Lee Isserow

Inspired by a series of whistleblowers over the last few years, Scott and Jennifer decide the work they've been doing for their nefarious employers needs to be brought into the light.

They both knew it was bigger. It was chemical. It was biological. Once all the kinks were worked out, it was going to be released to the population at large without their knowledge. And when it came down to it, it was their fault.

Jennifer was skeptical. Despite knowing he was right. She always thought herself the level-headed one, the logical half of their pairing. If they went down this path they would lose their jobs, their reputations, everything. They'd be out of work, unemployable, with a sixteen year old daughter to support. Worst of all, she feared the company would seek retribution. But she couldn't fight it. He was right. Even though Scott was an impulsive jackass, he was always right.

They had been working on the project for two years, but in some ways, their whole careers had been leading up to this point. Scott coined the phrase 'biolopsychologist' to describe what he did. The rest of the world called him a behavioral neuroscientist, but he though that was too easy to say, plus a little stuffy and dry. Jennifer's background was in both organic and inorganic chemistry, with a side-line in micro-engineering and nanofabrication. As far as the project went, their skills complemented one another perfectly.

He was the head of the team working on creating bio-engineered psychoactive compounds and mood stabilizers to be orally ingested. Scott also worked in tandem with another team who installed sonogenetic switches and memetic installation, aural reconditioning to work alongside the ingested compound. This led to Jennifer's role in the second phase of the experiment, the nanotechnology side of the equation. Evolving the subjects from within, based on the primer provided by Scott's phase, to enable abilities only dreamed of by mankind. Together they were creating a new breed of human being. But now, they were willing to give up this new evolution in the species in favor of doing the right thing. Something that neither had ever considered before, scientific tunnel vision attaching blinkers to their heads, morality never a question in their endeavors.

But the company is far more prepared, and willing to go further than either of them could have ever expected, to make sure the whistle stays silent.… (más)

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley

3,5★

Representation: MC is a gay black man married to an Arab man

Let’s start with that this is a very fast read. I was just turning pages effortlessly and if not for the fact that I was a bit busy lately I would be done with it in 1-2 days. It’s one of those books that just flows naturally most of the time and short chapters help with that for sure.

I also like the worldbuilding. I loved the shadow based powers and even though with some things connected to the Circle I felt like I had to suspend my disbelief (yes, it’s a magical society. I know. But still, there were some ‘huh?’ moments where I didn’t want any) - it was really interesting.

I liked the contrast between Jules’ grandmother’s philosophy and teaching and the Circle’s ways. It felt really fresh and the mental image of one old woman strong enough to oppose the biggest institution of her world in any way was one hell of a mental image. Also, I liked how she had a sort of mentor position even though we mostly hear about her in Jules’ stories.

Nevertheless, I felt like it started with a prologue that lasted 3 chapters and then the action was pretty slow for the first half of the book.

When we finally got to the first battle I didn’t really know what was going on because there was little build up towards it and then all those characters introduced just before it left me confused. I just couldn’t keep track of them all.

I had no idea what’s Jules’ goal most of the time? He constantly claimed he just wants a normal life with his husband and son but a) he kept circling around the Circle (I couldn’t help myself, sorry…) and that left him a bit indecisive which I really don’t like in a MC and b) most of his relationship with his husband focused on Jules keeping him in the dark about his powers (...and yet again with the puns) so this wasn’t 100% believable.

I liked the social issues which were brought up but the way in which this was done made me feel like I was reading an essay? I hoped it would be woven into the story instead of just kind of stated.

The story was set in modern times but I kinda felt like I was in an 80s movie for some reason? I have no idea why (maybe it's the shady government and a bit cheesy dialogue but who knows) but it was something. I think it gave the story a special feeling, at least for me.

The story had some flaws but I would like to read more of it and see how it develops. … (más)

Jules is a powerful magician… but has spent much of his life avoiding the greater magical community living as normal a life he can with his husband and child

His magical skills are rare - and when a new supernatural threat those are in demand. The Circle needs his magic and his help - the world needs it. But Jules’s grandmother warned him about the Circle and how it was falling to selfish corruption… can Jules work with them even for the sake of humanity?

This book had a really excellent foundation, especially with some really good characters and world. We have Jules, a Black gay man with a strong grounding in social justice and considerable suspicion of authority. At this point it would be easy to create a shell character who exists more as a PSA than a character - but he isn’t; his opinions and vehement beliefs are worked well into the character and his story. We also have some really neatly incorporated world building through children’s stories which does an excellent job of introducing the world, his family - both his son and his infamous grandmother - and giving us some insight into magic. It was really neatly done and is an excellent example of how good the writing is

The actions scenes are fun and excellently written, well paced and nicely knife edged and in even the brief time we have we do get surprisingly amounts of information about the characters. Again with brief words we get a better shape of the world, the circle and the how magic works.

Unfortunately in addition to all that it was also… really short? And kind of undeveloped because of it. Like I love that Jules is gay and has a relationship with Akif and a son. But Akif is a name, I think he has three lines in the whole book. Yes there wasn’t a lot of chance to showcase this relationship but that, again, is part of how short this book was. The actual chance to develop Jules, Akif, his relationship, his history, who he is, who they are are all somewhat missing. We get Jules’s history with his grandmother and a brief reference as to why they’re in London but then we kind of hit the ground running, Akif is forgotten which is a shame because it clearly should be a major part of Jule’s life. It would have been nice to build more of a base line for Jules and Akif et al before the plot got moving, maybe introduced his powers, some concepts of magic etc. Because the author already did a really good job with the stories he tells his child (giving us some magical world building) which makes me think the that more world building would be really well done

Albeit there’s just a little side line of gross-out and obsession with orifices in the magic world we could probably do without.

Read More… (más)