Rating: —/10

Synopsis

Cybernetic addiction plagues the populace of Cyber City, a neon metropolis of grime and crime. The government promises a tech-free ‘Utopia’ for the Virgins, a small community rejecting body modification technology. But before the invitation goes public, the Virgins begin to disappear.

Xia, a lawbreaking freelancer with a haunting past, is the first to notice the strange vanishings. As she puts the pieces together, she reveals a sinister someone is kidnapping Virgins and using their bodies to escape to the promised Utopia. Teaming up with Mai, a Virgin prostitute, Xia’s mission shifts from simple protection as a means for money into an impossible helping the Virgins escape the city.

This mission puts them at odds against both the mysterious Virgin body snatchers and Cyber City’s government—two threats that could end in fates worse than death. As the unlikely duo embark on the impossible, they discover secrets more shocking than the plasma dome that traps the city within.

Quick Review

Neon Noir is a classic cyberpunk novel and a great starting point for anyone interested in the genre. It’s got all the hallmark body modifications and AI chips, but the story is really about solving a mystery, and Xia’s relationships.

Full Review

Neon Noir is a story about a rumor and a job. We hear the rumor over drinks at a bar. Then, people in the Virgin community—unmodified people in a city full of cybernetically enhanced citizens—start going missing. This is where the job begins. Xia begins selling devices that help to hide Virgins among the crowd. 

As these things tend to do, the rumors are worse than expected, and the job escalates in scale and risk.

In many ways, this book reads like a Mission Impossible or Mistborn story with a cyberpunk skin. In many ways, this makes Neon Noir one of the more accessible cyberpunk books that I’ve read. Even if you’re new to sci-fi or cyberpunk, you shouldn’t have any trouble picking up Neon Noir because at its core the book isn’t about any cutting-edge tech or AI overlord. There’s a bit of that, sure, but the author seems mostly concerned with the mission and the relationships Xia has with her allies.

Xia starts out a loner, confiding only in her bartender friend Dames at times, but even their relationship is a distant one. As things become more complicated, Xia begins to spend more time with Mai, a young woman who is emotionally Xia’s polar opposite, and a part of the Virgin community. Then, as the stakes escalate, Xia seeks help in a way that’s ultimately reminiscent of an Ocean’s Eleven team-building exercise. It takes a while to come together, and it takes some time for trust to build among all of her allies, but by the end of the story we’re treated to that final mission.

That middle part of Neon Noir was such a fun read. Voss gives the characters plenty of time to play off one another, build that trust they need, all the while slowly unraveling the mystery at the heart of the missing people. Some of my favorite scenes involve Xia talking with somebody over a drink, both of them trying to learn more about the other and piece together what’s really going on in the city.

The ending didn’t quite hold up as well, in my opinion, but only because I wanted more of it. The pacing in those final chapters felt a bit too fast for me, and I wish we got a little more time to see Xia and her crew work. Similarly, Xia’s relationship with the Dames resolves a bit abruptly here. Without getting too deeply into spoilers, I’ll just say that it also felt a bit rushed. 

There’s also a theme of Xia having trouble with any romantic feelings, which persists across the whole book. I’m not quite sure how to interpret that. Is Xia asexual, aromantic, or simply emotionally closed off? It feels like we get close to an answer a few times, especially as Xia’s relationship with Dames becomes strained, but ultimately nothing happens. Perhaps that’s something Voss is saving for later in the series.

I recommend Neon Noir. There’s a few scenes I wish were longer, and a few details I wish were more strongly realized, but mostly I had a ton of fun with this book. Voss wrote a fantastic debut, and does an amazing job of bringing readers in whether they’re fans of cyberpunk stories or brand-new to the genre. There’s some promising ideas here, from the city’s secrets to the little team that Xia has assembled. I’m excited to see how Voss carries them forward.

That said, I should take a moment to acknowledge the several formatting issues present in the paperback version of Neon Noir. While reading I frequently noticed punctuation in the wrong place, inconsistently style quotation marks, and issues that sometimes placed periods on their own line. None of this made the story worse, but it could at times be a bit distracting.

I spoke with Voss about this and it seems to be an issue mainly with the paperback version. So, if you’re bothered by small formatting errors like this, I’d recommend picking up the eBook. According to the author, that version didn’t encounter the same issues that led to these problems.