Metrophage

Good old cyberpunk story

Metrophage remembers me at the first trilogy of William Gibson. And that's not a bad start for an audio book and an author of whom I hadn't heard before. The story is set in a not to distance future and the protagonist fights against all odds and with limited understanding of the forces around him.

That's not really new, but Richard Kadrey shows a lot of creativity to bring his world to life. He tells the story with many details and conjures a believable world with enough interesting characters and plots that you always want to learn more.

But there's a shortcoming compared to Gibson: the whole story is told from only one perspective. While Gibson often creates three or four different stories that merge in the end to one grand finale, Metrophage concentrates on the (anti-)hero. And some of his actions are a little bit repetitive: getting into trouble and being rescued by another faction of the Metrophage universe. Just to get into more trouble later to be rescued again.

The narrator makes a very good job. Easy to listen and with a varitey of different "voices" to bring the different characters to life.

All in all I would rate it with 4 of 5 stars. It's an above the average cyberpunk story but not setting a new standard.