| Title | : | Liquid Cool: The Cyberpunk Detective Series (Liquid Cool #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 403 |
| Publication | : | First published February 14, 2016 |
It’s cyberpunk re-imagined—science fiction meets the detective thriller in an ever-rainy world of colossal skyscrapers. Hover-cars fly above in the dark, bustling skies and gray people walk below on the grimy, flashy streets of this “neon jungle.”
Metropolis isn’t a bad place, but it isn’t a good one either. Uber-governments and mega-corporations fight for control of the super-city, but so does crime.
We were introduced to
Liquid Cool: The Cyberpunk Detective Series (Liquid Cool #1) Reviews
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With this book, I got to enjoy more the weirdness of the plot, their characters, with their incredible funny names and I think prefectly applied. Cruz is funky and bright, albeit his manias. Austin has this unique way of writing; at first I was getting muddled, but after reading more I kind of liked the style, it makes me appreciate more and to stay more focused! Cool, cool!
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I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review
I'm not even really sure where to begin this review, I was provided a copy of this book by the author in exchange for a review. Liquid Cool is probably an exercise in an attempt of style over substance, it's a book that wants nothing more than for the reader to think that it's cool. Successful authors, and film directors, usually develop a style over their career that most people can identify as belonging to them. Liquid Cool tries its absolute hardest to do the same thing, it wants to have a unique style and strives on almost every page to deliver it to the reader.
Whatever amount of style that does make it through is much like the rest of the book: convoluted, clunky, and lacking substance. If you were to grab someone off of the street, who had never taken an English class and never been told how to tell a narrative then I think they would end up producing something close to Liquid Cool. This book is a detective story, or at least wants to be. Our main character is a man who, I think, wants to escape his everyday life and make something of himself. Soon enough he begins his own detective agency and gets caught up in a case that has much further reaching implications than he could have expected.
Again, I find myself lacking the structure in my mind to try and review this book, so please bear with me as I try to break this mess down. While this may be the worst book I have ever read not everything in here is bad conceptually. A private detective living in a cyberpunk world who has a sassy French receptionist with robot arms is a great concept, legacy housing was an interesting concept, the organic grocery store was an interesting concept, however, they were not executed well at all. Any dialogue between our protagonist and his receptionist, while I could see what Mr. Dragon was trying to do, was clunky. While legacy housing and the other pieces of the book I found interesting were executed well, they were just background dressing for a terrible narrative.
Perhaps the largest sin that this book commits is that we never actually see our protagonist do any detecting. All of the conclusions he comes to happen off the page, and then he delivers the information to other characters and us, as the audience, are supposed to be just as shocked that he was able to learn all of this so quickly. This all comes off as lazy, and if it had only been done once then I could have forgiven it as an attempt to show that he was natural to the profession. This is an issue that will remain through the whole novel, he is always one step ahead of everyone else, he connects dots we don't see, comes to conclusions using the knowledge we never learned and is able to solve cases without us ever seeing him track down the case.
The issue I have with this main flaw, and a lot of others, is that I don't know whether it was done out of laziness, an inability to write, or an attempt at style. There are so many scenes in this book that are ripped right out of movies, and this takes me back to a writer who doesn't know how to write a narrative. Someone thrust into writing a novel without any ability to do so would, in my mind, take different things they have seen in movies or other books, that they found cool, and place them in their book. There are more tropes in this book than I think I could count.
We have the evil in-laws, the detective who just wants the truth, the outsider who isn't like anyone else, evil corporations with shadow agendas, evil government agencies with shadow agendas, the quirky friend, the take no crap friend, the corporate executive who built himself from the ground up, the honest man who won't sacrifice his ideals for anything, the detective who always knows what's really going, and so many others that I couldn't manage to list them all. We also have several scenes in this book that you've either seen or read before. Scenes where characters withhold things from the police to investigate on their own, scenes where one character pulls the "do you know who I am?" shtick, scenes where one character knows that another is holding out information on them says to tell the truth, and just about any other scene that's been used a million times.
The formatting in this book is a nightmare on its own, scene transitions are poorly done and leave the reader confused. There is one in particular where the phrase "humble pie" is used, and despite it making sense in the situation, it was being used as a scene transition to describe what our protagonist was eating. Numerous sentences do not make sense or end up meaning something different from what I'm sure Mr. Dragon intended. Page breaks are missing, paragraphs are one sentence long, and sentences are literally repeated right next to one another. This book, in its formatting, feels like a terribly translated version of a foreign novel.
I honestly can't even tell you how all the different story elements fed together, in the end, it seems like different sub plots of the main case are dropped and picked up repeatedly and in the end, I really had no clue who had done what and why. There is an attempt, within the story, to mask what's really going on. There is a great scene in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo where a policeman explains to the protagonist that each detective has a case where, no matter how many years go by, they will still be investigating. I think that Liquid Cool was trying to do the same thing with its main storyline, but not enough time passes and the characters act all wrong to set it up that way.
The first twenty or thirty pages of this book are spent with one event, and one character in particular. At around the fifty-page mark, our protagonist is introduced and asked to investigate what really happened in the beginning. He closes the case almost immediately and acts as if he moved on for most of the novel, and then we learn, in the third act, that he had kept his investigation going the whole time. There was no setup for the payoff that I think we were supposed to get at that point in the story, it would have been great if we had seen his initial investigation go nowhere, and then flash to a much older protagonist who was still obsessed. He discovers new information and then goes back on the case, determined to finally find his answers. Something similar to that should have been what happened, instead, I don't know what happened, I was never shown any of his detectings.
The dialogue in this book is also god awful, everyone refers to each other in some of the worst nicknames, or possibly just names?, I've ever read. Here are some of them:
Pishy
China Doll
Run-Time
Fat Nat
That Guy Who Scratched My Car
Red Rabbit
Blue Pill
Punch Judy
This is just one of the many symptoms of what can be referred to as future-itis. It's when an author attempts to make the future seem different and interesting by changing the style of things to something foreign. All the weird clothes in 50s sci-fi movies is a great example of this. There are strange terms for things, strange fashion choices, and strange names for places. Even if you were to scrub all of the future-itis from the novel the dialogue would still be terrible. Real people don't talk like the people in this book, there are statements that are B-Movie bad like:
"I've got to go catch a spaceship"
"Liquid Cool, that's a cool name, how much did you pay for it?"
"My hat and jacket are cool"
"Nice work, Mr. Cruz. You saved the city."
"They got skater slacker and hackers there."
"Then I'll get out of here, so you can rest, third-degree burns ain't no joke."
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to be a writer, so you can see what not to do. If I still taught people creative writing I would make this book mandatory reading so we could discuss the pitfalls the writer makes. I do sincerely hope that Mr. Dragon reads this because I think that he could be a great writer, he just needs to learn more about writing, and I would be more than happy to help him out. For the rest of you readers out there, stay away from Liquid Cool it reads like a first draft, and if this was dropped on my doorstep anonymously I would have assumed it was. -
A typical case of form over substance.
First thing, it looks like a rip-off of Glen Cook's Garrett files series set in a cyberpunk environment. I can live with that. There are good concepts, most characters are cliché but cool enough and likeable, some action and decent humour.
There's even a plot.
What it totally lacks is a coherent narration.
This is the first time I read a detective story where you never seem to see the detective investigate anything. There are huuuuuge holes in the narration. Not least because Cruz (the detective) suddenly reveals to everybody-reader included!- that he had already been doing some investigation-off-scene and based on unknown premises- and solved a case you barely knew about. It's terribly frustrating and gets old very quickly.
After "magically" solving these pseudo-cases, Cruz finally saves Metropolis-lousy name, eh?- and gets ready for his second volume. But then I didn't care anymore.
Too bad, I really could have liked this book if Austin Dragon hadn't forgotten that a cool and modern form cannot mask lack of substance/coherence. Not for long anyway. -
LIQUID COOL is a work which I can't say is the best cyberpunk novel I've ever read but I'm going to say was consistently entertaining from beginning to end. It had its flaws but they didn't diminish the overall experience. The book is more noir and adopts the tropes of Raymond Chandler over William Gibson so it's definitely more detective than cyberpunk but it's still solidly within the latter genre.
