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Orphancorp #2
Psynode
Having barely made it out of Orphancorp alive, Mirii is on a mission to find the most important babe in her life, Vu. Vu has been taken to ‘Psynode’, a secret facility operated by the megacorp Allnode.
After wrangling her way into the Allnode warehouse as a picker, Mirii meets Rowe, the daughter of one of Allnode’s execs, who may just be the perfect person to help her with the mission.
But life at Allnode is far from cushy and Mirii has to battle her way through the dangers of her new job, the corps that she knows are watching her and get to Vu before it’s too late.
After wrangling her way into the Allnode warehouse as a picker, Mirii meets Rowe, the daughter of one of Allnode’s execs, who may just be the perfect person to help her with the mission.
But life at Allnode is far from cushy and Mirii has to battle her way through the dangers of her new job, the corps that she knows are watching her and get to Vu before it’s too late.
180 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2017
105 people want to read
About the author
Marlee Jane Ward
16 books62 followersI’m a writer, reader and weirdo from Melbourne, Australia.
I grew up on the Central Coast of New South Wales and studied creative writing at the University of Wollongong. I attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop in 2014.
You can find my short stories at Interfictions, Terraform, Apex, The Sockdolager, Aurealis, Mad Scientist Journal, Slink Chunk Press, Feminartsy and the In Your Face, Hear Me Roar, Kindred and Best Summer Stories anthologies.
My debut novella, Welcome To Orphancorp, won Seizure’s Viva La Novella 3 and the 2016 Victorian Premiers Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction. It was shortlisted for The NSW Premiers Award, an Aurealis Award, and the Norma K Hemming Award. The sequel, Psynode, was released in May of 2017 and was shortlisted for Best YA Novel in the 2018 Aurealis Awards. The third and final book in the series, Prisoncorp, was released in 2019 and was nominated for Best Science Fiction Novella in the Aurealis Awards.
My non-fiction can be found at Overland, Kill Your Darlings, Writers Bloc, Going Down Swinging and more.
I grew up on the Central Coast of New South Wales and studied creative writing at the University of Wollongong. I attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop in 2014.
You can find my short stories at Interfictions, Terraform, Apex, The Sockdolager, Aurealis, Mad Scientist Journal, Slink Chunk Press, Feminartsy and the In Your Face, Hear Me Roar, Kindred and Best Summer Stories anthologies.
My debut novella, Welcome To Orphancorp, won Seizure’s Viva La Novella 3 and the 2016 Victorian Premiers Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction. It was shortlisted for The NSW Premiers Award, an Aurealis Award, and the Norma K Hemming Award. The sequel, Psynode, was released in May of 2017 and was shortlisted for Best YA Novel in the 2018 Aurealis Awards. The third and final book in the series, Prisoncorp, was released in 2019 and was nominated for Best Science Fiction Novella in the Aurealis Awards.
My non-fiction can be found at Overland, Kill Your Darlings, Writers Bloc, Going Down Swinging and more.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 31, 2018
Mirri is one angry, determined woman. Mirri is trying to find and free her friend Vu but finds herself a victim. The world she lives in is ruled by consumerism and big business gone mad. The hoi polloi are treated as disposable commodities and in the extreme as vassals for one weird computer network.
The book is fast paced, tech savvy, short but not so sweet. The author is keeping her readers on tenterhooks.
The book is fast paced, tech savvy, short but not so sweet. The author is keeping her readers on tenterhooks.
Read
May 3, 2024[kicks down door] fucken!!!!! I love it!!!!!!
January 5, 2023
It’s been a little while since I read the first book in this series, but it only took a few paragraphs for me to sink back into Mirii’s voice.
She’s one of the most intriguing and interesting characters I’ve had the pleasure to read about. I am glad I continued on this journey (and just bought book #3 so I can continue a little later!)
Psynode, alas, does suffer from sequel syndrome. It’s not quite as good as Welcome to Orphancorp. The story flip-flops around a bit, things just kind of happen as if by luck. Things don’t really happen like that, especially not numerous times.
One scene in particular should have been a sucker punch to the gut, but because not enough time was given for an emotional investment to develop, the impact was missing. It might be used later in book 3, either for trauma or some funky twist… but I actually kinda felt a bit let down I wasn’t brought to tears.
