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Bionic Heist
One job. A big payout. Their last shot at freedom.
The city of Varuna has grown fat on the desperation of its people. Shula, a brothel madam, is done waiting to die in the toxins choking the city’s underbelly — or watching another one of her girls vanish without a trace. With the right score, she can buy their way out. And she’s got the crew to pull it off: a washed-up idol hooked on hovercraft racing, a silent ex-slave who moves like the fog, and a gadget-savvy orphan who can crack any system.
Their target: a bionic kill switch capable of severing the link between human nerves and cybernetic limbs; a weapon that could slaughter scores of innocents. It’s locked inside an impenetrable, airborne fortress run by the world’s top biomedical corporation. So the plan has to be airtight.
But nothing in Varuna stays buried for long. Soon, drones, mercenaries, and police hunt the crew in a growing war between rival bionics giants. With their backs against the wall, Shula’s crew will have to steal their future.
Or die trying.
The city of Varuna has grown fat on the desperation of its people. Shula, a brothel madam, is done waiting to die in the toxins choking the city’s underbelly — or watching another one of her girls vanish without a trace. With the right score, she can buy their way out. And she’s got the crew to pull it off: a washed-up idol hooked on hovercraft racing, a silent ex-slave who moves like the fog, and a gadget-savvy orphan who can crack any system.
Their target: a bionic kill switch capable of severing the link between human nerves and cybernetic limbs; a weapon that could slaughter scores of innocents. It’s locked inside an impenetrable, airborne fortress run by the world’s top biomedical corporation. So the plan has to be airtight.
But nothing in Varuna stays buried for long. Soon, drones, mercenaries, and police hunt the crew in a growing war between rival bionics giants. With their backs against the wall, Shula’s crew will have to steal their future.
Or die trying.
238 pages, Paperback
Published August 25, 2025
About the author
Ivan Skilling
6 books4 followersAuthor also writes under Lark Cayling
Ivan Skilling loves to stay indoors and put on his adventurer's hat when crafting new worlds and thrilling action plots. Living vicariously through his strong and complex characters, he explores different genres from the perspective of a Southeast Asian storyteller, drawing deeply from the experiences of his culture. When he's not writing or devouring a new book, you can find him at the foosball table.
Currently publishing short stories, novellas, and novels on Amazon Kindle, Books2Read, and Gumroad.
Ivan Skilling loves to stay indoors and put on his adventurer's hat when crafting new worlds and thrilling action plots. Living vicariously through his strong and complex characters, he explores different genres from the perspective of a Southeast Asian storyteller, drawing deeply from the experiences of his culture. When he's not writing or devouring a new book, you can find him at the foosball table.
Currently publishing short stories, novellas, and novels on Amazon Kindle, Books2Read, and Gumroad.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 17, 2025
Thank you to the author and BookSirens for the ARC!
This is not the most solidly executed book in the world, but my god, I had a fun time while reading it.
There’s so many moving parts that go into a good heist found family book. The plot, the characters, their relationships to each other, the differing information contained within each POV; these were not all executed to perfection, but they were pretty much there. The plot was laid out so the reader definitely had no trouble following along and could have done with a bit more showing, instead of telling. Similarly, the character’s backstories are varied but are mostly told to the reader instead of shown. I was so prepared to dislike Joon Woo from his opening POV but he grew on me as the story progressed and seeing him from other’s viewpoints was well-written, the same with the others. Zixin felt like an afterthought to everyone but Joon Woo, he has no POV chapters and given that he’s listed along with the others as a main character, that feels like a heavy oversight.
While the characters are listed with their single line descriptions, shadow, idol, orphan, I was hoping it would lean into them more. Have Joon Woo be recognised while trying to sneak in somewhere, Pravin and Shula have similar traumas and reacted very differently to them, Shula with anger and Pravin minimising his own hurt in place of her having it worse. Anything at all more for Zixin.
Romance wise, it was very sweet. Joon Woo and Zixin make a surprising amount of sense together, and I loved Zixin coming out of his shell a bit more. Pravin and Shula are doomed and I love it, conflicting ideals but devoted all the same, delicious.
The scifi setting is written very well, there’s the broad strokes of a corporation class structure that isn’t delved into too far as it’s mostly standard. I will mention, and I think/hope that this is just awkward phrasing, the characters are introduced and described and one is described as “With brown skin darker than Shula’s, it was clear he had not spent as much time in the underbelly as her, who had been brought up in the godforsaken place since she was four.”.
I’m hoping this is referring to some sort of undercast to the skin due to a lack of sunlight, given the mention of the need for vitamin D and general lack of parasols, but it reads strangely, especially when it’s one of the first things a reader is encountering.
That aside, I had a really enjoyable time with this book! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a sequel as that tease at the end already has me hyped.
This is not the most solidly executed book in the world, but my god, I had a fun time while reading it.
There’s so many moving parts that go into a good heist found family book. The plot, the characters, their relationships to each other, the differing information contained within each POV; these were not all executed to perfection, but they were pretty much there. The plot was laid out so the reader definitely had no trouble following along and could have done with a bit more showing, instead of telling. Similarly, the character’s backstories are varied but are mostly told to the reader instead of shown. I was so prepared to dislike Joon Woo from his opening POV but he grew on me as the story progressed and seeing him from other’s viewpoints was well-written, the same with the others. Zixin felt like an afterthought to everyone but Joon Woo, he has no POV chapters and given that he’s listed along with the others as a main character, that feels like a heavy oversight.
While the characters are listed with their single line descriptions, shadow, idol, orphan, I was hoping it would lean into them more. Have Joon Woo be recognised while trying to sneak in somewhere, Pravin and Shula have similar traumas and reacted very differently to them, Shula with anger and Pravin minimising his own hurt in place of her having it worse. Anything at all more for Zixin.
Romance wise, it was very sweet. Joon Woo and Zixin make a surprising amount of sense together, and I loved Zixin coming out of his shell a bit more. Pravin and Shula are doomed and I love it, conflicting ideals but devoted all the same, delicious.
The scifi setting is written very well, there’s the broad strokes of a corporation class structure that isn’t delved into too far as it’s mostly standard. I will mention, and I think/hope that this is just awkward phrasing, the characters are introduced and described and one is described as “With brown skin darker than Shula’s, it was clear he had not spent as much time in the underbelly as her, who had been brought up in the godforsaken place since she was four.”.
I’m hoping this is referring to some sort of undercast to the skin due to a lack of sunlight, given the mention of the need for vitamin D and general lack of parasols, but it reads strangely, especially when it’s one of the first things a reader is encountering.
That aside, I had a really enjoyable time with this book! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a sequel as that tease at the end already has me hyped.
October 2, 2025
Great blend of scifi, heists, and dystopia. Love the suspense and plotting. The stakes got higher with each heist and the ending was a real blast. Hoping for a sequel.
September 14, 2025
I'm a big fan of Arcane and Fifth Element and this novel brings up those vibes so well, especially with the epic action across the dystopian, Asian-like city. It's like watching a whole Netflix cyberpunk series honestly. The found family relationship is also heartwarming and I especially love the ShulaxPravin ship! I was screaming at the end for them to get together and wasn't disappointed. Bonus points for the cute, flirty LGBTQ+ ship between Joon Woo and Zixin too!
September 27, 2025
Set in an Asian futuristic city, this story is full of heists - three in total. All the heists are interconnected, with a central plotline being that the team of main characters want to escape their miserable lives in the polluted underworld. There's also a sideplot with the main character's past being revealed and how she exacts her revenge. Very fun to read!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews