immechanica by E.F. Coleman: Book Review

*This review was read and written honestly and voluntarily. Possible spoilers ahead.

2054, Los Angeles. An age of total surveillance, corruption, and untrammeled corporate power, where most citizens keep their heads down, or risk losing them. 

When impulsive, naive party girl Nadine falls in love with the wrong woman, she tumbles into an abyss whose inhabitants are hunted as terrorists. Soon she is on the run in a treacherous underworld she is not prepared for: a place of high-tech DNA-tuned poisons, brain hacking, autonomous killer drones, and systemic government corruption.

Kelly’s Honest Review

immechanica is full of twists and turns from the beginning. Nadine is unwillingly thrust into a world the polar opposite of her own. She quickly abandons that normal life and inevitably has to cut ties from everything she knows to go on the run with her newest lover, Anna.

The story is rich with corruption, forecasting a future where the world is under constant surveillance and biohacking is a common occurrence. The author is very knowledgeable on cybersecurity, biohacking, and surveillance, which makes the story all the more enjoyable. I appreciated the unique sci-fi elements that built this unique world. I loved the creative ways the author incorporated biohacking.

A lot of the time, I struggled to envision the main characters at times, so it was hard to connect well with them. I also didn’t really find the love story very plausible, especially when it bloomed so quickly. I didn’t feel enough connection between the two characters to ship them right away. 

However, there was a dialogue between Nadine and Anna in chapter 13, which I thought was some of the best, witty dialogue in the book.

Sometimes immechanica felt really dense with details—and could have used more dialogue to help move the story along—but it was necessary in a dystopian world with complex political and underground issues. 

Overall, a great book and I would read more from this author.

Book Cover Rating

I loved the cover of this book and its futuristic feel. When I got this in the mail, I couldn’t wait to pick it up (mostly because I am a sucker for anything with stars on it). This is the type of book I would pick up in a bookstore. 

Overall Score: A

Other Publishing Information

• March 18, 2023
• Luminastra Press
• 979-8-9860637-0-6
• Science Fiction, Post-Cyberpunk, Dystopian Fiction

More from E.F. Coleman

E.F. Coleman lives in London in 2058, where she spends far too much time drinking tea and sending dispatches back to the early 2000s. Her debut novel immechanica is not yesterday’s cyberpunk but a new style of cyberpunk inspired by trends in populism, autonomous drones, and biohacking.