The Cyborg Tinkerer

The Curious Case of the Cyborg Circus, Book 1

By: Meg LaTorre

Narrated by: Kylie Stewart

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

In a deadly circus competition, even hearts are on the line.

Gwendolyn Grimm intended to seduce men and women across the galaxy while working as a ship tinkerer on the finest vessels in the Crescent Star System. Alas, terminal illness is a buzzkill. When a life-saving opportunity struts into her life dressed in a pinstripe suit, she is made an offer she can’t refuse: become a cyborg and work as a tinkerer for Cirque du Borge, the once-renowned cyborg circus.

The problem is, a new law has banned the creation of new cyborgs, and becoming one means execution if caught. Thus, no one cares to see the wonders of man and machine anymore.

Ticket sales continue to fall as the circus announces a competition to determine which acts will perform for the emperor on his home planet - an opportunity with the potential to save the circus from bankruptcy. But the competition has deadly consequences. Losing acts have their cyborg implants forcibly removed, and those who survive the extraction are banished from the circus.

As the tinkerer, Gwendolyn is forced to perform the revolting task of removing the cyborg implants from the losing performers. When she falls for both the man running the competition and a woman competing in it, she must decide who to protect. But can she risk having to harvest the people she loves the most?

Fans of Sarah J. Maas will enjoy this LGBTQ+ steampunk romance set in a deadly Treasure Planet-esque galaxy.

Trigger warnings: This novel contains graphic violence, sexual content, profanity, and references to eating disorders. Listener discretion is advised.

©2020 iWriterly LLC (P)2020 iWriterly LLC

A fresh story like no other

If you like fantasy, fairy tales, steam punk, adventure, romance, and perhaps some smut, this is the book for you. The only thing missing is time travel, but this only book one, so who knows what Meg has in store for us down the road. I was tense during battles, blushed a little during romance scenes, and giggled with the witty play on names. This author is going places, and we're here for it.

Everything I wanted from a Steampunk Romance

The story was edgy and everything I wanted from a steampunk romance. If you are looking for a sci-fi romance to listen to, this is it! The narrator’s voice captured the mood of this book perfectly, and I was on the edge of my seat with every listen! I hope to see more from this talented author! Overall, an amazing listen!

A great story!

I really loved this story. I got the audiobook and the kindle and read along with it. Very different characters all with very different motivations and relationships with each other, which I love. It's about the characters, and all the sci-fi, fantasy and steampunk just make it better. I am giving 4 instead of 5 stars because of a couple moments I had a problem with that I don't want to spoil for those reading, along with how the audiobook and text sometimes differed slightly in words for some reason, but mainly because the narrator of the audiobook mispronounced some words, one of the names, and didn't have the best British accent. She still did a good job overall, making very different voices for each character. I ended up liking the story so much, I bought a copy for a friend for Christmas. I love that it includes healthy polyamory, subverting the love triangle trope.

Phenomenal book

This book grabbed me pretty quickly. I follow Meg’s YouTube and subscribed as soon as I heard polyamorous representation. It was really dope to see the characters develop in their own way and see what could have easily been a trope subverted so wonderfully. The narration made everything from the relationships to the action all the better and I truly enjoyed this book from the first moment. 10/10

great story!

I was very nervous about reading this book because I typically hate love triangles. However I am a fan of meg Latorre's YouTube videos with iwriterly and wanted to check out her book. the romances felt a pretty rushed, but honestly that is my only complaint. the story and setting were fantastic! I can't wait to see what comes next!

Twists

I absolutely love this book. It kept me listening and trying to figure out what all is going to happen next. It is a great read and worthy of any collection.

Thrilling Story with Relatable Characters

As a debut novel, Meg Latorre held no punches. I found myself eager to get back to the book every time I had to pause it. Although the main characters did feel that they should have been aged down or place in a YA storyline.
The narrator was lovely, but I did have to listen at X1.25 speed. The different voices she used made it very easy to know that the POV was changing.
The story pacing does whip you around a bit. Some actions the main character decides take are frustrating, especially when it comes to romance. This does leave room for growth for Gwen in future books, if you can get through her character flaws in this one.
The characters are refreshingly diverse in race, sexual orientation, and gender preferences. This book has many twists! This was a 3 star read and I will be getting the next book in the series when it comes out.

