A dark, corporate dystopian sci-fi novella full of action and intrigue from Rohan O’Duill.

I’d like to take a moment to praise the cover art for Cold Rising. It’s really well composed, and I love the use of Mars to replace the O in ‘Cold’. The cover is initially what attracted me to this, and as with all the ebooks on my Kindle, it’s been there a while and I definitely wish I had gotten to it sooner!

Blurb

Mars is a dystopian cesspit of corporate exploitation. A child labourer must turn the heart of a ruthless enforcer to save her friends, her family, and Mars itself.

The first book in the ‘Cold Rush’ Verse follows nonbinary special agent Olgo as their corporate masters send them on a mission to Mars.

But improving the working conditions in the planet’s underground cities proves more challenging than the agent could have imagined. Olgo must negotiate with the underhanded Martian Guild, union upheaval and a squad of trigger-happy mech marines. An unlikely friendship turns Olgo’s world upside down as they struggle to prevent spilling more blood on the Red Planet.

Review

Cold Rising was a great read. An exceptionally well-written, dark, futuristic corporate dystopia that had more than a few cyberpunk vibes. There’s two main point of view characters we follow: The hardboiled non-binary corporate agent, Olgo, and the Martian child labourer, Suong. The investigative plot is thrilling and the story is so well-paced, it was really hard to put down!

This is the first book I’ve read featuring a non-binary protagonist, and it was pretty cool to see. I had wondered if the use of the singular they might get confusing in the prose, but it doesn’t in the slightest. Olgo is a fantastic character, and I loved their arc. They’re an agent for one of the megacorps that owns the operations on Mars, and is sent after their contract partners after reports of corporate espionage. Olgo’s operatives is a group of ruthless, unsavoury and stab-happy characters that they have to keep under control. Suong was great as well, and the conditions she’s forced to work in are heartbreaking.

Cold Rising’s worldbuilding was marvellous. I really enjoyed the futuristic corporate vibe of the book. Olgo themselves was written in the apparent archetype of a hardboiled detective, but instead of being a private eye or working for the police, they are a compliance agent for a megacorp, and there’s just something so deliciously dystopian about that. It speaks so much to the state of the world we’re immersed in. And that’s not to mention the Martian mines, and the underground frontier towns. I liked that we also get a glimpse of what’s going on in the wider solar system. The megacorps control the system from their vast orbital stations, and there’s military activities (also owned by the corps) even further out

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my read of Cold Rising and I’m looking forward to seeing more in the Cold Rush verse.