The premise is in the future, Metropolis is the largest city in the world with about forty million inhabitants. The majority of the super-rich have moved into space and left the majority of the populace on the ground to do as they please. Cruz is a hover car repairman that decides to become a unlicensed detective because of the murder of a friend.
The book is mostly a series of loosely connected vignettes as Cruz tries to deal with the fact the police really hate private detectives, he doesn't have much in the way of money, and his coworkers are all completely insane. Cruz is also engaged to be married but this plays a surprisingly small role in the story.
Technology doesn't play a big role in the universe despite its futuristic setting and it's mostly just dross for the detective stories. Characters have bionic enhancements, there's a lot more body cams, and space ships exist but you could do most of the story without these elements. I actually liked the depiction of corporations best because, for once, they're not a collection of soulless villains but just people with more money than most. Indeed, one of our hero's strongest allies is the equivalent to Uber's owner.
Overall, I liked the characters and enjoyed the plot but it does drag in places. It has a bit more padding than it should and removing about a third of the vook would have made it a much more fast-paced experience. Cruz is also a bit of a flatter character than he might be as he's mostly a private detective simply because he can be. Nevertheless, this is definitely a series I plan to be read the rest of.
8/10 -
***** I was given a copy of the book by the author in exchange for an honest review *****
Wow!! what a story and where is the half star which GR promised a long time ago. The story is little slow to pick up and then it just takes off into the Hovercar traffic. It's Sci-Fi detective story and it delivers on both counts.
The megacity where our Hero Cruz lives in a wet place where is rains about 80% of the times well at least they don't have to worry about water any more.
The mystery starts with a shootout which turns to be much more and what not. The world is not only wet but full of crime. But none the less it was fun to read and I really liked it. You should also get a copy and enjoy this cyberpunk mystery.
People who don't read generally ask me my reasons for reading. Simply put I just love reading and so to that end I have made it my motto to just Keep on Reading. I love to read everything except for Self Help books but even those once in a while. I read almost all the genre but YA, Fantasy, Biographies are the most. My favorite series is, of course, Harry Potter but then there are many more books that I just adore. I have bookcases filled with books which are waiting to be read so can't stay and spend more time in this review, so remember I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just
Keep on Reading. -
For fans of old school noir style detective stories and dystopian, futuristic scifi, this is a FUN read. I can just feel the grit and smell of the city.
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Even though there were quite a few typos :-)
Admittedly, I didn't know what to expect of this cyberpunk novel: pleasantly surprised! I'll put this out of the way first: yeap, there are a noticeable amount of typos, and even a full repeat of a small paragraph at the beginning of the novel. That threw me off for a moment, especially since I was tired when I read (and reread, and reread again) that repeat paragraph... Thought I was hallucinating for a second :D That being said, I was able to get passed this "problem" and thoroughly enjoy the novel. It's one of those stories that start kind of slow, with a "not sure where this is going" kind of feeling. Happy to report it picks up in the space at the right time in the book and keeps at it after that. The plot was well put together, characters with a lot of quirkiness to give them all a funky and likeable side. I admit I was put off at first by the author's choice for his character names, as in "What's with these stupid nicknames??". They do all sound pretty over-the-top kitsch, with a touch of "trying too hard". In hindsight, it's exactly the kind of detail that brings you in the story, and keeps you from forgetting who's who :-) It also gives that lasting character to the story. Happy to report I want to know more, after discovering a cyberpunk world with a lot of potential. Will I purchase the next few novels in the series? Yes I will :D Solid 5 stars all around! -
A well written story.
I did get this as a beta read from the author.
My review as being asked is to be honest. This book does read as a bit juvenile at times, It does almost read like a collage English essay at single points. Some work is needed.
Placing that aside, this is a great steampunk/ cybernovel to read, this is more of a young adult novel.
