian, to the Blackstars, and to Kaine. Rezin must awaken.

Genres: Science Fiction, Ebooks, Cyberpunk, Dystopia

Kindle Edition

First published November 28, 2013

About the author

Joshua Viola is a two-time Colorado Book Award finalist and co-author of the Denver Moon series. His comic book collection, Denver Moon: Metamorphosis, was included on the 2018 Bram Stoker Award Preliminary Ballot for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel. He edited the Denver Post bestselling anthology, Nightmares Unhinged, and co-edited Cyber World—named one of the best science fiction anthologies of 2016 by Barnes & Noble. His fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and has been reprinted by Tor.com. He is owner and chief editor of Hex Publishers.

Reviews

[Saros · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was, incredibly hyped for this book. I mean, how often do you get to have a novel based off the music of one of your favorite artists? Blackstar was written with inspiration of Celldweller's music with emphasis on Wish Upon A Blackstar.

This novel started out with some promise, a dude who can hack stuff by melding his mind with it is a super cool idea. The whole Retro thing reminded me of Remember Me, which is an amazing comparison to the book because that game was incredibly forgettable and once I'm done with this review I'm going to brain dump everything about this novel.

There isn't a whole lot to Rezin, there really isn't. He's distant, sometimes a know it all, and made a naked hologram of a woman whom he had no memory of in his own words "You're just memories of a girl I haven't met." He got incredibly jealous at the idea that Venus had a person she loved, which turned out to be Rezin himself. He has amnesia at the beginning of the novel and well for most of it. Turns out, he's a alien from the planet Scardonia and he piloted a ship called a Blackstar who's individual name was Icarus. It was never really explained how the Blackstars worked. Icarus seemed to be like a "basic AI" type of character but also acted of his own volition sometimes

There's two other characters who are important to the plot. The first we see is Venus, an Outlander who lead the charge against Kaine at the very least ten years ago. Her very first appearance in the novel is through a hologram that Rezin made who, was naked when we first see her.

“You’re back,” a woman said. She was nude, her athletic form fully exposed for him. Blonde hair flowed over her delicate porcelain features to her chest, barely concealing her breasts.

Viola, Joshua (2015-09-18). Blackstar (Kindle Locations 333-335). FiXT. Kindle Edition.

We know this is Venus because Rezin promptly says "Not now, Venus" and she pouts to this, we later learn that this is nothing like how the real Venus acts but it doesn't matter, this is the first impression and you can't ever take that back. It was never clear how she came back from the dead, it was pretty clear that she died, Rezin was shook up from this memory of someone he's never met and when she comes back she shows them a retro of the day she died. This is what makes this incredibly off putting, because when he made Venus not only is she naked, he doesn't even know her. This squicked me out beyond words. To me it felt like the real life phenomena "creep shots" where men would take sexually suggestive pictures of women (and girls) without their knowledge or consent.

Elara is the other character that's important to the plot, her introduction wasn't as bad but it wasn't good. She was found in Outland, when Rezin went out for a job, where she was broken down and an Outlander that Rezin was with made a comment implying that he was going to rape her
“And the girl?” Ark asked again.
“She’s caused enough problems. We’ll take care of her on the way back.”
“Let’s at least have some fun with her first.”
Viola, Joshua (2015-09-18). Blackstar (Kindle Locations 693-694). FiXT. Kindle Edition.

I wish I could say a whole lot about the characters, their strengths, their weaknesses, the whole shebang. But really there's nothing to say about them. Rezin is a alien, Venus was a rebel who got killed and is now back because reasons, and Elara is her successor who doesn't die and ends up dating Rezin. After they defeat Kaine for realsies Venus dies and becomes part of Icarus, who goes back to Scardonia leaving Rezin and Elara to bang to their hearts content (an exaggeration because Rezin initially left but wanted to come back and stay). It's so predictable and so utterly boring

The only one I can speak about is Kaine, at times he reads like a Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain, like Lex Luthor before Superman got serious, the one that stole 40 cakes. There is only one time when his actions truly disgusted me, and that was on the day Venus died and they recovered her body to make her memories apart of the Retros in Central. He shooed away the medical folk, and "acted upon his desires" (Kindle Locations 2450-2451) with her corpse, something that the reader thankfully doesn't get a full play by play on. This did nothing for plot and is only there to be there. It is there for shock value only. There is a reason why rape is a thing that needs to be left out of most plots, chances are the author isn't going to do it well and this is one of those times. We don't need rape to "prove how evil Kaine is" the fact that he kills people without a second thought is enough.

