The Seraph Engine

Old Chrome #1

by I.O. Adler

Miles Kim, cyborg and relic of a war fading from memory, is on the last train ride of his life.

When a gang of bandits attacks the train, Miles and a hundred passengers find themselves trapped in in a standoff in the middle of the desert.

But there’s more to the robbery than meets the eye.

An unknown entity has set its sights on the Seraph Express. As people start dying, Miles realizes that any rescue will be too late and no one will make it out alive unless he can stop it.

It’s a struggle for survival and a race to discover what is after them and who among the survivors is hiding a secret worth killing for.

The Seraph Engine is book one of I.O. Adler’s Old Chrome series. If you like The Murderbot Diaries, The Last Policeman, and Blade Runner, you’ll love this fast-paced cyberpunk adventure.

Genres: Weird West, Fiction, Science Fiction, Steampunk

162 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 3, 2022

About the author

I.O. Adler is the author of Shadows of Mars and The Seraph Engine.

I.O. has since worked in television and as a contractor and currently creates content for a video game company.

Besides writing he can be found hiking the hills and trails of California, looking for snakes, insects, and raptors to annoy, and poking dead things with a stick.

Follow me on Bookbub! https://www.bookbub.com/profile/i-o-a...

Reviews

[Meenaz Lodhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old Crome book-1, new series by I.O. Adler. @i.o.adler aka Gerhard Gehrke. I Absolutely loved The Seraph Engine #1! It’s a SciFi Dystopian a la western, and completely unpredictable high-concept with dashes of a spy thriller. I’m hooked!
So riddled with mystery, and intriguing twists!

With a deft hand and an eye for plot intricacies, Adler embroidered a web of deceit that terrified me and made me keep turning until the very last page! The story is filled with continuous Switchbacks of tense and brutal moments, high tech battles, with intense and shocking chases that had me mesmerized and dizzy till the end.

It’s poignant and compelling, with an emotive background story of the main character, a lump in throat resolution that he had to keep aside till the end, and yet, we still don’t know which will be his final decision, and that is gnawing my interiors, hoping he will change his mind. Lol.

I love the way it’s written, although in third person, the way the MC thinks makes him full of proximity and realistic, the abrupt sentences which are his thoughts, clipped and concise.! Loved it!
The sneak peek of chapters 1-2 of The Atomic Ballerina #2 has me wanting for more and, immediately!
Oh yes, definitely a 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Jan farnworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the start of this novel, the train robbery is just the tip of the iceberg in this short novel, starring a cyborg relic of war named Miles Kim. Miles is not young by any stretch of the imagination and is on the seraph engine to sell his parts and ends his life, all hoping to mend his relationship with his son Dylan. What unfolds is a hold-up that is anything but average, and he is determined to unravel the reason behind it so he can get on with the train ride.
The narration of this audiobook is tight and thrilling; the narrator is excellent at helping you distinguish characters with his voice. I had to double-check and only had one talented narrator in this book. The story is short and not overly complicated, making this a nice appetizer kind of read. The following stories follow Miles Kim beyond this last train ride into a life of being a sort of investigator for various crimes. I am interested in seeing what else Miles Kim will have to solve or fix.

[Robert Williscroft · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I realized that I.O. Adler and Gerhard Gehrke are one and the same, I understood why The Seraph Engine is such a good read. I won’t give away the plot but make the following observations. The writing is tight—as the story unfolds, we learn something about the Earth where the story takes place and even a little bit about what might have happened long before the time of this story. We also learn a bit about Miles Kim, Adler’s less-than-perfect protagonist, a broken-down enhanced human whose internal technology is getting long-of-tooth. He’s not a kid—he feels his age. But he has courage, physical and moral—definitely one of the good guys.

I could quibble about too many whiches and toward with an s, but I’m going to let that go because this is such darn good writing and such a delightful story that only 5 stars will suffice.

[Kristjan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dystopia scifi story with a western theme (think cowboys and aliens). We are introduced to an obsolete cyborg that decides to sell his parts (and there by terminate his existence) to help his estranged son. His trip is interrupted by a train hold up that pulls him into a web of mystery that he tries to unravel as quickly as possible so that he can resume his trip.

