Daughter of the Cyber Dragons

Cyber Dragons, Book 1

By: C.T. Phipps, Michael Suttkus

Narrated by: Catherine Ho

Keiko "Kei" Springs is a Rider, a specialized form of delivery girl and mercenary all in one.

They are among the most highly prized criminals in the dystopian neon city of New Los Angeles. Kei has been running from her past for years and has literally erased it from her mind using a popular street drug called lethe. Unfortunately, you can't outrun your past forever, even on her specialized Nina cybercycle.

Strapped for cash, Kei accepts a job she probably shouldn't after barely surviving a live fire test by a married pair of oligarchs. Teamed up with a group of other mercenaries and cyborgs, Kei is to seek out a stolen computer program that has the power to drive otherwise ordinary individuals to shocking acts of violence. Her team includes her ex, a handsome bioroid assassin, a teenage hacker, and a ruthless corporate exec that all have their own agendas. It'd be the worst time of her life if not for all the ones she can't remember.

The Cyber Dragons trilogy is set in the same world as the Agent G series and is an exciting action adventure cyberpunk thriller with plenty of humor.

©2022 C. T. Phipps and Michael Suttkus (P)2022 Podium Audio

Great story

Enjoyed it immensely. Can’t wait till the next one. I love this little universe Phipps has created.

A bit long

I listened to the whole book but skipped the short story at the end. It could have been a couple of hours shorter and been better. Seems like the middle just dragged on and then picked back up about 3/4 of the way through.

A delightful trip down cyberpunk memory lane.

It took elements from such classic cyberpunk works as Snowcrash and Akira as well as Do Androids dream of electronic sheep and even a bit of Neuromancer.
Cyberdragons blends all this with the wickedly funny style of writing C.T. Phipps has come to display in all his books I have read up to now.
If cyberpunk is your thing and you want something that’s dark as well as funny, I would highly recommend this book and look forward to reading the next one when I get my next monthly credit.

A post-apocalyptic Cyberpunk Thriller

Life in a post-apocalyptic New Los Angeles is fast, deadly, and action-packed. Kei is living on her own, struggling to survive. Recruited and trained to be a Cyber Dragon, Kei learns from the best to be deadly and unpredictable. In order to survive, Kei is forced to team up with a host of unusual suspects. Each with their own skillset and hired to steal a computer program that can force anyone to commit horrendous violence. Kei must make some weighty decisions on who to trust and who not to trust.

The authors, C.T. Phipps and Michael Suttkus weave a cyberpunk thriller with pop culture references and comedic moments. The development of Kei’s character was done in-depth and with methodical planning. While I have heard and read several books written by these two men, I found this book fresh. Kei was more basic and realistically flawed in this first book in the series. I could relate to her more so than Jane or Agent G or others. The dialogue was genuine and peppered with sarcastic wit.

As the narrator, Catherine Ho gives a successful performance. Her delivery was flawless and delivered with the right amount of emotion. Ho’s performance in this cyberpunk novel was well done and entertaining. I look forward to hearing more by her. An entertaining listen and a series that one can easily become immersed.

There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook, it was well done.

Disclaimer: This Audiobook was provided free of charge by the author, narrator, and/or publisher in exchange for a non-bias, honest review.

Yeah this one is for the cyberpunk lovers!

Seriously great story that has some seriously great world building and true to life characters that made the entire book a joy. Amazing performance as well! I'm immediately gonna go read the sequel!

Just as good the second time around

I had previously read the ebook when it came out in Feb and I was excited to revisit it in audiobook form! Catherine Ho does a fantastic job as narrator and the book was just as much fun the second time around. The cyberpunk world of Agent G, and now Kei Springs, is a great setting and often reminds me of Shadowrun games, which I enjoy.

Kei is a fantastic character. She has a nice realness to her. She's a bit tough exterior, slightly less tough interior, but she not all kick-ass action hero. She has depth, she makes mistakes, and I can’t even say but her heart is in the right place, because it often wasn’t! But I felt I knew her well by the end of the book, and wish I could go grab a beer with her sometime. She gives the "streets" perspective of the world set up in the Agent G books. Although, Case shows up does start throwing his money around again, leveling some of that feel.
But getting to see a lot more of Case and Lucita was fantastic, I felt especially with Lucita we got to see a different side to her, which was great. Case is awesome as always.

As is often the case with cyberpunk, and with Phipps and Suttkus regardless of genre, there's some very well done social commentary. The cyberpunk worlds often hold up a dirty mirror to our own society, reflecting back some of the less than savory parts. But I feel these authors are also quite adept at sneaking into that reflection what makes us great too. I appreciate that good with the bad approach, reminding us that while humans can be pretty awful to each other, they can also be pretty great to each other too.

But lest you think it's all philosophical character drama, I can assure you there is plenty of pulse-pounding action too, motorcycle chases, explosions, more guns firing off than you count, and a surprisingly large body count.

And all voiced by the talented Catherine Ho. It was my first experiencing her narrator skills but hopefully not the last! She nails the sarcasm, which is good because snark is kinda of staple if Phipps is involved! But her range in general was good, always easy to tell who was talking, and her pacing was spot on.

