Cash Crash Jubilee: Book One of the Jubilee Cycle

Jubilee Cycle #1

by Eli K.P. William

In a near future Tokyo, every action—from blinking to sexual intercourse—is intellectual property owned by corporations that charge licensing fees. A BodyBank computer system implanted in each citizen records their movements from moment to moment, and connects them to the audio-visual overlay of the ImmaNet, so that every inch of this cyber-dystopian metropolis crawls with information and shifting cinematic promotainment.

Amon Kenzaki works as a Liquidator for the Global Action Transaction Authority. His job is to capture bankrupt citizens, remove their BodyBank, and banish them to BankDeath Camps where they are forever cut off from the action-transaction economy. Amon always plays by the rules and is steadily climbing the Liquidation Ministry ladder.

With his savings accumulating and another promotion coming, everything seems to be going well, until he is asked to cash crash a charismatic politician and model citizen, and soon after is charged for an incredibly expensive action called “jubilee” that he is sure he never performed. To restore balance to his account, Amon must unravel the secret of jubilee, but quickly finds himself asking dangerous questions about the system to which he’s devoted his life, and the costly investigation only drags him closer and closer to the pit of bankruptcy.

In book one of the Jubilee Cycle, Cash Crash Jubilee, debut novelist Eli K. P. William wields the incisive power of speculative fiction to show how, in a world of corporate finance run amok, one man will do everything for the sake of truth and justice.

Genres: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Fiction, Dystopia, Audiobook, Speculative Fiction

392 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2015

About the author

Eli K.P. William has spent his entire adult life in Japan making a career out of story and language. The only member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan who writes novels in English, he is the author of The Jubilee Cycle trilogy (Skyhorse Publishing), set in a future Tokyo. The series includes Cash Crash Jubilee (2015) and The Naked World (2017), and concluded in 2023 with the final book A Diamond Dream. He also translates Japanese literature, including the bestselling novel A Man (Crossing 2020) by Keiichiro Hirano and works as a bilingual story and writing consultant for a major Tokyo-based video game company. His translations, essays, and short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in such publications as Aeon, Granta, The Southern Review, Monkey, The Malahat Review, The Japan Times, Tor.com, Kyoto Journal, Writer’s Digest, Nippon.com, SF Prologue Wave, and Subaru. To learn more visit https://elikpwilliam.com or check out his newsletter Almost Real https://elikpwilliam.substack.com https://twitter.com/Dice_Carver

Reviews

[Mogsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2015/08/13/b...

Imagine living in an ultra-high-tech society, so deeply ingrained in virtual reality and cyberspace that all the actions you make are logged and billed for. Every time you blink, breathe a sigh, shout a swear word, grit your teeth, kiss a loved one, or even just relax in a resting position of your choice – all that information is being recorded into the BodyBank, a computer system implanted in each of our bodies. All your movements are monitored in real time, so that the corporations who own the rights to those actions – whether it be as simple as scratching your head or as intimate as sexual intercourse – can be paid their licensing fees.

Oh, and it’s a perfect process, completely automated and indefatigable, and it doesn’t make mistakes. So don’t even think about cheating the system. You can’t.

Just as you’d expect, living in a world like this ain’t cheap. People go bankrupt or “cash crash” every day, caught unawares by their expensive habits or finding themselves overwhelmed by the incurring charges on everyday actions, i.e. by simply just living. Before that can even happen though, Liquidators like our protagonist Amon Kenzaki are already waiting in the wings, ready to swoop down and capture these “discreditable” citizens, take out their BodyBank, and banish them to BankDeath Camps where they are forever removed from the economy and disconnected from the ImmaNet, a three-dimensional audio-visual overlay that would normally replace our perceptions of the mundane world.

Your life is virtually over if you cash crash, basically.

As someone who knows better than most exactly how this system works, Amon himself lives an extraordinarily frugal life. He scrimps and saves in whatever ways he can, typing messages in nigh indecipherable script so that he doesn’t get charged for using licensed words, even going as far as taking instructional courses on how to blink less or breathe less. His attention to details does not go unnoticed by his superiors, who inform Amon that he is being considered for a promotion. Everything is going well, until one day, Amon notices an incredibly expensive charge called “jubilee” on his BodyBank account, an action he is completely unfamiliar with and is sure he did not perform. But how could this be? After all, the system doesn’t make mistakes.

Right?

The whole story behind Cash Crash Jubilee could almost be humorous if it weren’t also so damn scary. Eli K. P. William does a fantastic job here creating his vision of a futuristic Tokyo, a cyber-dystopian society at its most extreme. Apparently it’s not enough just to watch our every move, but they’ve found a way to make it profitable too. Everyone is so obsessed with technology and corporate branding that almost every shred of humanity and emotion has gone out the window. The concept of Free Will has been distorted, for it is not free will at all if you have to think and calculate the cost of every action before deciding to perform it.

On the other hand, might it be possible to find a sliver of a positive side to this gloomy situation? Citizens are probably less likely to do and say things they would regret, if they have to stop to think twice before actually doing it, versus simply acting on impulse. How many wayward spouses might we see, for example, if a pre-nup in your BodyBank authorizes an automatic and immediate transfer of half or all of your funds to your other half the moment you commit infidelity?

Yeah, probably not a lot, is my guess.

Cash Crash Jubilee is utterly fascinating, from cover to cover. The premise is disconcerting, with details that sometimes bordered on the absurd, but it did make me think. Nothing delights me more than a book that gets my brain juices flowing, and I could even overlook the slow introduction to this story, simply because I found myself so completely absorbed in the sights and sounds of William’s dystopic Tokyo. It’s a trove of insanity and wonder, all in one place.

You might also recall a while ago in another review, I wrote about my feelings on cyberpunk. As a subgenre of sci-fi, I’ve definitely experienced more misses than hits when it comes to recent offerings. When I looked at Cash Crash Jubilee though, I saw a very different kind of cyberpunk. The author uses a lot of familiar elements in this story, but the way he rendered the ideas made them unique and stand out. And rather than going through my usual mental gymnastics trying to piece together all the abstract concepts commonly found in this genre, I found William’s descriptions of the ImmaNet overlays extremely intricate and detailed, but at the same time also very easy to visualize. The mystery plot was genuinely interesting, with the suspense and action in all the right places.

In short? This one scored a major hit in my books. It deserves a lot more attention, let’s hope it gets it.

All told, Cash Crash Jubilee is eye-opening, eyebrow-raising, grip-the-edge-of-your-seat read. Good thing I don’t live in Amon Kenzaki’s world, because if I had been charged for all the times I made those actions, I’m pretty sure I’d be bankrupt many times over by now.

[Bogdan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book!

I`m not a big fan of cyberpunk, but this author had what it takes to make a book interesting to continue with it.

Maybe the book has some flaws, but the worldbuilding is so overwhelming and special, that you get over those minor aspects.

The story isn`t something big, but I liked the various grades of intensity that where put into it so I`m could not be a big critic of this aspect, either.

Overall, a really nice effort.

Really worth more than a look!

[Book Riot Community]

I’ll be up front. I haven’t finished this yet. But I’ve been in a real reading slump, and this is the first book to make me take notice in a very long time. I’m reading it slowly, and enjoying every page. It’s always fun to read about other people’s visions of the future and compare them to our current reality. I can see glimpses of what William is predicting – a world in which nearly every move we make is one that we must pay for and to be discreditable a cardinal sin- in our own lives. I may not have a body bank, but I can understand the apprehension associated with second guessing every decision on the basis of cost. What is truly phenomenal about Cash Crash Jubilee, and what has held my attention, is the world building. Everything is explained, described, or illustrated in a way that makes sure the reader is never confused, but that also doesn’t hinder the development of the plot in any way. It’s an action-packed techno thriller. And after reading it, I’ll never take something as simple as staring up at the night sky for granted again. (P.S. It’s the first in a series!) — Cassandra Neace



From The Best Books We Read In March: http://bookriot.com/2015/04/01/riot-r...

[eldaldo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book frustrated me. The first third of the book is almost entirely exposition and world building and while it was extremely detailed and thought out, it became pretty tedious after a while and I wasn't sure I was going to finish the book. But eventually things actually started happening, there was actual dialogue, and I found myself invested in what happens and how the story ends. I finally got to the climax and every story line is left as an unresolved cliffhanger. I know it is part one of a series, but the degree to which things are left unresolved is frustrating. All the frustration aside, the world and story were captivating and creative enough that I really enjoyed about 65% of the book.

[James Spencer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is best categorized as: young adult, cyber punk, futuristic science fantasy.

Innovative economic concepts fail to overcome poorly defined characters through an illogical nightmare maze of out-of-character choices.

I struggled to get past so many glaring issues that it was actually painful to finish this book. Some of the concepts are great but the execution was unforgivablely poor.

When offered the choice of learning the answer to the question driving the male lead character, he instead chooses to be transfered to another company service representative. That's just unforgivable. I almost never forgive an author pissing in my ear and telling me its critical to the plot.

In an immersively connected communications world, the main character is faced with an unnatural and illogical dilemma when another character might be offended by the main character's momentary virtual absence. This goes against all we know about modern communications that allow us to maintain simultanious connection to several or many people. Again, the human factor is badly forced into the fictional world concept. If this had been written in an earlier age, I could understand the author's ignorance, but everyone alive today knows the joys of call waiting.

With importance of timely communications mounting, the main character is portrayed as being unable to make use of an e-mail spam filter to save his career and/or his social/economic standing. Not that the character cannot figure out how to filter spam, its just not mentioned in any way. The author needs the absence of that simple and universal tool to carry his storyline forward. In a world completely reliant on electronic communications and grossly saturated with adverts, it is in no way believable that spam filtering is not available. it would be very natural for it to be pervasive. I could possibly forgive this if the author had never owned a personal computer with e-mail.

With the line between office communications and personal messages becoming more difficult to manage and ever more important, the characters lack any automated software to perform even the mmost basic of secretarial services. Live calls are declined and forgotten, in spite of background software using popups to remind characters of their breathing and blink rate. At least one call is miss-handled because the character is unable to identify the caller. The author even disavows the use of caller id, just because it helps push his illogical story into more emotionally loaded circumstances. Its just that so many of the determinate details make no damn sense. There is no way to accept that messages from the single most important person in the character's life would be treated with less priority than the charges billed for a muttered sigh. Its utter nonsense.

The whole book is little more than a string of poorly thrown up dilemmas that left me feeling deeply disappointed. The economic concept was original enough to give me hope, but that hope was quickly crushed. The more we come to know about the gritty details of the economy, the more it is made clear that the whole concept is actually very poorly thought out. For an author to take on such a complex challenge as this and know little to nothing about economic market forces might be considered very brave, but the author's obvious failure to research and explore general principles makes the entire effort a damn fool idea.

Oh and BTW: this is not science fiction. Its futuristic fantasy or perhaps cyber punk. All the fun and abundant technology around which the story revolves might as well be driven by magic. Absolutely none of it is explained in any but the most cursory manner.

I simply cannot grasp how it is that advanced readers are able to so easily accept such poor quality storytelling. Demand more from authors, demand more from publishers, and you might just be pleased with the result. Cheerfully applaud more work like this and we will surely suffer the fall of modern fiction.

[Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

You want to be confronted with a cyberpunk envisioning of our future so obtuse, so obscure and so ridiculous you laugh at it ... only to feel an intense feeling of fear because of how plausible it is? Well I'm sure no one wants that, but you're gonna get it and you're gonna deal with it.

Eli KP Williams hides nothing behind metaphor and symbolism in his extensive and colorful descriptions of the world, giving you vastly detailed expositions that will reduce your brain to a pile of pink neon goo. While much of the worlds inner working are left obscured, the face of it laid before you is constantly assaulting your senses, I absolutely loved every second of it.

Our protagonist - Amon- is extremely prudent and pragmatic, to the point that it will almost physically affect you in some way, making you squirm or laugh, or even feel sad and depressed. The characters around him are so incredibly diverse and far from each other personality wise, each bit of dialogue will be an engaging read.

Amon lives in a world where everything you do (blink, breathe, walk, talk, fart, shit, ejaculate) costs money, and he lives his life by minimizing every action he does to the ultimate extent. So when he is charged an exorbitant fee for something called 'Jubilee', his investigation into the matter leads him further into a world terrifyingly unforgiving and shrouded in gradually increasing mysteries and ambiguity.

Soon, his entire life is challenged, his entire identity is called into question, and for a man as prudent as him, most of it goes poorly. His plans fall apart before him, his future seemingly evaporates like steam from boiling water. How far will he go? What will he do and what will he discover? Seriously, read this book.

