Synthetic Sea - A Queer Cyberpunk Novel

Crossposting my review from storygraph in case anyone is interested :) 5 stars!

This story is a beautiful example of a cyberpunk sci-fi noir with a healthy dose of romance. It follows a grieving private detective Ryoma as he is trying to get back into work after having his life derailed by a traumatic death. What starts out as a simple case of uncovering a cheating husband's affair so his wife can divorce him soon turns out to be a lot more than meets the eye and Ryoma can't stop himself from digging deeper.

This story takes some of the most intruiging aspects of its genres (synthetics, cybernetic implants and their upkeep as big corporations fuck with people's bodies for a quick buck, megacities divided between the mega-rich and the seedy underbelly of poorer people struggling to survive, traumatized private investigator and traumatized lounge singer with a troubled past) and weaves it into a beautiful tapestry filled in with incredibly interesting world building.
If I didn't know this was a debut work I would not believe it to be one either. The writing and particularly the dialogue feels fluid and natural and as I already mentioned the world building manages to feel immersive without being info-dumpy, creating a rich world with interesting characters and yet never overwhelming me with that information.

For a story that moves quite fast in the escalation of the mystery, it also has its moments to slow down and let us bask in the sweet and tender moments of romance and relationship building, which added further depth.

All in all I really enjoyed this book and if you enjoy cyberpunk noir sci-fi romances I can only advise you to check it out!

Trigger warnings for: sexual assault, dehumanisation, violence, murder, massive invasion of bodily autonomy in a non-sexual way (in addition to the sexual assault), aspects of invasive body horror and loss of autonomy.