Prime (Nate Kenyon)

[Vorph]

Anyone read this book? I've looking for something new in the cyberpunk genre and this seems to have good reviews on Amazon. I'm hoping for something similar to Richard K. Morgan's style, and that's not something I can really tell just by reading random reviews.

[DrRetarded]

Haven't heard of it until now, but looks pretty interesting. I believe I will have to pick it up. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Vorph. +1

[Vorph]

I liked it, but it also pissed me off in a few ways.

First of all, it's a 144 page paperback novella with a few [rather unnecessary] illustrations in it. $12.55 at Amazon is absurd for something I finished in well under two hours. I didn't pay that much for any of Richard K. Morgan's full-length novels, and Nate Kenyon has potential but Prime isn't even in the ballpark of, say, Altered Carbon.

Worse than the price (which is just something I object to on general principles) is that it didn't need to be that short either. I found parts of it toward the end to be rather confusing and in need of further explanation. There were a couple times where instead of actually writing about something, he just has the main character 'deus ex machina' himself out of a bad situation in the space of a paragraph. Kenyon could have easily fleshed out the story much more than he did.

Had it been 2-3x as long (and still as interesting) I would have strongly recommended it. As it is, however, the best I can do it recommend it to people who own a Kindle or happen to have a local library with a very extensive sci-fi collection. I'll keep watch for new material from Kenyon in the same genre, but next time I'll remember to check the length first.