Now.

[Elizabeth Tasker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in a future Tokyo, every action has a cost. From low-cost blinking to high-cost identity theft, you can do whatever you like providing you can afford it. Crime self-regulates due to the expense... providing no one has too much money.

Existence in this world involves walking within a barrage of information, as even the pavement tiles and sky contain product advertisements. William brings this to life with detailed descriptions of the multitude of disparate stimuli that bombard the protagonist's every move through this dystopian future-scape, and maintains this at an impressive level through the entire book.

This is one of the most different and well described futuristic worlds I have ever read. The one issue I encountered is the descriptions are stressful, as they mimic being surrounded by a constant stream of sidetracks. It's very atmospheric, but it can lead to the ratio between these long descriptions of the environment versus the progression of the plot feeling large.

[Kalyn Barrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wavered on whether this book was a three or four star book. Ultimately, I settled on four due to the incredible world that the author creates. Yes, its simply a dystopian view of capitalism, but the sheer amount of detail that he dives into and creates makes this book a unique and intriguing read. The author does tend to be a bit long-winded (that's an understatement) but the parts that are good are really good, sometimes you just have to slog through a chapter of descriptions. All in all, I enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading the second one. Is this book for everyone, definitely not. I think even the hardcore sci-fi fans might have trouble with it, but for those looking for something unique along the lines of Ghost in the Shell or Jean le Flambeur, then this will be the book for you.

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the average debut SciFi novel, mainly because of the writing style. Some say the flow is slow and it's a real reading slump academia, but this is just a kind of a Japanese writing style. For those who saw them, imagine a mix of the movies Paprika and Matrix and you have a general idea of what to expect of this book.
The main focus is on decors, details, the immersion into a world rather than into a string of actions. You are invited to explore and think about what you discover not to take part to the action as a character. Characters are mostly contemplating over themselves and the world surrounding them while the interpersonal relations just creep from the shadows.
If you are used to a more fast paced story this might bore you and feel that it's pointlessly dragging, but once you get into the story the immersion is much more powerful. If I am to compare, most of the SciFi stories are fast paced, with incisive characters and action in the foreground but leaving the background blurry. In this book the focus is on the background with an intricate mosaic of details. It might be hard to digest at the beginning but in the end it was rewarding for me. As a side note, the last chapter had more action than all the ones before.
Probably I could take tens or hundreds of details of this world to discuss with people: some were amazing, most were frightening, but one… one was skin crawling creepy. It's called SpillBot and its basically a roboto-insectoid big as a cat that crawls into your bed and gives blowjobs. It can be customized to look like anything from a pineapple to a hooker head (if one could have a fetish with a severed hooker head that is) and if you get over this thing nothing else could shock you.
While the novel does not excel at suspense and mystery over the course, the end of it compensated with a nice cliffhanger. Can't wait for the sequel.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, it was bright and bold and sly and clever. This world might freak me out worse than any other dystopian world because I can see the path from here to there so easily. It isn't the usual dystopian book, it isn't dark and dreary, so don't be turned off boy that word. This one is all bright lights and big city. All the freedom you can earn, it'sPax Economica . They have to pay for everything, everything has been copywrited and is owned by one of the major corporations. The main character in the book works on a training program that helps him not to blink as often to save himself money. One of the big stories in the book revolves around a political platform fighting the proposed privatization of heartbeats, especially because from there it would be a slippery slope to allowing salivation, perspiration, digestion, and other things people can't choose to control. There was so much in this book that I loved, it was so colorful, and visual, so easy to see and imagine. The ideas were funny and scary and even poignant. It was fast-paced and easy to read, and it could be a very light read. But underneath the glitz and frenetic motion and lights and action is a really interesting and different dystopian tale. I should have written a longer review when I first ready the book, but I wanted to digest it, and now it's been too long to do it justice. But I strongly recommend it for a fun and thoughtful read.

note: review slightly expanded 12/15

[Robert Priest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly imaginative beautifully written dystopian thriller. The author manages the very difficult task of conveying the highly visual superficialities of the environment with a superbly fluid prose style. While the ambience is way out there the human story at the center of it — a love story — does the work of grounding and centering the reader for the dynamic ride of the narrative. As good a first book as anyone is likely to encounter. Can't wait for the rest of the trilogy.

