Villains are made, not born. Nephilim is a Guardian Angel, one of the cybernetically enhanced super-soldiers, created to protect and destroy. Protect the Olympias Conglomerate, the mega-corporation that owns them, and destroy its enemies– at any cost.
Nephilim is ruthless, sexy, and the best of these elite cyborgs–an unstoppable killing machine.
But like all of her kind, she wasn’t born like that; she was made.
Nephilim is only a child when silent black-clad killers with neon-blue eyes invade the village she grew up in, murder her parents and abduct her and the other children.
With her memory wiped, Nephilim finds herself in a brutal program that turns the traumatized kids into the deadliest weapon in human history.
But unknown to anyone except Metatron, the High-Archangel, Nephilim is special, and like a puppetmaster in the shadows, he grooms her for something greater…
This is the first book in a series of three novellas, telling the story of how Nephilim became the ultimate killing machine. The series is a prequel to the main series Behind Blue Eyes. It can be read as a standalone or an addition to the main story.
Join Nephilim on her journey of becoming a killer cyborg!
Anna Mocikat is a successful Cyberpunk and Space Opera author. She was born in Warsaw, Poland, but spent most of her life in Germany where she attended film school, worked as a screenwriter and a game writer for several years. Her "MUC" novels have been nominated for the most prestigious awards for Fantasy and science fiction in Germany. In 2016 Anna moved to the USA where she continued her writing career. "Shadow City" was her debut in English in 2019. Since then she also published the "Behind Blue Eyes" series, the "Cyber Squad" series, the "Nephilim" series as well as "Space Punks" and "Neon Nights."
BEHIND BLUE EYES is a fantastic cyberpunk series that I absolutely love and have devoured every installment of so far. They are about a bunch of cybernetically modified corporate assassins working for the sinister Olympias Corporation.
When the author, Anna Mocikat, announced she was doing a prequel series around its protagonist, Nephilim, I was extra excited. Reading the first novel, I found it was a story of how Nephilim was kidnapped from her family and turned into the murderous death machine she is in the main books.
I feel like this is a really tragic and interesting story as she is slowly taught to be a killer and indoctrinated into the poisonous Olympias Corporation ideology. Fans of the main series will also come to hate villain, Metatron, more because his treatment of the per-pubescent Nephilim now has shades of grooming since he later attempts to make her his lover. Thankfully, there's nothing to that in the actual book-book, just him brainwashing her into a killer.
The Guardian Angel school reminded me a lot of the Black Widows' Red Room from Marvel comic, despite including boy candidates, and that was a definite plus. I am definitely picking up more of these novellas as they come out, though. It is good for reading as both a stand-alone separate from Behind Blue Eyes and a companion piece.
I'm a big fan of the Behind Blue Eyes Series and really enjoyed the prequel. This goes into Nephilim's origins as she goes through Angel training. It's a fun and quick read.
Bargain trilogy on audible, vary happy thank you very much. This starts out very YA and as our human recruits go further down the rabbit hole to becoming cyborg killers they discover the facts of life, the rights of passage through a programmed syllabus. Once unleashed the talent emerges inevitably and the teeth of the business begin to be bared. We know where it goes from here but the origin story works nicely. Its an undemanding listen but the glistening titanium, brain chips and superhuman powers is a joy as the young candidates discover them, often with a gun to their heads.
This book is a prequel to the main series Behind Blue Eyes and the first book in a trilogy of one of the main character from the BBE series.
To me, Nephilim is the main character from the series, but it would be unfair to all the other incredibly interesting and important people from the BBE series to say that. Metatron would probably be very unhappy with me if I didn't mention him 😉
In the main series, Nephilim is an incredibly strong and taller-than-life character. In this book we get a glimpse of the beginning of her story and how she became the cybernetically enhanced super-soldier, an extraordinary unique cyborg, that is trained to be a cold-blooded killer machine.
This is a heartbreaking, but really fascinating story about her first years in the Guardian Angel training program and her journey to becoming a killer cyborg.
I love this book and can't wait to read more of her story 😍
I’m a huge Behind Blue Eyes fan so I eagerly dove into Nephilim!
This is a great origin story. The small bits of Nephilim’s childhood that we already knew were expanded on, giving us a full picture of her life before she became a Guardian Angel.
I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator did a fantastic job. The characters were all voiced perfectly and the short length had me finishing the book in about a day.
This is another amazing installation in the Behind Blue Eyes saga and I highly recommend it to anyone who has read the series or those who are curious about it and haven’t had a chance to start!