The premise of the story is well thought out, the characters are relative and a point to our current society going to disorganization, ( the second law of thermodynamics).
On point, this book is well worth the read. -
Started off great
So I stated reading this book thinking this is really good. It had a great start but then somewhere it just got so very unbelievable, and the gang names, they made me crack up. I still enjoyed the book but did roll my eyes a few times. This author does have a good writing style that makes you not want to put the book down (another reason I actually finished the book) so I look forward to reading his other works -
Tough call how to rate this, because I really liked it, and will likely read the other books in the series by Mr. Dragon. I am a fledgling sci-fi writer myself. I picked up the book because I was intrigued by the unique setting description (describing settings are a weakness of mine, as a writer.) The book has much to offer by way of an interesting setting, a 50-million strong mega-city in earth's distant future, full of unique, memorable characters that seem like natural products of the chaotic environment they live in. Mr. Dragon's protagonist, Cruz, is likable and clever, as you would want any detective to be, and the narrative is full of absurd and funny moments that showcase Detective Cruz' particular style of genius. It's a feel-good book, a fun adventure that does not get overly bogged down in pathos. Cruz' friends and associates may not exactly be likable in all cases, but they are entertaining.
So why did I give the book three stars? There are some pretty significant structural problems, beginning with the first three chapters, which are told in the 3rd person with a focus on three different characters who are not the protagonist. While we have some sense of the set-up involving a shootout at Joe Blow's and a mysterious death, it's not at all clear what these people have to do with the narrative or who we're supposed to care about. The constantly shifting perspectives made me feel like I was being jerked around. In chapter four, we find out that these three individuals are satellites in the world of our protagonist, Mr. Cruz, where the narrative picks up in the first person. I was not on board until I met Mr. Cruz -- and it is to the author's credit that I came on board quickly once he was introduced.
However, this intriguing mystery set-up with the shootout at Joe Blow's is immediately supplanted by a different arc altogether - the story of Mr. Cruz setting up his detective agency. I honestly thought the inciting incident case had been abandoned altogether. The small business development scenes were entertaining but there wasn't enough conflict to drive the narrative. About two-thirds of the way through the book, the inciting incident becomes relevant again, and it follows to a satisfying climax.
The quality of the writing was also inconsistent, particularly clunky during those three introductory chapters. There were times the protag seemed a little too blithe about the constant violence targeted at him, or sensory details were glossed over (getting shot hurts? you don't say!) But this being a debut novel for the author, I look forward to future works as his craft develops. His work is reflective of a creative, innovative mind with a lot of potential there. -
I Didn’t Know What Cyberpunk was, I do Know that Liquid Cool: The Cyberpunk Detective was Great
I am required to say I was given a free copy of the book by the author when I joined his newsletter mailing list with no expectation on his part of receiving a positive review and no expectation on my part of any additional remuneration. I don’t believe in reviewers giving a detailed synopsis of the book. I feel that is the job of the and it is the job of the reviewer to give an honest review. I do not like to give spoilers, so in a way, I cannot much about the dystopian world Austin Dragon has created, except I wouldn’t want to live there.
As a former Private Investigator and owner of a one-man Detective Agency, I always enjoy seeing where authors in my favorite genre take me. Since Austin Dragon’s novel, Liquid Cool: The Cyberpunk Detective Series (Liquid Cool Book 1) mentioned “Cyberpunk,” and I had no idea what this sci-fi sub-genre is, I figured I would look it up. Simply put it is a story about a highly technical dystopian future that has a radical breakdown of societal norms. Add in an overlying irreverent humor and it was a truly enjoyable, fun, and exciting read. Liquid Cool was a technically well-written book, with the only flaw, in my humble opinion, being the character naming. I don’t mind a little humor in a story, though I prefer a story to be on the noir side, the author’s naming conventions were distracting at times. When Officers Break and Caps showed up, I expected Officer Backspace or Numlock to arrive soon after.
