A review by raven_morgan
Three by Jay Posey
4.0
Earth has been devastated by an apocalypse (the nature of which is not fully revealed), rendered a series of wastelands and ruined cities. This is clearly a far-future setting, where technology in the form of connection to an evolved form of the internet has gone genetic - people are born connected, and can communicate via "pim" (essentially an instant message), locate themselves via GPS, and access information via projections on the inside of their corneas.
During the day, the humans scavenge, some living in fortified ruins, others living underground. During the night, the Weir roam. It is never made fully clear who or what the Weir are, or where they came from. Zombies of a kind, certainly, for the dead become Weir, but they also seem to have a kind of electronic nature, communicating via static bursts.
Three, the titular hero, wanders the wasteland as a bounty hunter. He encounters Cass, a chemic - someone who had a drug doser implanted into her body, and is able to use that drug to boost her speed and strength, and her young son, Wren. Cass is running from a group of brain hackers, RushRuin, the leader of which, Asher, is determined to hunt her and Wren down no matter what. And Wren himself appears to have strange abilities: he can sense the Weir, for one thing, and he knows that there is something strange about Three.
There is, as you can gather from the summary, a lot of handwavium being used in the worldbuilding. Some readers will find it frustrating that the nature of the apocalypse is never clarified, or that the origins of the Weir are never given. I did have several points where I would have liked to have known more about the world (and honestly, I wondered if Posey had actually worked it out), but I didn't find it enough of a detraction to stop reading the book.
This is a book about the characters, and the setting is absolutely secondary to the story. Cass herself is a great female character - she willingly chose the life she leads, even knowing that the drug she is addicted to will burn her out. She is also a kick-ass mother, doing anything and everything to protect Wren. Wren is a convincingly written child character - for all his power, he's still absolutely frightened of the world he lives in, and the people who are hunting him.
Three is a character who would fit into any post-apocalyptic world: the big, burly bounty hunter scavenging a life from what's left of the world. He does develop over the course of the book as he is affected by his relationship with Cass and Wren, though I never quite developed the emotional attachment I had for Cass.
My only real complaint about this book was that there were several relationship aspects that felt forced. Three's attraction to Cass felt like it was extraneous.
The writing is also a cut above the normal, which was a pleasant surprise. Overall, if you can get past the scanty explanations of the world building, and are looking for a character-based post-apocalyptic novel, you could do far worse than giving this one a go.
ARC received through Netgalley.
During the day, the humans scavenge, some living in fortified ruins, others living underground. During the night, the Weir roam. It is never made fully clear who or what the Weir are, or where they came from. Zombies of a kind, certainly, for the dead become Weir, but they also seem to have a kind of electronic nature, communicating via static bursts.
Three, the titular hero, wanders the wasteland as a bounty hunter. He encounters Cass, a chemic - someone who had a drug doser implanted into her body, and is able to use that drug to boost her speed and strength, and her young son, Wren. Cass is running from a group of brain hackers, RushRuin, the leader of which, Asher, is determined to hunt her and Wren down no matter what. And Wren himself appears to have strange abilities: he can sense the Weir, for one thing, and he knows that there is something strange about Three.
There is, as you can gather from the summary, a lot of handwavium being used in the worldbuilding. Some readers will find it frustrating that the nature of the apocalypse is never clarified, or that the origins of the Weir are never given. I did have several points where I would have liked to have known more about the world (and honestly, I wondered if Posey had actually worked it out), but I didn't find it enough of a detraction to stop reading the book.
This is a book about the characters, and the setting is absolutely secondary to the story. Cass herself is a great female character - she willingly chose the life she leads, even knowing that the drug she is addicted to will burn her out. She is also a kick-ass mother, doing anything and everything to protect Wren. Wren is a convincingly written child character - for all his power, he's still absolutely frightened of the world he lives in, and the people who are hunting him.
Three is a character who would fit into any post-apocalyptic world: the big, burly bounty hunter scavenging a life from what's left of the world. He does develop over the course of the book as he is affected by his relationship with Cass and Wren, though I never quite developed the emotional attachment I had for Cass.
My only real complaint about this book was that there were several relationship aspects that felt forced. Three's attraction to Cass felt like it was extraneous.
The writing is also a cut above the normal, which was a pleasant surprise. Overall, if you can get past the scanty explanations of the world building, and are looking for a character-based post-apocalyptic novel, you could do far worse than giving this one a go.
ARC received through Netgalley.