In a small village in the middle of nowhere Evelyn lives with her blind father and beautiful mother. While everything seems perfect the other children warn her of the constant threat from the Blue Eyed Monsters. Her father told her this was nothing she should fear. The blue eyed monsters weren't real. She believed him...until they came. With the village aflame she ran to the cave behind the waterfall. There she hid until her saving angel found her. Metatron told her of her parents abandoning her and urged her to come with him. Become a guardian like him. I received the ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. I have had a lot of issues recently, so I did not post it in time for release. That being said that has nothing to do with the book as it was amazing and I had it read within a few days of receiving it.
This novella takes place before Behind Blue Eyes when Nephilim is a child. It shows in detail what happened to her village as well as how she was recruited and began her training. I will state that the story ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, but volume two will be coming out shortly I believe. Not sure when exactly, but based on I was told I'll be getting it soon it will likely be in the next few months.
A lot of the information in this book was familiar. It reiterated what we learned in bits and pieces from the Behind Blue Eyes series. If you've read them all you'll know what I mean. However, this is a more in depth picture and you can see the adoration for the high arch-angel as it is born and as it is instilled. I have to say I loved the name Evelyn as well as the secret revealed at the very end. I have to say I guessed who her best friend from the village was (his name once renamed), but the confirmation was wonderful. The reason I love the name Evelyn is that is my daughter's middle name and the one she answers to most often.
As always Anna is amazing and her books never disappoint. Take a deeper look into the origin story of our favorite Blue Eyed Angel.
A really cool little story. As a publisher of horror stories, I read a ton of them. I was in the mood for something different. I saw the main series, "Behind Blue Eyes", but then saw the origins series. I like to start at the beginning, so I picked up this book. It has strong Stephen King "The Institute' vibes, which I loved. A little 6-year-old girl is recruited into an elite combat training program. The Science Fiction here is great. The political element (something I usually don't like) is believable and just mysterious enough to keep you reading. The question of 'Good' and 'Bad' flows through your mind all the way from the 1st page to the last. A child, pondering right and wrong, has just seconds to decide which, and her fate! It's a fast paced, quick read. Give it a go!
I really enjoyed this novella. Having read all of the main books, I was excited to delve back into the world. This is an in-depth look at Nephilim's origin story which has only ever been mentioned before. It was great to finally experience what happened before the events of the main series. How Nephilim was captured, how she was trained and what life was like for her as a child cyborg. It's a bit like Hogwarts - if it were run by Voldemort!
Should you read this before the main books ? That's impossible for me to say as I'm doing it backwards, but whether you've read any of the Behind Blue Eyes series before or not, this is still very much worth your time.
The Guardian Angles are an invincible police force tasked with protecting Olympias. They start out young. Follow Nephilim through the rigors of training. Can she pass the ultimate test? Does she have what it takes to earn her blue eyes?
Anna Mocikat has done a fabulous job taking us back to the origins of the Guardian Angles. If you love cyberpunk, you’ll love this!!
Nephilim is definitely my favorite character from Mocikat’s Behind Blue Eyes series. She’s lethal but also capable of human feelings despite her cybernetic alterations. She is both blade and heart. When I read BBE, I wanted to know more about her, specifically what she was like before becoming an angel. The first book in Neph’s origin story fills that need. This book is a quick read, and parts are heart-wrenching. I highly recommend this novella.
Although this is basically the origin story of Nephilim the background of the training and city works very well i to a realistic scenario and gives that extra insight many fans will want.
Loved this entire prequel! It's a new, and different genre from what I'd normally read but all in all it was fantastic and I can't wait to see how Nephilim evolves throughout the rest of the series. I have a theory already lingering as to Metatrons intentions with her...
I enjoyed Behind Blue Eyes and had wanted to find Nephilim’s back story. This book gave me exactly what I was looking for. You are given insight into the Angels and while it answers some questions, it leaves you wondering about other things. If you are a fan of cyberpunk and Behind Blue eyes, check out this book.
I am very hesitant to read prequels, as I have encountered several that are just cash grabs with continuity errors demanded by the publisher. Nephilim Volume 1 evinces how Mocikat generally loves the world she has created, as she takes its continuity very seriously and uses this origin story as an opportunity to flesh out and enrich that world. It is a deep dive from an author who understands sociology as much as she understands cyberpunk, somehow humanizing Nephilim as her dehumanization is explored. I look forward to the next 2 volumes and to rereading the original series with this additional understanding.