As I said, this book was well-written. It was also well-edited and well proofed, something you do not always find with Indie Authors. The story is fast-paced and action packed, though I could never really suspend disbelief, and in all truth, I did not need to. Though the dialogue between the characters was at times a stretch, it fit the theme of the novel well and since it was never actually meant to be credible and authentic, it worked. It was not stilted and was never forced, though it was sometimes a simple foil of the plot. The characters were never meant to be true to life, and their many quirks increased their readability. The characters were not complex or well rounded, but they were well thought out and their unidimensional presentation fit with the overall flow of the book.
Austin Dragon has put together a well written and interesting read. A story driven by an interesting central character, with action and dialogue that pulled the story together. I am looking forward to reading Glade Runner, Book 2 in the Liquid Cool series. -
I received an electronic copy of Liquid Cool (along with its prequel: These Mean Streets, Darkly) from author Austin Dragon in exchange for an honest review. Overall I really enjoyed this book and would have given it four stars except for a few minor details pertaining to how disability is portrayed in two scenes (this may not be an issue worthy of note to most who may not live with disabilities themselves). The book is a cross between a sci-fi thriller and an old school detective mystery with a cyberpunk edge. Mr. Dragon blends then genres so well they go together flawlessly. The story follows new detective Cruz as he starts his business, Liquid Cool, and solves his first cases. Two of these cases are tied not only to each other but to a major criminal conspiracy threatening more than just this one mega-city. The plot flows nicely, characters are well developed, and events tied together with enough adventure to move throw fast but enough mystery to keep you guessing at what will happen next. If you enjoy mystery, detective/mob stories, science fiction, adventure stories, thrillers, or cyberpunk, you'll want to read this book.
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Liquid Cool is totally cool. In a bleak, futuristic world where humanity is split between the good and the bad, the haves and have-nots, Cruz is trying to carve out a place for himself as a private detective. In typical anti-hero style, he is living on the fringe, waiting to get his license to prove to his future in-laws he's a worthy son in law for their daughter Dot. Big business and big crime rule this place leaving the population wrapped in an insular world where they isolate themselves with headphones and other devices. Dragon's world building is stylistic, he captures the rhythm of the people and the streets, the book is fill with wit and humor. His descriptions reminded me of Total Recall, with a dash of Minority Report and a sprinkling of film noir as well as seventies television detectives thrown in for good measure. Was it cliched? Yep and that was part of the fun. Filled with humor and testosterone driven excitement, Liquid Cool was pure fun and a great way to spend the evening.
I received a copy of this book for an honest review. -
I have had this book almost 3 years? Why did I wait so long? If you're a fan of old school detective stories and crime thrillers then you ought to give it a chance. Cyberpunk is not something I'm hugely into. I remember buying this and there it languished. I can't explain nore do I apologise for not visiting sooner- life does get in the way- but Cruz is my new friend and I was greatly surprised at the interest it's still generating.
Be open to the difference and come visit Metropolis. Highly recommended 5/5 -
"Liquid Cool" is book 1 in the eponymously named series, written by Austin Dragon. It was released in 2016. Thank you to Mr. Dragon for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Through a jumbled and confusing turn of events, laborer Cruz becomes a private detective in Metropolis, a monstrosity of a city pulled right out of your favorite cyberpunk tale. Cruz must grapple with a dangerous mystery and attempt to build his fledgling detective agency into a respectable and profitable business.
Right off the bat, it becomes apparent that "Liquid Cool" is not your father's cyberpunk tale. While dark, moody, angsty noir usually permeates cyberpunk stories, "Liquid Cool" is a little different. Gone is the bleakness, and in its place is zany humor and silliness. It's a novel take on the genre, and one I would applaud had the execution been better. Rather than set the novel apart within the genre, the supposed humor just induces eye rolling and makes the book painful to get through. I did chuckle a few times at some of the quips, but the humor usually fell flat and came across as a poor imitation of Douglas Adams' writing. Also billed as a "detective novel," the book features very little detective work, and is more of a cyberpunk action novel.