There were also these characters who were twins but half the time I forgot they even existed, once they were done speaking they gone in my mind and left no impression. Vray and Bastion were the Lays Potato Child to say The Trash Can that Kaine was. They died and I felt that I was supposed to feel upset or something, but not even they were upset by this development.

0/10 would not read again

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"No price too great, no distance too far / If we could wish upon a Blackstar..." - Celldweller, "Wish Upon a Blackstar"
--------------------
How cool is this? A novel's been made to take all the mythology and ideas from Celldweller's music and tell a tangible story with it all. The songs are as imaginative as they are catchy and full of beat - somewhere in the lyrics, there was always some kind of story begging to be told.

Fortunately, the book is a cool product. The story is a pretty far-out adventure across space and time. The hero is a hacker dude (who happens to sport a red mohawk, just like Klayton...hmmm...). The villain is a tyrant we love to hate. There are aliens, robots, spaceships, and more! It's not all just a bunch of stuff thrown against the wall to see what sticks though - the premise of using memories as a commodity is an original and unique idea. The book does pull out some incredible character twists, and it all ties together into a pretty tight package.

Unfortunately, the book only had me hooked for the first third. Once everybody reaches Scardonia, things started to feel messy for me personally. I realize that part of the issue is the scope - there's a ton of stuff that happens, including an epic revolutionary battle at the end, but with only six or so characters to drive the whole story, it feels very short and limited. On top of that, the few characters the book has become interconnected in very complex ways across different times and areas - it will take some patience and thought to sort it all out. It wound up coming off as rather convoluted.

The story itself uses some pretty basic tropes - it's a standard good-vs-evil affair with familiar archetypes you can find in other cyberpunk and adventure books. What matters the most are the characters, which are fairly likable and fairly well-developed, and the settings, which will stagger the imagination.

The book is written with a very brisk style. It comes off as a little blunt at times. It succeeds in immersing the reader in the minds of the characters and the world they live in. It also uses some bizarre style choices that may appear messy at first, but aren't too terrible. The prose is good, plain and simple.

There is much to like about Blackstar, especially for Celldweller fans and sci-fi fans. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that it's a cash-in on the music. I appreciate the book for its imaginative worldbuilding and such, but the story didn't necessarily captivate me all the way through. Best recommended for fans.

3.5/5

[Timothy Finucane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun cyberpunk sci-fi story from the combined talents of a good musician and a solid writer. This book is really a novella that will have additional episodes coming in the future, so don't expect to know the final outcome at the end of this part. Being a novella, it doesn't quite flesh out all the aspects of the world it inhabits and will most likely leave you with a lot of questions in the end. I do think a little more could have gone into the scenes to expose the background more, but at the same time it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the base story line.

What really stands out for me is the music that goes along with the book. It is the combination of these two arts that I think sends this over the top and I don't see how you can tear the two apart. So, in light of that be sure to checkout the Celldweller and Scandroid music to fully enjoy this book.

Celldweller - Wish Upon a Blackstar
Celldweller - Blackstar Act One: Purified (Original Score)
Scandroid Singles

I look forward to the next novella in the series and I would recommend this book to anyone who likes this sub-genre of science fiction and/or the genre of music.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than the first book by far, seems like the characters were more fleshed out, but it is still distracting that the main character is one of the writers. Seems shameless or self-glorifying, even if it isn't intentional. Still, I liked that the music/lyrics and the story really met half way, and I thought the tension was much better in this episode.
Hope there will be a 3rd and final book in the series, especially this time as there was a nice little cliff-hanger.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not great, but it was entertaining. Not such how I feel about the main character being a "real" person though, especially being one of the writers. Jarred me from the story more than once. Still, I enjoy the music and it was cool to see it referenced and used through out the story. Writing was well paced, if a little repetitive.

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed the well crafted story line and characters of this second installment of the Blackstar series. Joshua Viola knows how to throw out conventions and do it his way. All of his writing is a real treat.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

[Wilson Geiger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read, quick and easy. I would have liked more description of the world Rezin lives in, and we didn't see the antagonist until really late. Even as this first act ends, we really don't know where the plot's going, although it's just intriguing enough to maybe check out Act 2.

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fun science fiction romp from a very talented young author. Not only should you read this, you should get the music by Celldweller which goes along with the story. A real kick.

[Timothy Finucane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed part two of this story. It has the same feel as the initial installment of the story and is well worth picking up if you like the cyber punk sci-fi genre mix.