Where I think this book excelled, was in giving the reader a bit more of an insight into Mirii’s mind and emotions. We got to see a bit more about her tenuous relationships with those few she’s kept around her and those she meets who pass muster.
One particular scene at 75% in with some choice pharmaceuticals had me laughing hard at the sheer absurdity and innocent need. Brilliant fun that was also tinged with just the right amount of creeper squickness. “Singh-y!”
Definitely still recommend this series for everyone! Give this Aussie author some love folks, you won’t regret it!
She’s one of the most intriguing and interesting characters I’ve had the pleasure to read about. I am glad I continued on this journey (and just bought book #3 so I can continue a little later!)
Psynode, alas, does suffer from sequel syndrome. It’s not quite as good as Welcome to Orphancorp. The story flip-flops around a bit, things just kind of happen as if by luck. Things don’t really happen like that, especially not numerous times.
One scene in particular should have been a sucker punch to the gut, but because not enough time was given for an emotional investment to develop, the impact was missing. It might be used later in book 3, either for trauma or some funky twist… but I actually kinda felt a bit let down I wasn’t brought to tears.
Where I think this book excelled, was in giving the reader a bit more of an insight into Mirii’s mind and emotions. We got to see a bit more about her tenuous relationships with those few she’s kept around her and those she meets who pass muster.
One particular scene at 75% in with some choice pharmaceuticals had me laughing hard at the sheer absurdity and innocent need. Brilliant fun that was also tinged with just the right amount of creeper squickness. “Singh-y!”
Definitely still recommend this series for everyone! Give this Aussie author some love folks, you won’t regret it!
July 6, 2017
Psynode is the fantastic follow-up to Marlee Jane Ward’s successful debut Welcome to Orphancorp and is a fitting continuation and expansion of the world, themes and tone of the first. Mirii has left the Orphancorp but is desperate to find Vu, this leads her to scamming her way into a job at the capitalist endgame nightmare-world that is Allnode.
I found the story here a little less emotionally resonant than Orphancorp, but much bigger in terms of narrative and world. In some ways Psynode is more action-packed than Orphancorp – the final sequence is particularly brutal and memorable. The cast and world feels larger and we start to get a sense of the wider injustices of the world and the people living and struggling or thriving within it. Without giving too much away the people Mirii crosses paths with and the different agendas at play are fascinating and there’s a lot of room for Ward to work with going into the third book.
The social commentary is no less biting here than it was in Orphancorp. Still focusing on the people who fall through the cracks through no fault of their own, and how does one little babe survive on such tiny rays of hope? Even the glimpses we get of Mirii dreaming the life she could have if she “went straight” and gave up on finding Vu are bleak – grinding away in an Allnode factory for decades to earn luxuries such as a room of her own.
Ward’s language use is a highlight of this series – rough, stylised, 20-minutes-into-the-future slang-laden without ever feeling put on or out of place. Mirii’s voice is authentic and rich as she narrates her experiences and her world.
This is the socially-aware, original dystopia series you didn’t know you’d been waiting for.
I found the story here a little less emotionally resonant than Orphancorp, but much bigger in terms of narrative and world. In some ways Psynode is more action-packed than Orphancorp – the final sequence is particularly brutal and memorable. The cast and world feels larger and we start to get a sense of the wider injustices of the world and the people living and struggling or thriving within it. Without giving too much away the people Mirii crosses paths with and the different agendas at play are fascinating and there’s a lot of room for Ward to work with going into the third book.
The social commentary is no less biting here than it was in Orphancorp. Still focusing on the people who fall through the cracks through no fault of their own, and how does one little babe survive on such tiny rays of hope? Even the glimpses we get of Mirii dreaming the life she could have if she “went straight” and gave up on finding Vu are bleak – grinding away in an Allnode factory for decades to earn luxuries such as a room of her own.
Ward’s language use is a highlight of this series – rough, stylised, 20-minutes-into-the-future slang-laden without ever feeling put on or out of place. Mirii’s voice is authentic and rich as she narrates her experiences and her world.
This is the socially-aware, original dystopia series you didn’t know you’d been waiting for.
October 12, 2019
Excellent, dark, YA cyberpunk with a bisexual protagonist disconnected from her culture and trying to make a living in a future that's just like our present but with all the bad stuff turned up a few notches.