"Liquid Cool" moves at a quick pace, but the narrative is so sloppily put together that it comes across as incoherent in places. There are odd jumps in the narrative without any kind of connection, lending confusion and a sense of jerkiness to the entire book. Sometimes events in the book unfold in a non-linear fashion for no discernable reason. Conversations don't sound natural, and there are often leaps in logic that the reader can't follow. A lot of the fun of a detective novel is in the reader being able to solve the mystery alongside the protagonist, but main character Cruz just magically solves the puzzles, and no explanation is given as to how he figures things out.
Characterization is also not a strong suit of "Liquid Cool." Yes, cyberpunk characters are often over-the-top and peculiar, but Cruz and company are just annoying at best and non-sensical at worst. The personality and traits of the characters are not at all endearing and don't always make sense within the novel's story choices. For instance, why does a character who is such a germaphobe want to be a detective, which can often be a seedy job? And Cruz's transformation from laborer to detective is not compelling or believable in the least. Someone suggests Cruz do detective work, and Cruz just kind of says "OK," and goes along with it.
I hate to trash anyone's novel, but "Liquid Cool" needs to go back to the drawing board. There are absolutely some things to like in the book, such as its different take on the cyberpunk genre and well-conceived world building. If you can put aside the broken narrative and other issues, you may enjoy the novel's wonky and aesthetically pleasing ride, but otherwise I would suggest you look elsewhere for another book; "Liquid Cool" doesn't come recommended. -
Liquid Cool is a cyberpunk detective series set in the mega city of Metropolis. Clearly the pseudonym and first few chapters are big hints that this novel is meant to be tongue in cheek. It plays with technological phrases, has very pulp movie/book humor and is just over the top with every cliche.
After the traumatic experience of Neuromancer, this is an easier sell for the cyberpunk genre. Whilst addressing an urban city with its multiple levels of corruption, the characters are easier to digest. It is not a literary masterpiece, given the numerous typos and construction of the plot. The author constantly revealed key plot twists in a very clumsy fashion. And so it pulls the reader out of the narrative. Hopefully this is fixed as the author improves his craft. And from the rest of the titles in the series it is clear he will be taking a humorous tone on the more famous cyberpunk novels. -
3.5 Stars actually.
I found this to be a fun read overall. There were a fair number of typos and information left out that kept distracting me as I read, but overall I enjoyed the story and characterization. -
Interesting enough for the start of a cyberpunk detective series. But there's a lot of characters to keep track of and I would have liked a bit more detail about how the Mysteries were solved.
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Liquid Cool - a review by Rosemary Kenny.
Move over Sam Spade - there's a new 'tec in the big city - and he's going to bring law and order any way he can to the not-so-merry Metropolis
and perhaps make a profit along the way too.
Yet Cruz was previously a lowly mechanic fixing hover cars, (much like Bruce Willis' character Corben Dallas in the movie The Fifth Element).
Who or what caused his life to change?
When does he set up the Liquid Cool Agency?
What was Cruz's PA, Punch Judy, in jail for?
If you like part comic/part noir, futuristic detective cases with a twist, then Austin Dragon's Liquid Cool series-opener of the same name is the one for you - get it today! -
This was the best of his books I have read. It took a while to get started and there was a deluge of characters. Once I got into it, though, it kept me wanting to figure out what happened. It had a satisfying resolution, as well. The characters are colorful and well fleshed out. It was a fun read.
James -
I give this book 2.5 umbrellas.
Hi Everyone! I am still playing catch up with my TBR and reviews that needed to be written. Something came up again and I had been devoting most of my time on that new endeavor for the past month. I am thankful that I have other things to keep me busy.
I read this book sometime in June. The author sent me a message through my blog asking if I was interested to review one of his books. As always, my answer was yes. This is a cyberpunk detective series. Thank you again, Austin Dragon for the copy.
This book had a slow start. There were some points where the I got confused because the shift in the conversation from one person to the next was not very clear. There were times I thought the narrator was still referring to this person when in fact, he's already talking about another one. It felt like he just rumbled on without bothering to check if the person he's talking to is still with him or is still able to follow the flow of the story.