[Kore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me awhile to get through, the story didn’t really start to pick up until page 200 or so. The concept of the world itself, frankly gave me anxiety while reading it. If I lived in a society that charge my bank account for every eye blink or breath taken, I would go insane keeping track of all that. Could this way of life come to fruition in the real world? Possibly but, I don’t see it ever being truly functional. It is a disheartening concept to imagine and the author took a great time on taking the reader into this world.

[Reinis · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Not without its merits, but it is entirely too slow and incredibly overwritten. Descriptions that should take a couple of sentences are drawn out into long paragraphs without any substance. And we don't even know what the central conflict is until the last 20% of the book with the first 80% being a rather meandering setup. When thinking back on it, nothing much of meaning actually happened and to find out that even that was not resolved in this book was rather disappointing. Somewhat of an interesting concept, but what a slog.

[John Adkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent Novel of A Microtransactional Future

In this debut novel, the author delivers a unique dystopia where all actions are licensed from curse words to a sigh. Even walking comes with a micro-transaction licensing fee. Our hero, Amon, works as a liquidator, sort of a combination IRS agent/cop in this world and has learned to live frugally. His every breathe is measured and his accounts are slowly increasing as he saves towards his dream of visiting a forest until everything falls apart.

[tyto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! I was super impressed by this one. I wouldn't go into the plot as you can read the synopsis above, but this one had me hooked from the beginning. The world building is absolutely amazing, and I was constantly thinking about it even when I wasn't reading. It's a bit of a dense read and there is a lot of description, so it took me a bit longer to read than other books. However, I was really impressed with the plot and the level of details. I absolutely cannot wait for #2. Highly highly recommended.

[John Catton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a work of outstanding imagination, but at the same time, it’s not an easy read! It’s Tokyo in the future, and the sights and sounds and smells are similar ... the dazzling neon, the blaring loudspeakers, the pervasive smell of ramen ... but the tech-speak and lifestyles of the characters is bewildering at first. That sounds like Cyberpunk, but really, this novel is much more than that. It’s an engrossing thriller in a fully-realized world - and I’ve heard that Book 2 has just come out!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reminiscent of the work of Philip K. Dick, this book completely sucked me in. The worldbuilding is immersive and vivid, and well balanced against the character development and increasingly intricate plot.

This book deeply unsettled me in the best possible way.

There are a few places where it's difficult to read due to some speech affectations the characters use, however I felt that was extremely effectively used by the author and it ended up increasing my enjoyment of the book.

The characters had depth, which truly held the book together when things got WEIRD. I have seen so many books try to do what this author did and fail, and consider the execution of the plot absolutely masterful. I especially appreciated that the central relationships were primarily platonic which made this work significantly more enjoyable than many other cyberpunk books I've read.

[Sean Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's split into three parts, each taking up roughly a third of the book. The first part is highly descriptive of an interesting and unique take on a cyberpunk future, but really low on action. It can be dense and a little boring. The second part has a better balance of description and action, but still feels slow. It's not until the final third that the action picked up and I couldn't put the book down, and now I want to get the next one. If you can make it through the first half, it's well worth the read.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine a world where you are charged a fee for every breath, blink and sigh. Where corporations control the rights to most of your bodily functions and the basics you take for granted like chewing, sitting, and talking, cost you money. In this world, when a person comes of age, an internal body bank CPU is installed. The BodyBank, a nano computer system, records and tallies the majority of bodily functions and payment is then made to the corporation who owns each function’s license. At this time citizens are also fitted with contact lenses that superimpose a 3D digital world over their mundane reality. With these special lenses everyone and everything has a digital overlay so for a price, flaws can just be programmed away. Everyone, except those unfortunate bankrupts who have “cash crashed” and are exiled to bankdeath camps in the District of Dreams.

Amon Kenzaki is an exceptionally frugal citizen. Amon is proud of pinching pennies by texting instead of speaking, blinking less, and constantly controlling the urge to scratch or massage his forehead. He works as a Liquidator; his job is to highlight potential bankrupts for counseling and, with the help of his partner and best friend Rick, to incapacitate the newly bankrupt until they are picked up by Collection Agents. Once collected, the bankrupts are taken to the Archives where all their information is uploaded and stored before they are stripped of their BodyBank and taken to a bankdeath camp.