Massively enjoyable

I stumbled onto Latorres YouTube page and decided to give her debut a listen. So glad that I did, the story is a unique take on the Sci-fi genre making in dragons, cyborgs and empires. Loved Stewarts voice work and hope to hear her doing more audibles.

Quite addicting, but world's not well developed

I thought the book was quite addicting, it does a pretty good job making you interested throughout. unfortunately I would love to see better details to the worlds: what do they eat, or look like. are everyone humanoids? the detail was not quite sufficient for me. It's an adult story but what the main character does is quite "Grimm" and we do not have the details for that, only when she remembers, and very fleeting. it has a very soft feeling throughout the book for an adult one, with a quite adult ending. so much that it was a tad cringy. overall I like the romance trope, and the fact that it is polygamous. I was quite content with that.

Kylie Stewart’s voice is mesmerising as she brings TCT to life

The Cyborg Tinkerer is a wonderful steampunk romance story, brilliantly narrated by Kylie Stewart. She brought to life all the characters in a distinct manner.

The Cyborg Tinkerer.

Great Characters. Super Compelling. Well spoken narrator and lovely narrator. An all around decent read.

Interesting concept

I follow a YouTube channel called iWriterly, which is hosted by Meg LaTorre. This year she produced her debut novel called the cyborg tinkerer. Because I follow that channel and was interested in reading her work, I invested in the novel. The other reason I read it was because my interest in steam punk, so the idea of a story set in a steam punk world was very interesting to me. I knew from the little she had said about it it involved romance and some sexual content. I also knew that the love interests were both male and female, making this an LBGQT plus work. I do not have a problem with any of that, and I was definitely looking forward to reading this.
The basic plot (no spoilers here) is that a ship tinkerer (basically an engineer) has been told that she has a fatal brain tumour and doesn’t have long to live. When she reaches the place, she is going to spend her final days she learns that the cyborg circus is in town. There has been a law prohibiting the creation of cyborg technology, along with new cyborgs and that the ruling of a new emperor. It surprises her that the circus is still performing and out of curiosity she goes to watch. Once there, Gwendolyn gets to have a look at the different tax and is amazed by them. She thinks that they are like people in defiance of death when she appreciates. However, the authorities arrive and arrest anyone they find, including Gwendolyn.
In prison, they give Gwendolyn an opportunity to become a cyborg and be cured of her condition, although she would then become a cyborg. The person offering her this chance is Bastien, who is the circus ringleader. He pays for her release and takes her back to his airship where she will be given this life-changing surgery.
When the performers arrive they are greeted by the mistress who explained that they are going to perform for the Emperor, but they will choose only the top 10 acts for this. She gives no further details, but this is the first time that the Acrobat Rora and notices her. Realising that she is a tinkerer, they form a plan to seduce and convince her to break rules and make a new implant to improve her performance and make her one of the top 10.
They arrange a ball which is mandatory in attendance to everybody to go to and Gwendolyn and Rora decide to go as a date. They are both quite excited and enjoy getting ready. However, things looked like they will end with a kiss everything is suddenly stopped and the mistress announces that they will hold competitions to decide the final 10. If the performer does not make the grade, then both they and their act will have their contracts ended. To her horror Gwendolyn realises that this means anyone failing will have their implants removed for loosing their jobs. She also realises that removing the implants will be her responsibility.
There are many twists and turns after this book Gwendolyn is anxious that she will have to perform the surgery on either of the people she has grown to care about.
My major criticism for this book would be the sexual need Gwendolyn has throughout the entire book. (Not the sexual content, but it just feels like she wants a partner of any description at any point. For example, the first thing she notices about people of whether they are good-looking.) There is very little downtime between one or the other of the interests. When she is reeling from the betrayal of one she is just about overwhelmed by the sudden need for the other. It seems to move along too quickly for my liking.
That said, the plot is very intricate and well woven. The basic story is interesting and spellbinding. I especially enjoyed the character development that kept this interesting right until the end. I will definitely look forward to the next book. (I should apologise for any spelling mistakes with him the characters' names, I have only ever heard this in an audiobook format rather than reading them.)
I recommend this to anybody who likes steam punk, romance, fantasy, and science fiction. I found it very interesting right until the end. I would rate this at 3/5. Even if you are only a fan of one of those things, then I would think you would still enjoy the read. Also, if you enjoy a LBGQT plus read above all the other things, then you would definitely enjoy this.