Synopsis:
In New Avarita, every person is born with a purpose. Once fulfilled, they are eligible for Ascent, a peaceful passing and assumed rebirth on the next plane of existence, celebrated for having left their perfect mark upon the world.
At least, that’s what the powers that be want them to believe.
When Liv Spencer’s husband reaches Ascent under more than suspicious circumstances, she doesn’t feel like celebrating—she wants revenge. Her path takes her deep into the neon-drenched streets of New Avarita’s seedy underbelly, a world filled with black-market cybernetics, synthetic drugs, and people who see Ascent for what it truly a killswitch.
Liv is soon embroiled in an anarchist plot to overthrow the ruling body of New Avarita, but the further she sinks into this world, the blurrier the line between “righteous rebellion” and “terrorism” begins to grow. With hundreds of thousands of innocent lives on the line, Liv must find a way to strike back against the fascist rule of the shadowy figures controlling New Avarita without getting flagged for Ascent herself.
Review:
Killswitch Protocol is a dystopian takedown story that evokes Equilibrium or Soylent Green but with the main character being more of a badass Rain Man type.
Far in the future, in a domed city people live lives based on the Lucre Algorithm, which decides when people’s lives have served their purpose, then they get to Ascend to the next level of life (see body switched off, mind uploaded??? ish). Security expert, Liv Spencer learns some harsh truths about the Ascent so cue underbelly and rebellion. Dystopia to the max.
Futuristic dystopian flicks like Logan’s Run, Equilibrium, and Soylent Green are definite vibes here, meaning if you are familiar with them, then you know something is rotten in Denmark with the whole Ascent concept. But Kuhn manages to make it fresh by peeling back the layers as told by three main points of view: the security expert, the former guard turned rebel, and the board member. Giving a modern lens with AI and algorithms, then some full-on fascist and capitalistic vibes.
Liv, the security expert, is the de facto incident inciter here, I won’t spoil the why, but Liv is the everywoman getting sucked into the greater fight. But what’s nice about Liv is she has a photographic memory, and it’s always nice to see a neurospicy protagonist lead the charge. Her memory plays into the overall rebellion plot nicely, but I enjoyed seeing Liv watch everything she knew crumble, all because she is a nobody (yes, there is a lot of unhidden shots at elitism and billionaires here). I’m always a sucker for characters losing everything and then coming out the other end hardened. Liv is awesome.
Signe Remy, the rebel, on the other hand, is a great foil. She’s got a mech-arm, is jaded AF, and does the heavy lifting on the action. But again, Kuhn gives Signe some tragic backstory that hits hard while also setting up tension. She isn’t the talking type but she knows how to drop some dry banter in the right moments. Reina, the board member (and Signe’s former employer) plays a nice role here as well. I won’t spoil her arc because she was a treat in a dystopian world, one that you normally don’t see at all in this genre often. Trust me, she’s great in the limited time we spend with her POV. And talk about turning lemons into lemonade in a boardroom setting. If you have any corporate experience, Reina is someone you want to be friends with at the water cooler.
Then you have some excellent side characters in Torrin (the rebel leader) and Emerson (the hacker who wears a full suit and has a cat). Torrin isn’t given a lot of page time, but you know enough to know his type. Emerson is hilarious, snarky, and plays a major role in the story despite mostly being at a computer/on comms.
Kuhn doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of this world and does drop some great shots at classism and capitalism. The action is very cyberpunk, mech-arms blowing things up, camera scanners doing things, hacking left and right for heists, etc. Where Killswitch Protocol really shines is in the worldbuilding itself. It feels fresh, even when we’ve seen this world before. There are some great smaller moments between characters, such as with Liv and her pregnant neighbor, Signe and her father, and then Kuhn makes us hurt immediately after. Such an excellent balance between the mundane and the action-packed. The Ascent is a neat concept but it still has room to grow in Kuhn’s world, and the whole add of the Algorithm feels very 2020s.
I will admit the ending was slightly rushed for me. The build-up was excellent, the reveals and set-pieces that ended with character deaths were great, but the final climax could have been slightly longer in my opinion, especially since it stayed in one POV instead of showing the other part (and for me, the scene wasn’t in the POV of the person who made the plan). But that’s just nitpicking here.
The book is very fast-paced, and the pages easily turned. The prose is solid, evocative when needed, but steady throughout. And while this book is a solid standalone, there is a nugget at the very end that could hint at future books, so that was neat.
Killswitch Protocol just nails that dystopian vibe, the one where you want to see the smallfolk rise up and take down the ruling class, but with twists and turns. Great stuff by Kuhn here, a surefire hit if this is your type of story.
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