I received this book on audiobook from the author in exchange for a fair review. The cool thing about this audiobook is that the cast is huge - every character has a different voice actor, it seems, so their personalities are given extra depth from the acting.
A fast-paced, trope-fuelled cyberpunk romp, Space Punks contains the essence of the subgenre. We have augmented humans, robots and AI, spaceships, gangsters, a mercenary group, sexual content, and even a jailbreak. The only trope this book doesn’t have is virtual reality.
The action is top-notch. We get a variety of fights, from guns to hand-to-hand to robots. We have two super soldiers with augmentations, and a lot of focus is given to how these augments work and their limitations and strengths. The battles they get into are really engaging and are balanced between describing what’s going on and the pace.
The characters are likable and well-developed in their roles, personalities, and decisions. David, the main character, is a bit bland, but someone has to soften the over-the-topness of the rest of the crew. Everyone else is a badass, from the non-augmented captain, Jack, to the doctor to Nightingale, the sex-a-holic cocky bastard of a mercenary. Nightingale was a bit annoying at the start, but he soon mellowed as his characterization grew, and I liked him a lot by the end. My favourite character was Jack, the voice of reason. The only one I wasn’t really partial to was Aztec, as she came across as trying too hard to be cool.
The love story of the novel was believable and well done in its intensity of emotion during a critical juncture. I also enjoyed the robot-human romance aspect. In case you were wondering, the sex scenes in this book also aren’t as intense or as long as in another of Mocikat's I read, Behind Blue Eyes.
The worldbuilding overtakes all, though, as it’s set in a post-AI takeover universe - think if Sea of Rust or Skynet was stopped before complete annihilation - and while there are portals or wormholes to other systems, there aren’t any aliens … though we do get some forerunner technology. The planets and government systems fit the cyberpunk themes - controlling overlord governments as well as crime lords, depending on what planet you are on - and were believable, interesting places to visit. The non-gender segregated, free-for-all jail was a bit weird to me, but I guess human rights aren’t policed in this world, which also suits the genre.
The plot was a little basic in terms of intrigue, and there was a twist I suspected in theory but not specifics, that felt a little bit like it wasn’t revealed earlier to lure you into reading the second book. Did this ruin the book for me? No, of course not. It's a minimal thing.
Now, I did take issue with how gratuitous the women were depicted. Sex is a huge part of the cyberpunk genre, I get it. And while have no issue with sexual content (or sexy ladies), every woman is drop-dead gorgeous in this novel and their beauty and sexiness are commented on almost every time they appear on the page, to the point that it was eye-rolling. The men are in no way objectified, so this hyperfocus on the women's bodies was reductive, especially for women who carry most of the plot. Perhaps it was an attempt to show how horny David was, but it came across as pandering to hetero male readers a little bit.
I also found the use of the word “hookers” in the narration - not the dialogue, as sometimes that's how people talk - not only anachronistic for the time period (it feels very 90s to me) but a bit off-putting. If characters (like Aztec) look down on sex work and use rude language to describe it, that's characterization, but I found it rather inappropriate that the narration - the objective voice telling the story from the outside - would use such dehumanizing language.
These things aside, I thought the book was excellent, engaging, and very fun. Anyone who loves cyberpunk or even just sci-fi would probably enjoy this immensely. I had a great time with it!