Cash Crash Jubilee is the first book in the Jubilee Cycle series. Eli K. P. William meticulously constructs a future where people have become so attached to technology that it has destroyed the importance of human relationships. This “free world” is a dispassionate place where children have no parents or family, they grow up in places called BioPens and a SubMom watches over them. Thinking is still free but it seems to me that Amon spends little time using his mind to do more than to find new ways to save money. He lives in a solitary bubble of his own making, relying on technology over social interactions. His lifestyle seems like a commentary of our current generation’s addiction to texting, videogames, and the internet. However, due to this, I felt as if Amon was practically bereft of personality. I looked at this world through his detached point of view and wasn’t hooked, partially due to the fact that Amon’s character develops so slowly. It isn’t until the ending that the protagonist begins to wake up which made for some sluggish reading.

William does a phenomenal job laying out the ground work with his rendering of this cyber world. His dystopian Tokyo is fascinating and his vivid description is truly impressive. If you’re looking for first rate world building or an inventive and thought-provoking view of humanity’s potential future, I would recommend this book. Its warning of relying too much on technology is an eye-opening cautionary statement.

[julie | eggmama · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly only picked up this book because it was on sale at Ollie's Outlet for $2.99 and be it far from me to pass up any good book deal. I'm also just generally intrigued by cyberpunk premises, and this one sounded great. The premise is great. Essentially, it's capitalism and technology gone totally wild, where humans are charged for acts like blinking and breathing, and bankruptcy is worth than death. It has all of the hallmarks of cyberpunk, from government corruption to flying cars and a hyper-realized city. Unfortunately, it's only the premise that I liked. The execution was lacking, and there was a surplus of cringey, over-wrought metaphors, shallow characters, and illogical plot developments.

What really angered me, though, is that Eli William is a white man writing from the perspective of non-white characters, and I don't believe he gave them the respect or depth they deserve. I'm not saying writers can't write characters of another race. David Mitchell's number9dream comes to mind as an excellent example of a white male author writing a Japanese teen. The difference is that Mitchell never makes it his mission to write his character as Japanese or an embodiment of Japanese thinking and culture. Being Japanese is not that character's defining trait - he could be a teen anywhere.

William's main character, Amon Kenzaki, is a different story. He's supposedly half-Japanese, half-Polynesian, but the Polynesian bit is included in an off-hand comment and never brought up again. It functions as a character "quirk" that separates Amon from other Japanese citizens, marking him as different and "exotic." Other comments along these lines appear, too. At one point, Amon exclaims that of course two Indians must be related because they're both Indian. He also has stereotypical black male characters and there's the frightening realization that all of the most powerful men are white, or half-white.

The editing also left something to desire. Pomegranate spelled as pomegranite, and mannequin spelled as mannikin? Yikes.

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cash Crash Jubilee came up as a recommended title from Audible based on my previous listens / reads. The jacket certainly sounds like something I would enjoy: future cyber punk dystopia where everyone wears a "body bank" computer that interfaces you to the world continuously. Every action you take involves a license fee of some kind. I was eager to see what it was all about. What followed was hours and hours of the tedium of Amon Kenzaki's life. His blinks, his breaths, his steps on the sidewalk. Not only are we riveted by this amazing action, but we also get extraordinary detail on how he attempts to minimize his fees through apps like ScrimpNavi, PennyPinch, and MyMedic. Amon is an incredibly naive government employee who has absolute faith in the system. He has faith that if he works hard and saves every chance he can, he will eventually be able to realize his dream. He ignores all other pleasures in living in order to focus on this one goal. Along the way, he loses friends and relationships. Twenty chapters later Amon finally starts to open his eyes to the fact that the world may not be as it seems. Then we get an abrupt end in chapter 21.

I think this might make for a fine anime. Much of the text builds a visually diverse and interesting world. Unfortunately, the author's vocabulary doesn't go much beyond taking the prefix "info" to things, such as the info-rain, info-sun, info-sky, info-moon, info-stars....I get it. Everything is a medium for advertising.

There is really nothing here for me to recommend. Even listening in the car I often found my attention wandering as it went on and on about Amon's attempts to save throughout the day and the crushing prison the economy of this world creates. I can't imagine reading it all as text. Give this one a pass.

[citizenmilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cyberpunk near-future in which Tokyo becomes an Ayn Randian dystopia (or utopia, I guess, depending on your perspective).

In the tradition of Brave New World and 1984, Cash Crash Jubilee explores the implications of a radically transformed social order through an extreme conjecture of where current trends might lead. It's a meditation on the concept of a absolutist-capitalist society, explored in depth, at a macro- level and a micro- level.

It's got wit and humor regarding the commercialization - with personal/corporate interactions reminiscent of Warren Ellis's "Transmetropolitan" or several novels from Philip K Dick.

The world is vividly detailed - sometimes at the expense of the propulsion of the narrative, but the audacity of the concepts make a slower/deeper immersion rewarding.

The narrative to ideas/details ratio might be skewed for some readers, in which case, it might be worth waiting until the entire cycle is complete... Is it going to be a trilogy? Don't know. However long it takes to run through the "Jubilee Cycle," I suspect I'll be along for the ride.

[Cole Power · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book (and part 2) free from a giveaway, and so I didn't know anything about it, and had no expectations going into it. Almost as soon as page 1, I was finding myself hooked on the story and it's suspense had me wanting to know what was going to happen next the whole way through. It's a perfect sci-fi action-thriller book for anyone who likes things like The Matrix, 1984, or Blade Runner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. The only complaint I had while reading was that it seemed like at some points the way things/technology worked seemed to either not make sense or to contradict. However, they were few, and were such minor things I can't remember them looking back. Overall I really enjoyed it and wanted to move right on to part 2 as soon as I finished.

[Jennifer Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book written by a Brit(?) that lives in Japan. There are LOTS of big (but not too disgustingly big) vocab words, so that was awesome. There are a few paragraphs I felt we're unnecessary, but only a few and they are scattered throughout. It helps to have some cultural understanding but it's probably not necessary. This is a book to be savored at a somewhat leisurely pace, which is not how I usually read (sadly, though I'd like to), and though the story line is not achingly slow, it's not speeding like a bullet train to Tokyo. If you find yourself a little overwhelmed at times...I think that's the point. I look forward to the next one, whenever that may be.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For #readharder2016 we're tasked with reading a dystopian novel. This is set in a world where literally everything you can do or say has been licensed by a corporation and your body is hooked up to your bank account so every time you do anything you have to pay the rights to the license owner. I felt like the attempt at a love story was weak and unnecessary, but the world building is so fascinating and clever in this one that I'll keep an eye out for the sequel. Love seeing an anti-cap take on the genre.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best example of something from the cyberpunk genre that I've read in a long time. While it has all the standard elements (corporations have taken over, technological advances have not led to increased overall satisfaction in life, body modification, etc) it incorporates them without making them the entire focus of the story.

[Mills College Library]

Fiction W716c 2015

[Herschel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chilling

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book with lots of details that really brought the world to life.

[Kathryn S · Rating 3 out of 5]

First and foremost: the book is very enjoyable overall. I had a good time reading it, especially the second half. The worldbuilding is really well done and the author is very creative in thinking about what it is possible to do in this world with all its technological wonders. The plot is exciting, a good old mystery to unravel with some cool characters.
But sadly it's the writing that throws a wrench into one's enjoyment of this book. The first third or so just drags along, with fast-paced action scenes literally interrupted by pages of text describing some unassuming surrounding (chasing a delinquent into a tunnel and then stopping to describe the tunnel for a whole page is just grating).
But even worse are the author's descriptions of the ONE female character in this whole book. Not one time can the main character think about her without thinking of her breasts and that despite them not having seen each other in years. When she goes to him crying, asking for help, and he has just had a really shitty day (no spoilers but it's been life-changingly shitty), he can't help but instantly get hard at the sight of her. When he sees her panting after a hard run on the treadmill, he thinks of her brain about to spring from her head like a flower - what the heck??
When she comes out of the bathroom after a shower, the "liquid ripple of two curving forms beneath the fabric [announced] she was bra-less", is that really the first thing you have to think about? Seriously, author, we get it. MC has a big horny crush on token female character.
Other than that, and a strange obsession with the feminine eyelashes of one male character, the book has stunningly intricate worldbuilding and is actually well written - when it gets to the point.