This is a very interesting book with something similar to RoboCop going on, or that’s my first impression. It definitely strays away from that earlier idea and goes in an entirely different direction. Sergeant Aiden Thorn is definitely a cop, or as they are called on planet Hathor, a Planetary Security Officer. In fact, Sgt. Thorn is a very special cop in charge of a Special Response Team (SRT). They are about to execute a very dangerous mission which Sgt. Thorn believes his team is more than ready to successfully execute.
This mission involves capturing, preferably alive, a very dangerous criminal currently running a drug lab in a modern high-rise building in the city center. On this op with Sgt. Thorn is Officer Cray O’Neil, Thorn’s best friend and the SRT medic. The team briefing shows two teams will approach the building from two different directions, secure each floor as they move up until they reach the suspected floor where the drug lab is house. They do expect considerable threats in the form of thug’s hired by the drug maker/pusher. But, Sgt. Thorn is very confident they can capture their target and bring him to justice.
The op takes off just as planned. Yeah, they meet some bad guys with weapons guarding the building, but his team and the other team take them out pretty quickly. They enter the building and are securing the first floor. Upon reaching the second floor, they encounter more gun fire than expected, but it’s dealt with pretty quickly. Then they get very close to the room where the lab is housed and are met with a torrent of gun fire. It’s ripping the building and everything they can take cover behind to pieces. They send up a drone and find out, that sure enough, the guy they are looking for is standing behind an XM237, Chiron Light Cavalry-grad minigun. That is going to be a problem! Yah, think?
Sgt. Thorn takes a chance to lean out from cover and shots one of the men managing the crew-served weapon. The other team has arrived and one of their shots takes out the other guy which leaves on the primary criminal behind the gun. This guy says he’s not going back to prison and one way or another they have to go get him. He’s now manning the crew-served machine gun and spraying bullets all over the place.
Then the shooting stops. Someone had gotten lucky with a shot and had taken down the target. So, Aiden moves in very carefully to see if his target is just wounded or dead. About the time he gets to the bad guy, this guy raises up and has a grenade in his hand. He says again he’s not going back to prison and he’s going to take everyone with him. Now they are right in the middle of a very dangerous drug lab with numerous explosive compounds in barrels and buckets all over the place. It’s not going to go very well for Sergeant Aiden Thorn!
Aiden eventually wakes up and he believes he’s in a hospital. But that’s not exactly where he’s at. His best friend Cray is there and try to talk to Aiden and make sure he doesn’t move around too much. For Aiden, it feels like he’s tied down and can’t do much of anything anyway. He soon passes out again.
Later, he’s going to wake up to a new world. Sergeant Thorn was practically destroyed in the blast. In fact, there was much of him left to even pick up. But, they did recover what they could. Now he’s part of the Synty Project. The project is directed by Doctor Ravi Sengupta who is also the head researcher and responsible for the project as a whole. Aiden soon finds out that what was left of his body wasn’t viable on its own. The Synty Project was made to place humans who would have died through catastrophic accidents into metal bodies that would allow them to live the remainder of their lives as though they were never injured.
Aiden discovers his body is now mostly metal, a very malleable metal. Even his head is a metal construct now with very limited ability to show any expressions. He can see very well and he apparently has a voice box because he can speak although his mouth opening doesn’t move. It takes a while for Aiden to adjust to his new body. He has to learn how to move, how to walk and other things all over again. But that’s what the Project is there for. They have therapy sessions, both physical and psychological, to help him adjust. Dr. Sengupta is a very nice man and seems to have the well-being of his project participating at heart. Aiden finds out he’s definitely not alone. At the project compound, there are thirty-thousand others just like him!
But, things aren’t coming up roses everywhere. Just as Aiden is getting accustomed to his new body and those others like him he gets called to a meeting with Dr. Sengupta and some others in the project. Dr. Sengupta says he’s very sorry, but he hasn’t paid much attention to the finances of the project and they have run out of money! He then states that the Lakshmi-Kitai Industries has bought out the project and will be in-charge from here on out. This is where problems start for Aiden and the thirty-thousand other “Genesians” as they will eventually call themselves. They are not androids, but humans in metal shells, some not so strong. The LKI soon show they are going to treat these “Genesians” as laborers who have to pay back the cost of their shells by working where LKI says they work. They are becoming indentured slaves and Aiden Thorn won’t stand for this.
So, where do the androids come in. Well, they will later. Most humans don’t understand or really care whether you are a cyborg such as Aiden or an android – a metal man with an AI brain. They just see something different and can’t accept it. Troubles coming for everyone.
I’m looking forward to book 2, “Proclamation”, which should explain a lot more about the cyborg/android relationship and how humanity is going to have a fight on its hands soon.
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[Note 1 (12/23/2025): I’m no longer associated with Amazon and will no longer provide any links to books from that website. You can usually find books that you like at your usual source.]
[Note 2: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be posted on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. ]