Everybody wants to rule the world: Coldwire by Chloe Gong #bookreview #Coldwire #NetGalley

From #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Chloe Gong comes the start of a daring new dystopian series following two young soldiers who must depend on unlikely allies in their fight for survival.
The future is loading…
For decades, the world has been caught in a cold war between two powerful nations: Medaluo and Atahua. The Medan orphans who live in Atahua suffer the cost. Their enrollment at Nile Military Academy is mandatory. Either serve as a soldier, or risk being labelled a spy.
Eighteen-year-old Eirale is one such orphan. Having recently graduated and joined NileCorp’s forces, she’s doing well for herself – until Atahua’s most wanted anarchist frames her for assassinating a government official and she’s given a choice: cooperate with him to search for a dangerous program in Medaluo or go down for treason.
Meanwhile, seventeen-year-old Lia is close to her own graduation when she’s paired with her academic nemesis for one final assignment. But when they are ordered to infiltrate Medaluo in virtual reality, Lia quickly realises there is much more at stake than her school ranking.
As Eirale and Lia tear through Medaluo on separate courses, the two start to suspect they are pieces in a larger conspiracy – and the closer they get to the truth, the closer their worlds come to a shattering collision.

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Hi and welcome to my review of Coldwire!

Having thoroughly enjoyed Chloe Gong’s previous work, and the ease with which she blends and blurs genres, I was eager to find out what she’d do with a futuristic, dystopian tale. I love dystopia but sci-fi and cyberpunk can go either way for me, so it did in fact feel like a bit of a gamble.

And I have to admit, it was not love at first sight, I did need a minute to get used to the world, the characters, the storylines, the pace, well, pretty much everything, to be honest.

First of all, I feel like Coldwire reads like adult sci-fi rather than YA dystopia. This is The Matrix, far more than it is any of the YA dystopian stories I’ve read, and that includes cyberpunky fantasy like the Lunar Chronicles. In other words, the vibe wasn’t quite what I’d expected, and it took me a moment to adjust.

The fact that Coldwire is the first book in a series means that there is quite a bit of world-building, which did slow the pace considerably at first, which made me question whether Coldwire was the right book at the right time for me.

I was intrigued, though. Very much so. I didn’t have a clue what was happening, some of the more technical bits went right over my head, and it felt like a lot to process, but still, I never doubted that I wanted to know more, that I needed to know more.

And I must say, I’m happy I stuck with it. The more the story progressed, the more I felt at home in this world, and the pace and the action did pick up. In hindsight and with full (?) knowledge, I appreciate how terribly clever this story is, and I do wonder what will happen next.

Coldwire is an intelligent, captivating cyberpunk novel that combines impressive world-building with action-packed scenes. I would happily recommend it to cyberpunk fans.

Coldwire is out in hardcover, digital formats and audio on 6 November. 

Thanks to Hodderscape and NetGalley for the DRC. All opinions are my own.