First … the narration is very good and fits into the story well (+1 star). The rest of the story is an enjoyable leisure diversion/escape. Although the story is fairly short, the author does a good job developing the main character who is the center of the follow-on stories where he is something of a fixer/investigator (so you could probably read them in any order). You get a little mystery in a steampunk wild west in each story, but nothing particularly deep or enlightening … just a fun, light read.

I was given this free review copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#TheSeraphEngine #AudibookFree #KindleUnlimited

[M.H. Thaung]

This is an mix of cyberpunk and Western with an emphasis on action (fleeing, fighting, hiding in various proportions) rather than introspection. I liked the glimpses we got of the world and how it came to be like this, and that we didn't get bogged down in history.

I note the book is ~160 pages. Somehow, it felt longer than that. The storyline felt like an episode of something bigger rather than complete in itself. I couldn't really keep track of all the various factions and what they were after. I guess they will be expanded on in the next book.

[David Pospisil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a western, dystopian, sci-fi, steampunk thrill ride.
Love the world and characters.
Can't wait for the next book in the series.

[Christinaraven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story that is a mix of a futuristic western, mystery, suspense and thriller. Full of action and that real mystery of what is really going on it held my attention to the end. Had to see who would survive to the end and what secrets would be revealed. And answer the question.....what is really going on and why. Just outright entertaining and kept me guessing. Liked the story and the characters.

[Michele Livesay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Train Robbery was Only the Beginning

I enjoyed this book immensely as it kept surprising me all the way through. I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

[Ziggy Nixon · Rating 3 out of 5]

…this was Earth. Its departed children had returned to it without welcome and were now paying the price.

Truth be told, I'm still a little on the fence about I.O.Adler's "The Seraph Engine", which I downloaded as part of the "Old Chrome Box Set" (books 1 - 3). It's not badly written per se and I don't have any issues with editing either. But even though the action works out fairly well, it's completely lacking in what I'd consider to be sufficient exposition. I just feel like we don't know nearly enough about our main players or the world in which they inhabit. I couldn't make heads nor tails about the different locales mentioned or even where it seems most of mankind has wound up after… something? Sure, we get some hints dropped a few times - including an extremely vague indication of how Earth is the way it is now (but not why) - but I never felt informed if you will. Definitely not to the point where I could say "aha, this is what makes this story UNIQUE!"

For the briefest eternity he believed some stygian hell had been breached and overflowed into the cramped space in its awful darkness.

In fact, I had a lot of trouble establishing any kind of connection with Miles Kim who never really gets to show much emotion beyond some mild remorse and what I assume is a fairly decent conscience. Is he truly much of a "cowboy" type or was that just a projection made on someone that finds himself under duress in the middle of the desert after a train robbery? Sure, one could argue he makes for a fine gun-slinger but his background being such a big blank right now really hurt things. It didn't help either that just when we finally meet his nemesis face-to-face that door gets slammed shut pretty quickly. I'll just say then that if you asked me to describe Miles to you, well, I wouldn't be able to say much without resorting to assumed clichés.

Imagine a network of a hundred minds, a thousand, each node bringing a lifetime of expertise and skills.

I also have to point out that this is the first time that any of the books I've marked as being from the "weird west" genre have not included a fantasy element, of which this had none. So maybe that had something to do with my reaction, I'm not sure. No, this was definitely what I guess you could call 'soft' scifi with all the robots, drones and, yes obviously, cyborg elements. Well, not to be redundant, but it was as scifi as I could tell it was. There weren't too many elements that HAD to be defined as such but there we are.

Thinking about it all felt as if he were juggling a dozen objects of differing sizes and shapes, some round, some sharp, and some on fire.

I will say I was honestly very disappointed in the ending of this first chapter. This story was written with little to no option but to continue reading if you want ANY kind of closure or to find a decent stopping point. To say then that the way Adler ends Book 1 was abrupt is putting it mildly. I won't send the box set back to the KU library just yet, but I'm also not feeling like continuing the trilogy (or is it more?) at this stage either. We'll see, a few days away from it is probably a good idea.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this as a free book for signing up to the author’s website. What initially drew me to it was the cyberpunk aspect of the story, plus a character (Dawn Moriti) who was in the previous book I read, is in this one. I enjoyed the story. This is a dystopian world, there are mysteries and a ‘western’ theme. It is also a little dark.

The cyberpunk aspect was good, as unlike most cyberpunk story’s most of the equipment was old and in some cases breaking down. The main characters had to deal with this in order to succeed.

I also liked the main character as he was older, as was his cyberware implants. He struggles with his personal life, his implants and the situation he finds himself in. The world in this story is a different part of the one the author has created in previous books. You get a good feel for the area they are in, just not where it exists in the overall world, a minor point to me. For the characters and their development, the story and the cyberpunk aspect, I gave the book 5 stars

[Elliott Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

More Miles Kim please!

What a fun read! I really enjoyed I.O. Adler's writing style, and worldbuilding. The plot smashed along and every aspect was enjoyable. It was very fun seeing cyberpunk in a western setting. I'm a big fan of the cyberpunk genre, but on some days the neon cities and crowded alleys get a bit old. Seeing all of the cyperbunk tropes in a western setting was a refreshing and enjoyable take on the genre.

The story starts out with a bang and a train robbery--which is a classic and fun setting. But don't get too comfortable yet, as Adler masterfully pans the story out to include a much larger story with plenty of mystery and suspense.

It's been really fun finding indy authors who are writing the kind of fiction that I enjoy: original and action packed science fiction with a unique twist, with the right amount of humor to keep things humming along.

Definitely check this one out.

[Pete Peru · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this. There's action and adventure, a nicely framed futuristic world for the afore mentioned A&A to take place in, a worthy cast of protagonists and with all that contains a sort of down-to-earthness that was refreshing. It's easy to read and not over long - traps which many books of this genre regularly fall into. My only caveat is that it finishes rather than ends, by which I mean the loose ends remain loose and I suppose will be dealt with in Volume 2. I would have liked a bit more closure but, heck, this is still a darn good read.

[Grady · Rating 3 out of 5]

It might be set in a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk future, but this is a straight up western gunslinger series. It reminded me of a Longarm novel without the sex, especially in the way that every plot point requires travel from one location to another. In this first book of the series, it’s fun to watch the protagonist, good guy Miles Kim, unravel a train robbery that is far more complicated than it needs to be, and much more successful than it deserves.

[Joseph O. Gilpatric II · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

Although the book ended, with some questions unanswered, it is a great read. In my opinion,this was like a mystery/science fiction type of story. I highly recommend this book. I appreciated the fact that the author did not feel the need to use profanity. Check it out. It's a great read.

[papasteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is basically a western with a lot of sci-fi window dressing. The good thing is, I like westerns. And I like sci-fi. So I enjoyed reading this book. It was quick, just shy of 200 pages, so that was nice, too. I’ll read the next, and let you know.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The beginning seemed to drag (in spite of all the action), but the last third finally grabbed my attention. Since I have all 3 books through Kindle Unlimited, I'll definitely read the second one at least; the setting and main character are interesting.

[CLS · Rating 4 out of 5]

fast paced and fun

This was a good quick read. The ending felt a bit ragged with lots of unresolved threads left for the sequels. It was heavy on the action and only the main character is very developed, but this it was a fun ride and I’ll pick up the next one.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shades of Murderbot, but not as good.
Shades of Jack Reacher, even down to the military police back ground, but not as good.

#DNF

[Alan Budd · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy read

A well thought out and interesting storyline, just enough suspense to keep the book flowing along nicely, an easy read without too many complications.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like a young adult book. Not really my thing.

[Antony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different

[Mel Potter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story line.

[Gar McGregor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has problems, but the world building is compelling, so I'll check out the next one.

[Kevin Cossentine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story builds up to leaving one asking more questions due to the nature of the story line, which is decent enough. The story has a high tech western them to it with a train heist, cat-n-mouse chase through the desert, to a final confrontation with someone supposedly in charge, but wait, maybe he's not after all, but rather just one of the cogs in the clock that merely creates more mystery in and of itself. It has the main character Miles Kim who wants to do the right thing but is waylaid and then put into a position to turn on those who he befriended or puts their needs above his own. Would love to see what else is in store for him.