Stormblood by Jeremy Szal

Vakov Fukasawa used to be a Reaper: a bio-enhanced soldier fighting for the Harmony, against a brutal invading empire. He's still fighting now, on a different battlefield: taking on stormtech. To make him a perfect soldier, Harmony injected him with the DNA of an extinct alien race, altering his body chemistry and leaving him permanently addicted to adrenaline and aggression. But although they meant to create soldiers, at the same time Harmony created a new drug market that has millions hopelessly addicted to their own body chemistry. Vakov may have walked away from Harmony, but they still know where to find him, and his former Reaper colleagues are being murdered by someone, or something - and Vakov is appalled to learn his estranged brother is involved. Suddenly it's an investigation he can't turn down . . . but the closer he comes to the truth, the more addicted to stormtech he becomes.And it's possible the war isn't over, after all . . .

Full video review here -https://youtu.be/zxQ6fQZ7njg

With elements that felt familiar and unique, Szal spins an action-packed ride with a protagonizt that's isn't all anger and brawn. There's a human side to his characters that I really appreciated. Sci-fi on a asteroid city with an expansive plot that doesn't get too heavy.

This cyberpunk (biopunk?) debut is an intriguing and impressive read. Jeremy has constructed a world where some alien biotech was repurposed to create super-soldiers, but this came at a price to the users that was very high, leading to an addiction to violence and thrills. With the old war that these people were created for over the biotech has taken a new life of its own as a super drug, highly addictive and forming a drug abuse epidemic in society. With echoes of some of the aftereffects of modern wars (think Agent Orange) and the references to modern drug abuse issues this sits in a powerful story telling niche.

This is some impressive world building, the world providing a suitable foil to our current and yet being distinctively its own. Over the top of this we have an almost noir style private investigator type story, with our main protagonist one of the super-soldiers who has managed to combat his addiction and taking on an investigation on behalf of the governing organisation. Add into this some familial tension and a mysterious and nefarious syndicate trying to control the drug with ambiguous motives. This is an impressively nuanced and constructed debut. The prose is finding its feet in a couple of places but that is not surprising in debut. Overall this is a solid start and I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy