Neural Wraith

Neural Wraith, Book 1

By: K.D. Robertson

Narrated by: Stephanie Savannah

Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

In Neo Babylon, your neural implant is your identity.

You use it as your credit card, to surf the Altnet, to chat with friends, to login to work or school, and to be pestered by advertisements. Anyone without one is cut off from society.

Nick can’t get a neural implant. That fact turns his daily life into hell, but the city's underworld has its plans for him. Being invisible to the city’s omnipresent tracking has its perks. Without a neural presence, he’s someone who is felt but not seen—a wraith.

His natural advantage leads him to work on illegal projects, including one to create human-like AI “dolls.” Until the government shuts down everything and Nick is reduced to a life of back-office IT drudgery, under strict monitoring.

But the city isn't done with him, and the police soon knock on his door. Those advanced dolls he created are now Babylon’s law enforcement. And they have an offer for Nick: help them reshape the city and root out corruption from the inside.

Who better to investigate the city than a man who cannot be seen by it?

©2022 K.D. Robertson (P)2022 Podium Audio

A great world with a good story

Not all authors can craft a world and story that manages to maintain the suspension of disbelief through the whole thing. Roberson did with this book, and I can't wait for the second to come out in a few months.

The characters actually have depth, each scene has extra details that fill it out nicely without going overboard, and the world details build on each other very well. 100% recommend this.

For those concerned about it, there is only one true smut scene, so if you need to skip, you don't miss too much at all.

good need the next o.o

if you like cyber punk you'll like this
give it a shot because I need the next one

Great new book

I have listened to several of this author’s books in the past, and I think this is the best one. Not only did I enjoy the story, including the mystery behind of what was going on, but the narration by Stephanie was fantastic.
The author is great with details and explanations so that even though sometimes you feel like you are shoulder deep in trying to figure out what is going on by the end, everything makes sense.
I would highly recommend this book.

not bad

so this is pretty good it was unique I would give it a try it's really not that spicy but I'll definitely check out the next one

Unusual

The Neural Wraith is what you get if you force the author of the erotic novel to write the cyberpunk police procedure drama.

They would fail at both.

Still, the author did quite a good job all things considered.

On the other hand, we have the world fueled by the harem erotica logic, set in the far future where ALL artificially intelligent androids are female and ALL are interested in the protagonist.

On the other hand, the story itself isn’t exactly the harem adventure. Yes, it is filled to the brim with sexual innuendos, and there is even a one sex scene, but those would be permissible even at the more serious work, at least if you stretched it. Plot overall is a typical cyberpunk novel about the corrupted officials, combined with the police procedural drama, and uncovering the criminal conspiracy.

I was pleasantly surprised by it. I was expecting something much more “spicy”.

There isn’t that much of “spicy”

Yes, the author doesn’t know how to write cyberpunk or police procedural drama, and simply go through the list they were told the genre should consist of while failing in the overall feel, but I appreciate the effort to write a conventional novel.

It’s enjoyable. Of course, they were on the budget, and it feels. Voice actor was the best they could get, and the erotica writer was obviously cheaper than a person with any kind of experience with the genre, but it isn’t horrible to pull your ears out. Cheap, strange, but still, enjoyable, with decent narration.

Despite the numerous shortcomings, in both writing and voice acting, I enjoyed it, and would purchase the second book.

Competent mystery back by excellent dialogue

It is is rare to find a book where the strong suit is it’s dialogue and contemplations over the world they are in. This cyberpunk mystery reminds me of Altered Carbon. As every good cyberpunk city setting, the city does not care about the people. So many heavy themes were handled deftly, like what does it mean to be a police force ran by the rich elites, just how much is a human life worth in the pursuit of advancement, or what our world would look like if AR and real life were merged. This is such a hidden gem of a book and story, could not recommend it more.

May be my new favorite

I'm still fairly green to this genre, but I loved this book so much. The performance was great. You could easily tell which characters were speaking.
As for the harem and romance, I thought it was very well done and super freaking adorable. can't wait to dig into book 2.

More than I was expecting

Usually,I don’t go for one narration of books, they feel too lifeless but boy was I wrong about this one! This one has me wanting to figure out who the mastermind behind everything was. All in all, was more than I was expecting!

K.D never disappoints!

It's a really good story with one of the best narrators. I have read/listened to most of K.D's work and it always keeps me engaged and interested. Stephanie Savannah is always a delight to listen to. The characters are interesting and the plot will keep you guessing. I can't wait for the next book.

Excellent Story

To be honest I was afraid this book would be just another sex bot harem fantasy. Thankfully this book is far more story driven. Anyone who enjoys sci-fi dealing with AI should enjoy this book.