Null Point

Fascinating genre fusion

The current Stefan Mendoza hexalogy has been a joy to binge reread (I’d read the initial trilogy some time ago, so needed to refresh my recollections) and then reading the latest trilogy. I particularly enjoyed the fusion of science fiction, tech, mystery and hard action that the author has created where there isn’t an obvious single arch villain from beginning to end and the reader is just a fly on the fourth wall somewhat like a bystander watching a blind man heading for an open manhole and being unable to stop impending disaster. The pivots in the storyline where seemingly solid allies surprisingly turning into suspects and suspects into innocent bystanders too late for the protagonist to suspend irrevocable termination are refreshing, sometimes provoking a “wait…what? I must’ve missed something a couple of pages back” reaction from the reader. This series brings to mind shades of Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 merged with movies involving androids and cyborgs.

The only quibbles I have are the sudden abrupt endings in the middle books of each trilogy as if they were the infamous red-headed stepchildren of a family—they’re not even cliffhangers but more like someone pulled the plug in a gaming station while mid-action in mid-game. That and wondering WTH Benji does with the human food she obviously doesn’t need, yet consumes (why waste internal space with unnecessary lungs and alimentary canal when space is at a premium and it can be used for so much more besides…Data storage? Batteries? Ordnance? Spare parts? Disguises?). And where she gets a sex drive without any hormones driving it. Especially now that I know what it’s like when life has become more of the mind than of the body. LOL.