A thrilling SF tale driven by likable outlaw heroes.
Flakus, in his self-described “latinopunk” novella, crafts a cyberpunk adventure about a cybernetically enhanced outlaw on a distant planet.
Ryu Ruiz is a “runner—a cybernetically enhanced outlaw who harvests and transports Starflesh, a mysterious fungus with mystical hallucinogenic properties that transforms its users mentally, but also physically. For example, one prominent user’s “hair fell out, leaving him completely bald. He looked ten years younger…. His skin became a golden color which seemed to emanate a soft light in complete darkness.” Running is incredibly dangerous, and police patrol the city of Cuetlaxochitl, the seedy major port city on the remote and dangerous planet Xochipili, the only place in the galaxy where Starflesh grows. Xochipili's history as a penal colony for undocumented immigrants on Earth makes the far-flung futuristic galactic setting feel immediately timely and relevant. Ryu runs Starflesh both because it’s his only career option and because he’s in love with Miriam, the head of the runners’ guild. Her bar, the Dos Santos Cantina, conceals the Chicxulub, the eponymous spaceship that Miriam plans to use to return to Earth after one last big score. The book, which is deeply infused with Latine language and culture, is at its best when it follows Ryu's thrilling exploits, his simmering relationship with Miriam, and his friendship with fellow runner Felix. It’s slightly less effective, though, in an extended digression told from the perspective of John Praetor, a police officer from Earth who’s come to enforce the law on Xochipili because of the promise of a big payday. Luckily, the plot quickly returns to the runners and their richly drawn world with its own complex culture and struggles. As the story bounces deftly from SF to action-oriented thrills and eventually to a kind of transcendent mysticism, Flakus maintains a strong narrative voice and a clear vision, and shows deep care for these characters and their relationships along the way. The result satisfies all the expectations of the genre while feeling wholly original and exciting. Readers who enjoy exciting actioners set in unique but still recognizable futuristic settings will find a lot to like here.
A thrilling SF tale driven by likable outlaw heroes.Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2025
ISBN: 9798893247756
Page Count: 95
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
Buckle up—fans of page-turning SF may find themselves binge-reading this novel in one butt-numbing marathon session.
Like a truck with no brakes speeding down a steep mountain road, Islington’s latest is an adrenaline-fueled SF thrill ride that follows a biomechanically enhanced assassin as he tries to understand his mysterious origins.
The chaotic opening scene gives readers a clear indication of what they’re in for: Contract killer Azure, attempting to complete a mission, is involved in a life-or-death battle with a multieyed biomachine called an Argos. “The thing’s bipedal but has six gorilla-like arms that end in half-metre-long claws,” he complains. After Azure barely dispatches the monster and kills his target, his AI assistant, Atti, informs him of his next job: protecting an elderly—and incredibly rich—woman living in a sprawling underground bunker in the middle of nowhere. “Old Woman,” as Azure calls her, isn’t forthcoming with personal details; all Azure can suss out is that she may be the target of a powerful organized crime syndicate—the same organization that employs him! Is Azure’s ultimate goal to save her or kill her? Although the worldbuilding could’ve been more comprehensive, Islington’s editing choices are brilliant—he strips away the insignificant narrative content to create a streamlined, action-packed adventure with seemingly one goal: to keep the reader furiously turning pages. The various mysteries—Azure’s murky beginnings, the tragic death of his best friend years earlier, Old Woman’s true identity, etc.—maintain the momentum and intensity. The takeaway here is the narrative potential of the characters as well as the plethora of subjects that could be explored more deeply, like immortality for the rich, cloning, and the potential to create bioengineered nightmares for “security.” Islington leaves the conclusion tantalizingly ambiguous. This novel could be the jumping-off point for a memorable series.
Buckle up—fans of page-turning SF may find themselves binge-reading this novel in one butt-numbing marathon session.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9781668239247
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A disarmingly heartfelt space adventure that dares to suggest genocide might be a bad business.
When a bunch of corporate assholes mark their planet for destruction, a garage band of colonists must defend their home world with the power of rock.
Slightly sidestepping his frenetic litRPG—literary role-playing game—doorstoppers, here Dinniman takes on capitalism, propaganda, xenophobia, and violence as entertainment. Thankfully for readers, it’s all wrapped in the usual profane, adolescent humor, and SF readers will have a ball. A couple of hundred years after they left Earth, the inhabitants of the interstellar colony of New Sonora weren’t expecting much in the way of new threats, especially after a mysterious illness killed almost everyone between the ages of 30 and 60. That disaster left only the young and the old on the populated planet, where farming is enabled by highly accelerated AI and people are generally cool with each other. But when drummer Oliver Lewis stumbles across a foul-mouthed killer mech piloted by a child, he realizes that something’s definitely fishy. Earth, it seems, has classified the New Sonorans as non-human and scheduled their destruction as a paid, five-day combat game. Apex Industries, led by lead mercenary Eli Opel, has reverse-engineered Ender’s Game and is turning loose its players with real bullets and bombs on the population of New Sonora. The resistance is a weird bunch, led by proto-slacker Oliver; his little sister, Lulu; and his ex-girlfriend, documentary filmmaker and burgeoning revolutionary Rosita Zapatero, as well as the other members of Oliver’s band, the Rhythm Mafia. Thankfully, they also have Roger, the last functioning AI on the planet, though Oliver’s grandfather permanently programmed it to nannybot mode as a dying joke. Call the book overlong—the battle scenes often feel like watching someone play a videogame—but the humor and the execution are cutting without being mean and there’s almost always a point.
A disarmingly heartfelt space adventure that dares to suggest genocide might be a bad business.Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2026
ISBN: 9780593820308
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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