I really enjoyed the down-to-Earth presentation of the characters and reactions, and the realism of a world where we keep sliding down this money-first, people-second path is horrifying and captivating.
I really enjoyed the down-to-Earth presentation of the characters and reactions, and the realism of a world where we keep sliding down this money-first, people-second path is horrifying and captivating.
April 17, 2017
Can I have book 3 now? Please?
If you're in any way partial to dystopian YA or even just brilliant quality writing, then you have to read Welcome To Orpahncorp and then this. Just do it. No more wasting time. Get it done!
If you're in any way partial to dystopian YA or even just brilliant quality writing, then you have to read Welcome To Orpahncorp and then this. Just do it. No more wasting time. Get it done!
January 22, 2018
Yay, this was pretty much everything I was left wanting after the first book.
There are a few plot points at the end that were a bit convenient and clunky, but the wonderful characterization and voice overrides it.
There are a few plot points at the end that were a bit convenient and clunky, but the wonderful characterization and voice overrides it.
May 4, 2018
Aurealis Awards Best YA Novel....short listed 2017
Rad babes and brus in a thrilling dystopia/YA novel.
I stayed up til stupid o'clock to finish it!
PS: how do you like my new 'Ya-lingo?'
Never too late to teach an old dog new tricks!
Review
Rad babes and brus in a thrilling dystopia/YA novel.
I stayed up til stupid o'clock to finish it!
PS: how do you like my new 'Ya-lingo?'
Never too late to teach an old dog new tricks!
Review
June 11, 2017
Another story from Marlee that I couldn't put down! Only thing that stopped me from devouring it in one sitting was my insistence to pace myself. The language, the energy, the way it feels like a dystopian future and our present time all at once.. wow.
May 24, 2017
A brilliant, visceral follow-up to Welcome To Orphancorp, which expands in scope but loses none of the intensity. Psynode explores the hellish life of many workers in our late capitalist existence in a future world that could arrive as soon as next week.
September 19, 2021
Psynode (2017) is the follow-up to the award-winning Welcome to Orphancorp, (2015) by Melbourne author Marlee Jane Ward, (reviewed here). That the title of the final of this 'technopunk thriller' trilogy is Prisoncorp (2019) bodes ill for the central character Mirii, who had in Book one, escaped from dehumanising slavery in a brutal system designed to achieve compliant child workers, and now in Book Two is on a quest to rescue her friend Vu. This is a very dark dystopian YA series, with uncanny resonances in the modern world.
Psynode has been calling to me ever since I started gathering together my pile of (nearly all Australian) novellas for Novellas in November hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. (An Island by Karen Jennings sneaked in there because it was longlisted for the Booker and had just arrived from Benn's Books. Some of my books are not very good at waiting their turn.) Psynode was in my novellas pile because it's only 177 pages long. It's quick to read; I romped through it in a couple of hours this morning.
It was written only four years ago, before the explosion of Covid-induced online shopping. As I read Mirii's brutal initiation into work as a warehouse picker for Allnode, I found myself thinking of what I've read about work conditions in Amazon warehouses, and wondering about the experiences of the Woolworths packers who've been bringing me my groceries in Lockdown. Mirii has demanding targets to reach, and what she soon discovers is that while the penalty for failing too many targets is instant dismissal, achieving them only reduces the time she's allowed to achieve them. It's a horrible work environment...
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/09/19/p...
Psynode has been calling to me ever since I started gathering together my pile of (nearly all Australian) novellas for Novellas in November hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. (An Island by Karen Jennings sneaked in there because it was longlisted for the Booker and had just arrived from Benn's Books. Some of my books are not very good at waiting their turn.) Psynode was in my novellas pile because it's only 177 pages long. It's quick to read; I romped through it in a couple of hours this morning.It was written only four years ago, before the explosion of Covid-induced online shopping. As I read Mirii's brutal initiation into work as a warehouse picker for Allnode, I found myself thinking of what I've read about work conditions in Amazon warehouses, and wondering about the experiences of the Woolworths packers who've been bringing me my groceries in Lockdown. Mirii has demanding targets to reach, and what she soon discovers is that while the penalty for failing too many targets is instant dismissal, achieving them only reduces the time she's allowed to achieve them. It's a horrible work environment...
