Division Zero
Matthew S. Cox
Series: Division Zero #1
Published on March 7th 2014
Genres: Adult, Mystery, New Adult, Paranormal, Science Fiction
Most cops get to deal with living criminals, but Agent Kirsten Wren is not most cops.
A gifted psionic with a troubled past, Kirsten possesses a rare combination of abilities that give her a powerful weapon against spirits. In 2418, rampant violence and corporate warfare have left no shortage of angry wraiths in West City. Most exist as little more than fleeting shadows and eerie whispers in the darkness.
Kirsten is shunned by a society that does not understand psionics, feared by those who know what she can do, and alone in a city of millions. Every so often, when a wraith gathers enough strength to become a threat to the living, these same people rely on her to stop it.
Unexplained killings by human-like androids known as dolls leave the Division One police baffled, causing them to punt the case to Division Zero. Kirsten, along with her partner Dorian, wind up in the crosshairs of corporate assassins as they attempt to find out who – or what – is behind the random murders before more people die.
She tries to hold on to the belief that no one is beyond redemption as she pursues a killer desperate to claim at least one more innocent soul – that might just be hers.
REVIEW
Division Zero is a special unit inside a futuristic police precinct where agent Kirsten Wren works hard taming wayward ghosts. This might lead you to believe this is a horror story, but it’s not. Not really. It’s definitely a cyberpunk-ish science fiction mystery that has plenty of noir elements to it. In addition to the horror elements, the mystery elements, and the science fiction elements, it’s also quite angsty.
Kirsten has a dark past that she has been struggling to come to terms with ever since she was pulled from her mother’s care. Born a psyonic (someone with amazing mind posers who can not only read the thoughts of others, but also control matter to a certain extent) who saw ghosts and was raised under the care of a religious zealot of a mother, Kirsten’s entire childhood was filled with horrors. Her mother firmly beloved she was the product of the devil and punished her accordingly. This makes Kirsten cynical towards religion and in some cares, hostile as well. I quite enjoyed the verbal sparring she had with her partner on matters of religion.
I enjoyed Kirsten and I enjoyed the world building. I’m not a huge horror reader and I’m not quite sure if i like the horror elements added into this SF story, but nonetheless, the actual plot about possessed “robots” going crazy and killing people was very intriguing. I also loved the noir detective feel to it, which is sort of a play off the cyberpunk. in fact, now that I think about it, the cyberpunk aspect was not that strong. But it didn’t matter to me. Some of those tropes have been done and done to death. Division Zero almost had an Altered Carbon feel to it. That’s one of my favorite series of all time, so that’s a plus for me. But where the latter had an in your face hero to match the hostile and violent world up on which the mystery was built, I don’t think Kirsten quite lived up to that level of character development.
The floating Asian boat restaurant is a favorite image of mine straight out of The Fifth Element, but it’s a good one. Cyberpunk and Asian restaurants are cliche in all the right ways. And the whole thing was very much like a new take on Blade Runner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. I’m not sure I liked the term “dolls” for the robots. It does lend to a more noir feeling of the story, doll was a common term in those hard boiled mysteries, but it’s sorta cheesy and not a term I would expect from the creepy insane robots. But all in all, Division Zero was an exciting mystery with plenty of original science fiction aspects that work together to create an interesting plot and some cool twisty moments..
Tour wide giveaway
Open internationally – Ends July 14th
–Signe copy of Division Zero + 25$ Amazon gift card
About Matthew S. Cox
Born in a little town known as South Amboy NJ in 1973, Matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Somewhere between fifteen to eighteen of them spent developing the world in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, and The Awakened Series take place. He has several other projects in the works as well as a collaborative science fiction endeavor with author Tony Healey.
Hobbies and Interests:
Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour (<- deliberate), and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what happens after it.
He is also fond of cats.
Awards: Prophet of the Badlands (excerpt) – Honorable Mention – Writers of the Future
Librarian Lavender
Great giveaway! I love the cover of this book, it sounds really good too!
Librarian Lavender recently posted…Sister Time!
Joseph Hawkshaw
Awesome cover looks very sweet book looks like a very good read.
Giselle
Oh well I love horror elements in any book haha. Killer robots sounds pretty awesome if you ask me >.< Great review, Julie! This sounds right up my alley!
Giselle recently posted…Cover Madness Giveaway Hop!
erinf1
this looks and sounds intriguing
Thanks for sharing!
Neena Christianson Martin
I admit I had to google psionic , it was a new word for me, but once I understood, it made the book very appealing. Thanks for introducing me.
Jennifer
Great review…great giveaway!!
Marcy Meyer
Thanks for the great giveaway!
Maggie Steele
This book sounds great!!
Library Lady
I’ve not heard anything about this book before now but killer androids definitely sound interesting. Added to my TBR pile!!
Kristy Petree
Neat cover. Story looks interesting.
Thanks for the chance.
Mary Preston
I love the sound of this.
Christine
Love the sound of this book and that cover is so awesome!! 😀
Diana Doan
Thanks for sharing the book!
bn100
Nice cover
Rachelle
Thanks for the giveaway
Matthew Cox
Julie, I’m glad you enjoyed reading Division Zero! Again, thanks for the blog space as part of the tour
I think the term ‘doll’ for an android was influenced by anime. I use it not in the sense of a woman (e.g. guys and dolls) but more like a life sized toy.
Thanks to everyone else if you take the time to read it
always eager to hear what people think.
Matthew Cox recently posted…Divergent Fate #44