The interesting part of the story did not happen until almost to the last part which I thought was a good save. I almost gave up on this book. I just wished the whole book was like the last part. I wished the energy on the last part were maintained throughout the whole book. The last part was where I was able to enjoy the main character. His personality has finally shown and yes, I think Cruz may actually have a space in the detecting world. He has proven himself well for this first installment. I honestly want to know what else he has to offer and what adventures he has lined up. He is definitely a character who has an eye for other sort-of hopeless characters that he is willing to help, even offer a job. I am not sure if I like him but he has potential and maybe on his next adventure, he will start to grow on me.
I give this book 2.5 umbrellas.
How did you Sherlock Holmes all that?
If people spent more time with the "little picture", then the "big picture" wouldn't be so screwed up.
- Austin Dragon, Liquid Cool - -
Cruz is thrust into the role of private detective by his life-long friend, Run-Time. Before, he was classified as a laborer who spent most of his time restoring hovercars. Their mutual friend, Easy Chair Charlie has been gunned down in a shootout with police. Or, did something else happen that was made to look that way?
From the moment that Cruz accepts the case of Easy Chair Charlie someone tries to kill him. He solves the case almost instantly but the shootings continue. There is more to the case than one originally thought.
Other cases come his way and word quickly spreads that Cruz is in business through his frenemy, Phishy. He hopes his newfound profession will sway his future in-laws’ opinion of him. He has hired Punch Judy, a former felon with bionic arms as his secretary/office enforcer.
Dragon’s first novel in the Liquid Cool Cyberpunk Detective Series, Liquid Cool is a fun read and a real page-turner. It is well written and edited. If you like detective stories in a futuristic setting, this is the book for you.
The story has layers upon layers of mystery that must be uncovered to get to the bottom of Easy Chair Charlie case. It seems that almost everyone connected tries to lead Cruz in a different direction. Cruz has a lot of street smarts and is an expert at nonconforming. He tends to see what others often miss.
The ending is satisfying though there was no way to have known from the information provided how it would turn out. I personally like to be able to cobble the clues together and guess at the who done it. That won’t be the case when you read this book.
It is also a long book that takes several chapters to get you engaged. Don’t give up on it though. It’s worth the read.
4 out of 5 stars.
I received this book for free from the author for review consideration. This in no way affected my opinion of the book or the content of my review. -
After playing the game Cyberpunk 2077, I was inspired and wanted to find some really good stuff to read in that genre. I'm not going to name-drop, but I stumbled across a few that were so clumsily-written that I didn't even finish them.
Then I found Liquid Cool. Usually I can tell within the first couple characters if I'm going to like a book or not. At the very least, there are writing styles I like, and those I just can't deal with. I knew right away that I was going to read this whole book.
It starts off breezy and fun, with cool characters with silly names like Phishy, Run-Time and Easy Chair Charlie. That might sound corny, but it all worked to create a fun world. It's in a cyberpunk future, but yet felt relatable and not too foreign.
The main character Cruz is pretty great too. He's flawed and complicated, just like most people. I won't share spoilers, so I'll just it's crazy to see how this guy starts off and where he ends up.
If I were being super nitpicky, there are times things tie together a bit too inconveniently. A bit deus ex machina at times, but honestly it didn't diminish my enjoyment because above all else the story is just fun. Cruz is a guy who want to root for. There was also a jarring use of the r- word during a climatic scene that felt out of place and bothered me for a minute.
It's always cool to realize you've found a fun book that has a bunch of sequels. I went ahead, 75% into this book, and bought the digital boxed sets that get me the next five. I'm very much looking forward to reading them.
On a last. personal note, I've been trying to do more writing myself and Liquid Cool inspired me in a lot of ways. I'm really grateful for that. If you're into fun, doesn't-take-itself-too-seriously sci-fi and cyberpunk fiction, do yourself a favor and check this out. -
This one barely made two stars to be perfectly honest. While the story was interesting in and of itself it had some newly minted writer errors. I try to overlook those when the story is strong enough but when there are multiple chapters that don't advance the main story arc and you begin to wonder if you've mistaken what the main arc actually is then it becomes difficult to write off.