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/09/19/p...
June 8, 2024
The 2 things I like about this trilogy is that it's set in Sydney and they are novellas. The thing I struggle with this novellas is the language or rather the way the protagonist speaks which is real spez (really special). I'm kind of making that up but that basically sums up the way they speak - all shortened and whatnot. It's probably the way things are heading now anyway if I'm listening to the way my teen is speaking / messaging now. Still, it doesn't make it any easier to read plus I feel that it's trying too hard but maybe that's just me.
This dystopian world is truly horrid especially seeing it from our protagonist's eyes; an orphan and poor to boot. In this sequel, she's set out to infiltrate a corporation to find her missing friend. Will she find her friend or will it end catastrophically? If you've read book 1, I think you know what will happen...
This dystopian world is truly horrid especially seeing it from our protagonist's eyes; an orphan and poor to boot. In this sequel, she's set out to infiltrate a corporation to find her missing friend. Will she find her friend or will it end catastrophically? If you've read book 1, I think you know what will happen...
December 26, 2019
4.5 stars! This was everybody bit as gritty and voicey as the first novella, but with far more action and world-building.
I loved getting to explore this dystopian capitalist Sydney that exists outside the Orphancorp, and it gave me all my Blade Runner meets Mad Max and The Island jush.
It’s also just as wonderfully queer, inclusive, and sex positive as the first one 💜
Can’t wait to see how the final instalment turns out!
I loved getting to explore this dystopian capitalist Sydney that exists outside the Orphancorp, and it gave me all my Blade Runner meets Mad Max and The Island jush.
It’s also just as wonderfully queer, inclusive, and sex positive as the first one 💜
Can’t wait to see how the final instalment turns out!
November 14, 2017
Great. Lacks quite the brutal emotional suckerpunch of the first one (because it's not kids-brutalising-each-other-in-the-system) as we get out into the wider world and look at some other ramifications of capitalism-gone-feral. It's more of an action thriller than a psychological twist, but it's still grounded in Mirii's casual, clever, Aussie-as narration, which remains an absolute delight.
May 29, 2018
An excellent follow up to the first in the series. I love the voice that Psynode is written in. It feels exactly like I imagine the main character should be. It is genuine, weird, and all around wonderful.
I had a couple problems with events near the end, but nothing that kept me from enjoying what I read. This was a genuinely great experience.
I had a couple problems with events near the end, but nothing that kept me from enjoying what I read. This was a genuinely great experience.
September 23, 2023
Book 2 picks up shortly after book 1 and Mirii spends time working at a corporate warehouse. Some ties to book 1 with the main characters and story, but mostly introducing a new batch of players.
Fast paced and engaging.
Fast paced and engaging.
July 9, 2017
Holy shit. Marlee did it again! What happens next to Mirii? WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?????!!?!?!?!?
October 6, 2019
Brutal but brilliantly realised world with a unique and engaging voice. Loved it.
May 21, 2019
I enjoyed Welcome to Orphancorp so much and when I discovered this sequel I was super excited and read it in one sitting and I would like the next eleventy books in this series/setting immediately now and thank you.
What I love about it is that the world that's been built, with its own details and quirks of language and everything, is so easy to get absorbed in. It's not like some spec fic worlds where one needs a glossary for unfamiliar words, because they're so easy to pick up from context.
I also love the queerness about it, not only Mirii's quest to find Vu but all the background references and how casually they're dropped in and how it's not a big deal. Tat's singular they pronouns make me happier than I can express.
What I love about it is that the world that's been built, with its own details and quirks of language and everything, is so easy to get absorbed in. It's not like some spec fic worlds where one needs a glossary for unfamiliar words, because they're so easy to pick up from context.
I also love the queerness about it, not only Mirii's quest to find Vu but all the background references and how casually they're dropped in and how it's not a big deal. Tat's singular they pronouns make me happier than I can express.
Read
April 2, 2018Note: read as manuscript, not final version
April 25, 2017
Fantastic sequel to WTO - just like anyone who's read the two books I'm now dying for book 3. I just love the pace and voice of Marlee Jane Ward's writing - I feel completely wrapped up in the character of Mirii and so present in her world. Get on this!
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews