The Electric Church

Avery Cates #1

by Jeff Somers

In the near future, the only thing growing faster than the criminal population is the Electric Church, a new religion founded by a mysterious man named Dennis Squalor. The Church preaches that life is too brief to contemplate the mysteries of the universe: eternity is required. In order to achieve this, the converted become Monks -- cyborgs with human brains, enhanced robotic bodies, and virtually unlimited life spans.

Enter Avery Cates, a dangerous criminal known as the best killer-for-hire around. The authorities have a special mission in mind for Cates: assassinate Dennis Squalor. But for Cates, the assignment will be the most dangerous job he's ever undertaken -- and it may well be his last.

Genres: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Fiction, Dystopia, Thriller, Noir, Crime

390 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Jeff Somers (www.jeffreysomers.com) began writing by court order as an attempt to steer his creative impulses away from engineering genetic grotesqueries. He has published nine novels, including the Avery Cates Series of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books (www.avery-cates.com) and the Ustari Cycle series of urban fantasy novels. His short story “Ringing the Changes” was selected for inclusion in Best American Mystery Stories 2006, his story “Sift, Almost Invisible, Through” appeared in the anthology Crimes by Moonlight edited by Charlaine Harris, and his story “Three Cups of Tea” appeared in the anthology Hanzai Japan. He also writes about books for Barnes and Noble and About.com and about the craft of writing for Writer’s Digest, which will publish his book on the craft of writing Writing Without Rules in 2018. He lives in Hoboken with his wife, The Duchess, and their cats. He considers pants to always be optional.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad...but a very forgettable, very “by the numbers” hardboiled cyberpunk thriller that felt like a cold, soulless version of Neuromancer. For me, one of the remarkable aspects of really good cyberpunk is its ability to tap into the zeitgeist of the current generation and provide insightful commentary on where we're going and who we are becoming as a species.

This story was all surface. It had the right costumes and some interesting props, but there was nothing that gave the reader, at least this reader, pause for deeper contemplation about the nature of our world and the future we are creating.

Don’t get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with good, gritty entertainment in the cyberpunk realm. However, if you are going to go that route, their needs to be some “wow” factor or original set design that makes the novel memorable. And while I thought the concept of the Electric Church had the potential to be that something special, I thought in the end it was too inadequately explored to be more than a cool blurb and some dashed potential.

PLOT SUMMARY:

In a cookie cutter dystopian future, the System of Federated Nations (aka the System) runs the world. The System maintains the power of the wealthiest 1%, who live in ivory towers in decadent excess, while the remaining 99% of the population exist as criminals in the resource-drained remnants of civilization. Cyberpunk staples abound and will feel very familiar to anyone with a casual knowledge of the genre. Everything from black market nanotech and biological augmentation, to low quality, synthesized alcohol and food stuffs, to high tech-weaponry of assorted viciousness.

Avery Cates is a debt collector who's hired by players in the underground economy to kill people that don’t pay their bills on time. After a series of introductory scenes, Avery finds himself a prisoner of the System Security Force (SFF). There, he is “persuaded” to accept a contract to murder the founder of the Electric Church, a powerful, fast-growing religion in which members have their brains transplanted into immortal, and quite deadly, cyborg bodies.

Avery accepts the mission and puts together a group of “usual suspects” to assist him, the high tech guy, the muscle guy, the “old friend/mentor,” the info guy, etc...

THOUGHTS:

For all its lack of originality, this is a decently entertaining story and I don’t really mean to trash it. Jeff Somers can certainly write and I intend to check out other work by him as I think he has talent. I really wish he would have explored the philosophical underpinnings of the Electric Church in more detail, as that was a concept that I really think had some potential to be developed into something truly mind-blowing.

Still, he delivers a fairly entertaing story that moves along at a brisk pace.

Now...I did have one major gripe about the main character that constantly grated on me and left my throat sore from excess groaning. Throughout the novel, Cates would constantly be telling the reader things like, ‘I gave am a hard look to let him know I meant business’ or ‘I put on my best tough guy face and walked right through them.’ I’m paraphrasing but this kind of overly self-aware machismo made my eyes and ears bleed. Find a way to explain your badassness without resorting to ham-fisted internal monologue. Better yet, just show us and don’t tell us a damn thing.

Anyway, that one major irk aside, this is a decent enough story, but I can't say I liked it enough to give it 3 stars. I think this novel is best for readers who fit into one of two categories:

(1) SF fans who have never read a cyberpunk novel before and are looking for something new to try, since the familiar landscape and standard tropes will seem much fresher to such readers; or

(2) SF fans who have read every cyberpunk novel ever written and must get their next fix, as this is certainly a serviceable story with all the usual bells and whistles.

For the rest of us, who enjoy good cyberpunk, but aren’t looking for just another diversionary read, this is one I think you can safely pass on. Not a bad read, but it doesn’t really move the needle much either.

2.0 stars.

[Harris Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I see this book has an average of 3 stars as I write this review. I suppose then I should justify my 5 star rating then. The reason I give this 5 stars is that I personally could not stop myself from reading this. Now sci-fi is generally not my genra of choice so I cannot qualitatively say if this is a "great" sci-fi book. But it kept me reading and interested. That is all I care. May be dark and disturbing for some people. Heck my copy of the book came with a warning about the content printed on it. I personally am looking to snatch up anything else he writes.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I see the majority of review have rated this as a menial read. That doesn't surprise me. For the age of Cyber-punk isn't anything new. What I found I liked about the book was the comic style of flow. I found the imagery and the characters to be more from the comic style of writing than just the standard novel. It's certainly not a new concept, just one I found fun and quick. If I want to challenge myself I will read the classics. When I want to feel pulp style fictions, than I will read this book. I look forward to reading Somers' next novel of this series. It's a good, fun read (like Pulp Fiction in novel form.)

[Zeffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy hell, I love this book. Love the idea behind it, the fight against eternity and a religion that wants to consume every part of you. Willingly or not.

Avery Cates is not a sympathetic character. He's a killer for hire, the man least likely to perform heroics, a cheat and a survivor. But he's a likable character all the same. He's an honest man who's doing what he needs to survive, but there are lines he won't cross. This doesn't make him a good person by any stretch of the imagination, in fact, it probably makes him stupid. Luckily he has all these lovely side characters who help him out (and not by choice).

You see the world, the city of New New York through his eyes, and it's a fucked up place. It's a dystopian future and there's no such things as heroes here. I felt tired just reading this book, but in a good way. In a sympathising with the Main Character way. But even so, I wanted to read more (if only I wasn't limited by that pesky thing called lack of funds) because there's the promise of an epic adventure.

And the antagonists, the robot monks of the Electric Church, are the creepiest things ever. Creepy, creepy, creepy and so deliciously badass.

I can't say more without spoiling it, but if you're a fan of dystopian/post-apocalypse action-adventure with a Main Character who's well on his way to Nick Fury level badassery, then read this book.

[Tattered Cover Book Store]

Folks, there is nothing subtle or beautiful about this one.

Unless, that is, you think perfectly described gun battles and psychotic cyborg monks are subtle and beautiful. Or maybe you are just a fan of exciting sucker-punch-to-the-stomach writing.

Set in a not so distant, and rotten, dystopian future the story follows the adventures of the surprisingly sympathetic anti-hero Avery Cates. Cates is a Gunner (a hitman) scrounging to make a living among the dreary masses. He is considered an old man and seasoned at the age of 27 years. Doing almost (he still has some sense of honor) anything to live until the next day Cates is constantly on the run. So don't get me wrong, you are rooting for the bad guys in this one, but the people after the bad guys are much worse.

Always after Cates (or any random person in the way) is the corrupt, and uber, police force of "The System". Always in front of him is The Electric Church; a religion of freaky cyborg Monks, whose converts are suspected of not always being voluntary. Always around him is his lack of time.

Things get really interesting when one of these two ominus groups tracks Avery Cates down and hires him to go after the other.

This was pretty much a nonstop read and it made me wish I was a cyborg
Monk so I didn't have to be interrupted by petty biological functions
while I enjoyed this great story. It does have some flaws, but it is an impressinve first novel by a promising new author.

Highly recommended for guys (crazy ones), women (cool ones), and very
small children (unaware ones). Also recommended if you are a fan of
present day intrigue or grimy mystery novels and don't mind changing
things up.

Enjoy and become a convert to the Electric Church!

-Ryan K

[Scott Holstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of mixed reviews of The Electric Church, which surprised me because I thought it was really good. Some of the reviewers out there really hated it, thought of it as unoriginal, thought it was stereotypical cyberpunk, were bored, thought it was predictable. I thought it was none of those things. Indeed, it was such an action packed thriller that each page seemed to have something integral to the plot and I was so intrigued, I read it in less than a day.

Avery Cates is a Gunner, a killer in a dystopian world. He's old at 27 and has killed some 26 people for money, and during this book, he really adds to his kill total. The seemingly super human cops (The SSF) are after him for cop killing and now he's on the bad side of the Electric Church, a growing religion whose adherents are cyborgs who were once human and whose brains have been transplanted from murdered people to their new cyborg bodies. It's quite creepy. The head of the SSF cops hires him to kill the leader of the church in their heavily guarded headquarters, so he assembles a team of transport, tech, and other people to help him out.

Cates is a bad guy, but he's a likeable bad guy because he plays by a certain set of rules. He's also cooler than the evil police or the Monks of the Electric Church, all of whom are certifiably evil and probably insane.

Some reviewers thought character development was lacking in this book, but I was really taken with how the author captured and then let us get to know a Monk. The author really delves into good descriptions here and I had a great vision in my head of how the scene was taking place.

There's a whole lot of gun fighting in this book, so if you're into that, you won't be disappointed. A reason I'm marking it down from five stars to four, however, is the excessive swearing. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a prude. I've got a mouth of my own. But this was gratuitous swearing, dropping the F bomb every third word. It got old and felt forced. Additionally, the author constantly has to let us know that Cates is a hardass and is putting on his macho, hardass face to scare other people away. That got old too.

Still, the book is non-stop action and it's enthralling. I wasn't prepared for the end and thought it was quite good. Apparently, this is the first in a series (of course), so I might read the second one soon, although I'm of the opinion that sequels rarely live up to the original. This book is highly recommended!

[Mokushi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you read for some hardcore motherfuckers kicking some serious cyberpunk ass? Cuz that's what this book is about. HARSH LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, CYBERPUNK, FUTURETREK and SEX: That's the main parts that create this monster of sci-fi. It is definitely not for the intelligent type, it's full of vulgarism, constant action, a large amount of dick-wagging, pointless and cheesy dialogues, too HARDCORE-THAN-THOU action scenes and rather weakly explained cyber-future world.
However, it was entertaining. It's a guilty pleasure. An aggressive, industrial-cyberpunk book that leaves the taste of led in your mouth after reading it. IT IS HARDCORE and not the British type of hardcore.
You can just sense the simplistic American style of writing, trying to be angrier and more powerful than all the other books... It has this appeal of watching a bully beat the crap out of his teacher: You're against it, but just can't stop looking. :)
Check it out, it is definitely fun!

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I thought this was going to be THE book for me (noir-style, theology, and cyborgs?! Yeah!), but much like Idolon it fell woefully short of expectations. It ended up being just another action-packed story that was all straight-plot and not enough thought, and beyond that, it really pushed my boundaries as far as willing suspension of disbelief. Besides that, the guy really needed a thesaurus. The repetition of words and phrases was enough to make me stop reading several times to see if I'd somehow accidentally skipped backwards, and I have never seen so many curse words (and not varied or inventive enough either) in a book in my life. Instead I'd probably suggest Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, among others.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not normally a big reader of sci-fi books. This one, however, was a fantastic read. I can't really put my finger on what it was about this book that I found so appealing, but it is one of the best books that I've read in the past year. Set in the infamous not-so-distant future featuring a rag-tag group of assassins for hire (who are actually the good guys in the dark future created by the author) who must battle an ever-growing army of militant Monks, this novel is all action from the opening page.

[Rick · Rating 1 out of 5]

In his debut novel, The Electric Church, Jeff Somers attempts to create a 21st century cyberpunk novel. His vision of the not-so-distant future, managed by the fascist System of Federated Nations and their powerful police, exists in economic chaos, spawning rampant poverty and a vibrant criminal element. Avery Cates, a gunner, thrives within this environment, until he accidentally kills a cop and attracts the attention of the Electric Church and its mysterious Monks, cyborgs with human brains.

Cyberpunk stereotypes abound with pop-culture jargon, computer-human interaction, near-future technology, and unsavory characters in an all-too-familiar tableau. Through most of the book I found myself one step ahead of our protagonist. Somers, clearly a gifted craftsman, writes in a clean, sharp style rooted firmly within the Chandler school but one that is utterly forgettable once the book is closed. His obvious talents intrigue and would work best in a less-formulaic story. Unfortunately, his next book will be a sequel to The Electric Church.

(The review abridged from my version in The Austin Chronicle, October 5, 2007.)
Link: [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyroba...]

[Yolanda Sfetsos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just reading the blurb and the title for this book was enough to grab my attention. And that very creepy cover sure deepened my interest.

When I started to read this book, I found myself a little lost in the narrator's set up of this world because there was so much going on, and so much to be explained. However, as the story moved into the second chapter and I settled into Avery's tale, I understood exactly why it was vital to drop all of that info on the reader at the very start. Getting the who's who out of the way helped me get my bearings and understand exactly what Avery was and what he'd gotten himself into. It helped me slip into this very dark and brutal dystopian society very smoothly.

Avery Cates is a criminal. For the right price he'll kill whoever he's hired to eliminate. He doesn't care who it is.

But when he gets himself caught up in some big trouble with the System Cops and attracts the attention of the very freaky Monks from the Electric Church, everything becomes a lot more complicated. When he's given an opportunity he can't pass up, he takes it. All he has to do is kill the founder of this mysterious religion. And to do that he'll have to head into the middle of their operation, with a group of misfits that include his only friend, Gatz, female twins who come in very handy, and a Techie who refers to himself in the third person. Along the way, he even manages to pick up a scary Gunner who might not be who he says he is. For the right amount of money, they're all willing to risk their lives.

This story is an action-packed thrill ride that had me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't wait to turn the page, to see what was going to happen next. Trying to keep up with Avery's very dangerous life was exhausting and exhilarating, because every time he thinks he can take a deep breath, more trouble finds him.

The Electric Church is a fascinating and totally engrossing book with everything that makes the noir-futuristic-cyberpunk genre so appealing. It's well written, gets under your skin, and throws you into the middle of the action. Avery Cates is the ultimate anti-hero. A killer who drinks too much and doesn't bathe near enough. Yet, he's trying to make his way in an insane, horrible and very violent world the only way he knows how. And I really liked him for that.

I also loved that what starts out as a way to get a huge payout turns into an ambitious attempt at changing a corrupt system that ignores and destroys the majority of the population.

This is a series that I really want to lose myself in. I thought this one was fantastic, so I can't wait to read the next book.

[Sylene · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you can deal with the (very) obscene and (frequent) language used, this book was astonishingly good. The main character stays true to himself. He doesn't go on a whole "what-am-I-doing-here" thing and although he doubts that he'll survive (quite a bit), he doesn't face much inner criticism, besides past hit jobs. This was a SOLID character; all of them were, in face, from Ty's twitchy nose to the twins' tandem eyebrows to Canny's "feminine" hair (by FEMININE, I mean that despite going around shooting everything that moves, his hair is only displaced about ONCE). This story had a solid plot, interesting ideas, and a straightforward timeline. It inolves a bit of politics, but nothing over the head of an average reader. Also, the descriptions he uses create graphic imagery.
*CLAP CLAP CLAP* Well done, Jeff Somers. This is the first sincerely good review I've written in a while.

[Christy Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

In any other media this would be amazing but it's a little too repetitive for a fun novel.

[Reynard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Che delusione questo romanzo. Nutrivo grandi aspettative dall'idea di base che aveva grandi potenzialità; purtroppo alla fine tutto si riduce a tanta (troppa) azione, spesso banale e sopra le righe, senza nessun approfondimento sulle implicazioni di un mondo dominato dalla Chiesa Elettrica. Somers sa scrivere piuttosto bene, ma questa è decisamente un'occasione mancata. Il mio voto: 2,5 stelle.

[Badseedgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avery Cates, at twenty-seven, is an old man in his industry, that industry being contract killer in a futuristic New York. The society has evolved into a liberals nightmare picture Reagan’s “trickle-down economy” and the 1% all wrapped up in one, and very Cates is not a one percenter.

I loved this novel. It was less science fiction and more a detective noir novel set in the future. I kept visualizing “Bladerunner” (The movie, I have not read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? yet.)

Mr. Cates is a hard-boiled anti-hero that I could not help but root for. His mission in this novel is to kill the leader of the largest growing church on the planet, The Electric Church. Members of the church give up their bodies to have their brains inserted into androids, thus allowing them to live forever.

The pacing of this novel was fast, and the characters were well developed, making The Electric Church by Jeff Somers a wonderful read!

[Amanda Skinner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just received my copy of "the Electric Church" from the first reads contest. I look forward to getting sucked into Avery Cates' New York!

*****

I was fully prepared to give "the Electric Church" one star while I was reading it. The premise captured my imagination from the start, but the story did not. I felt too bogged down in the repetition of our hero's age, and the many many times he falls down and injures himself, not to mention looses his weapons. I'm sorry to say it, but how did this guy survive as long as he has when he seems so completely inept?

However the last few chapters won me over. Again my interest is piqued and now I am curious to see what Mr. Somers has done with Avery Cates in the next two installments.

[Darcy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried this one, but the way it was written I just kept getting lost in the wording. It seemed like the author kept complaining about the police and there were weird levels and different names confusing me.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really suited my current mood - there was something cathartic about how often Avery said "fuck." Kind of dark and gritty, but still fun. Also, the reader sounded like Guy Noir a bit, so that added another element for me - I don't think I would have read it like that in my head.

[Jason Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Formulaic but fun cyberpunk.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

WARNING: THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE ENTIRE SERIES

You should be geeking Avery Cates.

I have been a fan of this series since I pick up the first book on a whim and began to read it. The pages pulled me in and I haven’t stopped pushing the book since. In a unified world where the people are controlled by the corrupt System Cops, and held together by the crooked politicians the world has become a dark place and in this noir cyberpunk world heroes don’t flourish but the bad guys do.

Enter Avery Cates. He’s a bad man, a very bad man. He’s a criminal, a thief but more importantly he is a killer for hire, an assassin, a Gunner. He’s one of the best there is and well known because of it but that’s not turning out to be a good thing for him. Cates has made enemies and they never seem to forget.

Cates deals with the worse of the worse. He faces off against religious Monks: cyborgs with human brains, enhanced robotic bodies and a small arsenal of advanced weaponry. He has deal with being a carrier to the plague that could wipe out mankind, and being thrown into Chengara – a prison with a survival rate of exactly zero.

he mystery unfolds like the noir novels of Dashiell Hammett or Jim Butcher. The book plays like a Sam Spade mystery deep in this cyperpunk future. With each step Avery Cates gets closer to his answer, killing any who gets in his way, but with the subtle and rich detail that paints the image of the dark futuristic world similar to how Butcher fills in his urban fantasy world.

The book is an exciting techno thriller with enough action to keep pace with a movie. The library journal compares the book to Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) but I like to compare Cates to Han Solo back in the first Star Wars (A New Hope) before all those pesky morals started to get in his way. Just to compare I think Cates would have also shot Greedo the only difference is that he wouldn’t have let the green lizard talk first.

he series has four published books, The Electric Church, The Digital Plague, The Eternal Prison and The Terminal State, with a fifth, The Final Evolution, being released on Canada Day of 2011.

I have mentioned Jeff Somers in a couple 42 Web articles in the past, commenting on how I expect him to become one of the strongest and forefront of science fiction writers of our era and I use this series as arguments. Somers avoids a lot of the errors that plague science fiction and fantasy write. He slowly unfolds the mystery in front of you, reminding you of names that you will need and giving you the information and details of his dark future slowly and on a need to know basis. He doesn’t overwhelm you with the details of his complex world to quickly or hold back until it seems forced, instead his subtle approach to detail and expansion of his techno noir world come naturally and feel like you’ve actually known these facts and take them as truth.

Now Geek This!

If you like this:

Storm Front - Jim Butcher
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep – Philip K. Dick
Something from the Nightside – Simon R. Green
Orphanage – Robert Buettner

[Eric_W · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read much dystopian fiction, the daily newspaper suffices as an antidote to cheer. I certainly intend to read Margaret Atwood's latest couple of books and read 1984 (talk about dated!) and Brave New World (although some might argue it's more Utopian.) It's also possible to read this book as a nice action yarn in addition to political commentary. Or vice-versa.

Basically, if you are rich, you're OK -- at least until the next riot, and the "electric" church guarantees eternal life but at the expense of any freedom of will. It's fonder, aptly named Dennis Squalor, argues that in order to achieve salvation and understanding, human life is too short so the brain is harnessed to cyborg bodies in order never to die. In the secular realm, power belongs to the Joint Council and corrupt state security forces who utilize vast weaponry and surveillance to control the rabble and protect the wealthy.

After killing a cop, hit-man Avery Cates is enlisted by the head of the SSF to kill the Dennis who's power is becoming increasingly worrisome to the SSF (and presumably the other powers that be.)

As in all such books, a certain suspension of incredulity is required, but I found the elements of church v state in general to be more than possible, if not likely. This book makes noir seem positively white.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all this is gritty. Not pretty. Not highbrow. Not going to end up on your lit professor's bookshelf. And the main reason I like this series is just because I do not have any fear of walking into a pretentious coffee shop and seeing some erudite snob leafing through it.

It is a commentary on current society, if one comes down out of the clouds long enough to look around. Religious prats are running the political scene. Corporations really own our asses. The rich guys who own the corporations run the government like puppet theatre. And in the midst of the chaos that is acted out on the news media, which incites real chaos in our daily lives, everyone is struggling to get ahead by hook or by crook.

And we have the voice of Avery Cates, detached, surly, inimpressed. He's ages old for his world, thirty or so. Doesn't know how he's lived this long, except by dumb luck and skill. He's disenchanted, constantly betrayed, and good at one thing - killing.

It doesn't need to be Necromancer or Dune for me. I like the gritty scene by scene playing out of drama that's kept unpredictable by random turns.

It's obviously somehow wandered into the Great Literature Reviews section, and it's making the other books nervous. It's cool, I can remember that's how the suits acted around me before I quit the System.

[Regan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating, dirty, bloody world where you should be looking over your shoulder at all times. The protagonist, Avery Cates, is not a nice man, but he's delivered in such a way as to be utterly sympathetic and, in some odd way, charming.

The great reveal was, I found, a bit of a let down. The journey along the way was not.

[Guillermo Galvan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book. The premise and cover caught my attention, so it had the advantage. But the writing was so corny and shallow. I'm tapping out.

[Sandino · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75
Киберпънк, който доста ми напомня на Такеши Ковач серията. Липсва обаче хумора на Ричард Морган. Достатъчно добра е, за да продължа с поредицата.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Usually when I think cyberpunk, I think Neuromancer....



Or I think Shadowrun.....



There's usually something stylish and very 80's to the cyberpunk genre. Polished chrome and smooth criminals. Megacorps and stylish fashion. Worlds of adventure. The world of Avery Cates is not that, not by a long shot. It's dark, it's grungy, it's miserable and rotten. It's Cyberpunk at its most bleak and nihilistic. It's the Warhammer 40k of cyberpunk.

Cyberpunk for me, as a genre has always been a mixed bag. Much like Sci-Fi in general, I often love the aesthetic of the worlds, the designs and ideas, the characters archetypes and the possibilities, but they often fall at the last hurdle and break their kneecaps when it comes to compelling characters and interesting plots. Oftentimes, it feels like the authors are much more enamored with the worlds they create than the characters they use. The Electric Church kind of straddles that line for me. It's engaging and decently creative, but trips over some of its own writing sometimes.

A lot of the familiar tropes of the cyberpunk are here. High-tech, low life, the masses are poor and dirty, the cops come down on everyone with both boots and the upper class fuck everyone over for shits and giggles. Avery is a criminal for hire as you'd expect, pushed into a job he can't refuse, intrigue and mystery, a team of mercs hired for a big score etc. So on paper it all fits together like you'd expect. In practice it's a mixed bag.

The pacing was solid throughout. There was never a moment where the story became bogged down in long drama moments or deep character spots that devolved into navel-gazing and given the tone, that's probably for the best. The action set-pieces come fast and brutal and none of it's played for fun. It's brutal and violent and appropriate for the setting. The world of Avery Cates is decently mapped out. Sommers does a good job of setting the scene, giving the reader a sense of the world and it goes a long way to making the world feel alive, in its own grungy, Hepatitis-A riddled way.

As a character Avery is interesting. This is a world where most people outside of the upper class don't live past 20. So at the age of 27, he's constantly bemoaning his age, constantly grasping with a fatalist attitude. It will either make him feel like an old man past his prime, or an edgelord wishing for death and where he lands with you will depend on you. For me....



The other characters don't really get much a chance to shine sadly. A lot of them echo Avery's attitude, being world-weary, depressed, miserable or fatalistic and that's only referring to those on Avery's team. The bulk of the villains in the world are gleefully psychotic which is a mixed bag too. Barnaby Dawson would be a more interesting character if he wasn't threatening to pull Cates's spine out through his nose all the time, and Dick Marin always sits in that position where you think he's going to snap. Other than that, the story is all Cates's story and how much you enjoy it will depend on him.

But there is a lot of rough edges to this book. Being a brutal dystopia, death is common and pinning your hopes on any character surviving is a fool's errand. A lot of character cark it and some of them feel needlessly pointless. A female reporter is kidnapped about halfway through the book, spends most of her time gagged and bound and ultimately dies when one of Cates's mercs decides she's a liability. Thematically it fits because this is not a friendly world. But stuff like this feels more like a wasted opportunity than anything.

On a smaller side-note, the use of Yen in this book is hilarious to me. Here's the thing; as it currently stands 500 yen is roughly about 6-7 dollars Australian. So when I see Cate's taking a job for 20,000 I can't help but laugh because this equals about 250 bucks. The attempt to make it look like Cates is working for the dollar-dollar bills is undermined by basic economics. This is something that would've worked far better had Sommers simply made up his own currency.

Overall, The Electric Church doesn't do anything new with Cyberpunk but in some way I don't think it was trying to. It's gritty and brutal and nihilistic and everything I suspect that Sommers loves about the genre. It's not a bad book by any means. I did enjoy my time reading it, but its very rough around the edges and feels like a proof of concept in some ways. A couple of spelling errors aside, its certainly serviceable for a popcorn read and for those that like their fiction dark.

Not sure though if I'd want to read the Digital Plague though....

[Karissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Avery Cates series, there are five books in that series. I borrowed this as an audiobook from my library.

Audiobook Quality (4/5): I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was fine. The narrator does a decent job with character voices and emotion. It was pleasant enough to listen to.

Thoughts: This reminded me a bit of a cyperpunk Nightside (Simon Green series) book, but not quite as creative or interesting as the Nightside. There are some quirky characters, the world is interesting (but seems a bit shallow), there is a ton of action, and a buttload of swearing (seriously there are points where every other word is a swear word). I listened to this on audiobook and my teen son would walk past my office and be like "Geez, mom and you tell me not to swear.."

The story follows Avery Cates (a gunner for hire) in a world where society has collapsed. He gets on the bad side of some cyborg Monks and then is hired by the dreaded corporate overlords to take out the leader of the Electric Church that the Monks belong to.

This portrays a gritty cyberpunk world and there is a lot of fast-paced action but the whole thing felt a bit thin as well. I just didn't really engage with the characters and the story is fairly simple (there are some twists but they were pretty predictable).

The whole book was like a piece of sweet candy (with lots of guns, swearing, and misery)....fairly engaging and somewhat yummy but leaving you feeling a bit unsatisfied when you finish it. It was okay but I most likely won't continue with the series. It just didn't have the interesting psychological depth of a lot of other cyberpunk books out there. I mean I guess there is the discussion around what the Electric Monks are doing to people but that never got very thought-provoking and was mostly just gross and terrifying.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was an okay cyberpunk read if you are looking for an action-packed series of violent scenes with a lot of swearing. There are some quirky characters here that you never really get attached to and you don’t want to think about the story too hard. However, I enjoyed the gritty world and as long as I just kind of went with it and didn’t think too much it was an okay diversion.

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Electric Church is noir flavored scifi. Avery Cates is a gun-for-hire in a grim future. Earth has been unified under an oppressive government called the System, and the vast majority of people squat in the ruins of once great cities, committing petty crimes, living fast, and dying young. At 27, Cates is an old veteran. People over 50 are basically mythical. Cates gets drawn in a plot by the head of Internal Affairs for the System Cops to assassinate the head of a new religion called the Electric Church. The Electric Church preaches a doctrine of salvation through cybernetization, machine immortality to contemplate their sins. At their rate of growth, they'll be the biggest religion in 5 years, and the only religion in 10, if they aren't stopped.

The story moves quickly through the standard noir beats, with the coolest scifi ideas compressed into the last few chapters. My main problem is that the writing is repetitive, and commits the cardinal sin of telling and not showing. Cates's first person monologue is the only voice of the book, and he drones on about how ordinary cops are bad and the elite System Security Force are worse, how creepy the Electric Church cyborg Monks are, how crapsack the world is, and how much of tough and smart criminal he is. All words better spent showing this, rather than telling us.

[iasa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actually a 2.5 star book for me. It is a basic cyberpunk grimefest which is fine as far as it goes. My main issue was the repetitiveness of the main character. If he isn't reminding you how much he hates the cops or that he is old at age 27, (although there are a number of characters that are older) then he's explaining what a badass he is. It just took me out of the story a bit.

[Alex Gates · Rating 3 out of 5]

It reads like a blockbuster-action movie. The first chapter is pedal to the medal, and it never relents from there. At times, the aggressiveness feels tedious and overdone, and the barrage of it doesn’t allow for real tension to build. But if you enjoy explosions and gun fire and lots of kick assery, this book is right up your alley.