The real problem with Liquid Cool is that there isn't anything brought to the table that hasn't been done in cyberpunk before. This is pure, distilled tropeland. Everyone has a handle, the umbrellas all have lights in the handles, etc, and so on. It is every cyberpunk book put in the freezer for a month, blended, and served up as leftovers. Aside from some interesting social constructs this is a detective story that someone has wallpapered over with noir and then painted over with cyberpunk.
There is enough to the world that I am interested in reading the second book. I am hesitant but Dragon managed to create some interesting bits in the world and I am curious to see what he does with them. There are also a couple of relationships that I am an interested to see where they go.
While I couldn't get past the tossing of Blade Runner, William Gibson, Richard K. Morgan, Neal Stephenson, and more in to a goddamn blender and then splattering the resulting goop all over the story there were enough high points that I'll read the second book in the series. That's saying a lot considering he didn't so much channel some of my favorite authors as mugged them for their tropes. -
Cyberpunk book about a guy living in the slums trying to make a living as a private investigator. If you like crazy, risk-taking protagonists who do things their own way in a cyberpunk/detective setting, then this book is for you.
Decent time killer, not too bad but not exceptional, either. 3 stars.
Number of pages: 432
Number of my highlights: 11
My favorite quote(s):
He was not a boss who demanded that staff snap to attention at his arrival. His philosophy was, "if you can't give me a high-five, fist bump, or shake my hand like a normal person, then you're working at the wrong place. I'm just a guy, not a dictator or the Second Coming."
Here's the thing... Just because people are passing you by, doesn't mean they'll finish the race. Just because they're passing you by doesn't mean they're going anywhere.
"I can't be paralyzed by the fear of getting shot. The only way to overcome my fear is... to get shot. After that, my mind will be at ease. It will say, 'self, I'm not afraid of getting shot. Because I already have,'"
"Cruz, that's some pretty bad logic to me."
"How are people franchising me? What's going on? I'm a private person."
We shook hands and spent almost an hour small-talking about absolutely nothing, which was what friends do. -
I've been on a pseudo-cyberpunk phase with my reading habits. After finishing The Sprawl Trilogy, The Bridge Trilogy, Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, and re-reading Transmetropolitan comics, I was ready for something different.
Austin Dragon's Liquid Cool book scratched that itch. It's a cheezy high-tech / low-life detective book, embracing many tropes in the cyberpunk genre. Sometimes it's kind of hard to follow the main character's thought process to get to his conclusions, but otherwise, it's a relatively quick and easy read. It's not really breaking barriers or blazing new ground, but if you can get past the corny character names, there is a nice little episodic detective story ready for you. Reminds me of watching "Colombo", but through the dystopian future lens with more guns. Or Maybe "Monk" with a cybernetically enhanced assistant? Neither is too accurate, but hey, it's just a story and one that's meant to be consumed more than overthought.
The price was right, as I got this book as a free Kindle download (you can too!). I'll be rolling right into the next novel in the series, as there are many, and see how far down the rabbit hole I can go. -
I just couldn't get into this story. Based on the cover and the blurb it’s supposed to be sci-fi noir. This is further reinforced by the fact that it’s always raining – and I mean always freaking raining. Every time a character steps outside a reference to the rain is made – I get it already. And speaking of characters, everyone seemed to have odd noirish names based on their occupations or appearance; Dog Man sells hot dogs, Phishy always wears shirts with fish designs on them, Easy Chair Charlie had a laid back attitude, Goat Girl had a ring in her nose and so on. It's all pretty distracting rather than adding to the mood. But it's the dialog that's the killer. It's just hard to describe how forced and clunky it sounds with people constantly trying to be witty and one up each other. The your-turn-my-turn conversations are like watching one of those Newton Cradle toys with the steel balls clacking back and forth in perpetual motion - fascinating to start with but it quickly wears thin. I'm also guessing Cruz is the main character, but the story couldn't hold me long enough to find out. I don’t think I’ll be reading this series.