Wasn't expecting this!

I think my review just vanished, either that or I'm on the wrong account again. lol

It really wasn't a surprise to be enthralled by this book. Though I admit the narrator was a bit new to me, and took a little to get used to, her tone and pacing was good, and I liked the characters she'd visioned for the world.

Having read some of this, I greatly admired the work CT and Michael put into their worlds, The introduction let me know there was a history to Kei and it really shows in the presentation of her and her personality. It's solid.

With CT I always expect a little humor, and with rich details and laugh out loud moments, you really can't go wrong with this book at all. It was a bit of great fun and I enjoyed it a lot.

The fact Kei is a rider as well, just made this book and her more real to me too. I miss my bike, and it was just fun to be her for a while.

Thank you for the entertainment and I look forward to book 2 when it's out!

GOLD!!

CT Phipps does it again with a great storyline, fast action, puns and quips! Seriously, listen to this book!!

I wish it had been three books instead

Full disclosure, CT Phipps is a friend and writing peer. I received a free copy for my honest opinion.

Daughter of the Cyber Dragons was a bit of a mixed bag for me. Fun, yes. But it had a bit of a rushed, crammed feeling that while good, could have been great.

Phipps and Suttkus have expanded on Phipps Agent G cyberpunk world with the titular Keiko "Kei" Springs. She's a courrier, cyber warrior, assassin, and in classic Phipps fashion, snarky as hell. So you know it will be fun. After a solid introduction and the plot's inciting incident, the story fell into something of a repeating problem for me. By creating an expanded universe, the writing duo continue to mix and match characters from their various books/series. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. As such, I found the addition of Chase from Agent G to be distracting. A safety net if you will, instead of letting a new lead/IP stand on their/its own. A similar issue I've had with the more recent Supervillainy books.

Now, if you've read a Phipps (and Suttkus) book before (and odds are that have!), then you know what you're in for. This particular comedic/action story follows the style they're known for: plot, random trivia/Snapple facts, snark, pop culture, and more plot as Kei and her misfit crew plan a heist to recover a killer program designed to hijack people's mind. And in truth, it's a lot of fun. Now, there were several flashbacks that, while enriching the story and fleshing out Kei, made me realize this one book should had been broken into three. The story of young Keiko after the Collapse and her training with Snake in one book, the grown up "Kei" living, riding, and getting by in a dystopian world in a second book, and then the bulk of this heist story in a third book leading to where she ends up in the epilogue (for a 4th book). My only other minor critque would be for the authors to trust their audience. The duo have a habit of saying a word, or use a term, then immediately explaining said word or term thus wasting time. This is a book by geeks for geeks, and I feel they should have faith in said geeks to either know what they're referncing or trust that they'll look it up.

But by the end of my 10+ hours with Kei, I admit that I had fun and hope that the duo continue her story. As for the narration, Catherine Ho does a fantastic job and making each of the characters distinct as she breathed humor and life into this cyberpunk world. If you've enjoyed Phipps and Suttkus books before then you will enjoy this one.

MK Gibson

Set in Agent G world, a fun new series.

This is a new cyberpunk series set in a dystopian LA. The Yellowstone volcano erupted and changed the world. Now, life is somewhat back to what would be called a new normal. Kei, our main character, is struggling to get by. She lives in a crappy apartment, where she doesn’t have her own bathroom, in a junkyard.

Kei is a rider, which is an armed courier. She delivers things that people don’t want anyone else to know about. She delivers everything from a message too sensitive for email, illegal and black market items, to sex toys (you don’t want your shopping data to get out on the internet, right?) and prostitutes. She gets an extremely high paying job to deliver a package, but there is an extremely tight time limit on the delivery. Deliver on-time, or get nothing. Oh, and only if it was that easy, which it is not. This job leads to another job where she and a rag-tag group of humans, cyber-modified humans and full blown androids get even more of a headache job that they must endure.

I’ve not read a huge amount of cyberpunk (the only thing I can think of off the top of my head is the Agent G series, which is set in the same world as this series). I think there are some cyberpunk references that I didn’t get. But that didn’t detract from the story for me. This was exactly something I would expect from Phipps and Suttkus. Daughter of the Cyber Dragons is filled with humor, twists and turns, action and snark, I can’t forget about the snark. I never knew where the story was going to take me. The betrayals of friends in a world where everything is cutthroat.

Fans of the Agent G series will love this story, Case is a great secondary character in this story. You don’t have to have read any of this author’s other books to start this series (Phipps and Suttkus is really good at keeping each series as a standalone series, while providing crossover content that makes readers of the other series get something a little extra special).

If you’ve never tried cyberpunk, but love action, humor and stories with lots of twists, I highly recommend you dip your toe in the genre and give this series a try. I will say that this does make me want to look for more cyberpunk stories.

Narration:
This is my first time listening to Catherine Ho. When the story first started, I wasn’t sure if I liked her or not. She has a distinct voice and way of telling a story. But the more I listened, I really grew to love her. She became Kei for me. She also did a great job with the other characters, some of which I had interacted with who had different narrators. Her voices did not conflict with the voices I already had in my head for these crossover characters. I would love to listen to more stuff with her narration.

**I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.