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A cyberpunk novel by Marc D. Giller (his debut) published in 2005. Heavily derivative of William Gibson, with doses of The Matrix and Blade Runner. Reviewers have criticized it for being perhaps a bit too derivative, but it compensates with some smashing action scenes as well as presenting female characters that are better developed than the males (a rarity, for a male cyberpunk author). In a near future ruled by corporations, Cray Alden is a former hammerjack—or hacker of the computer world know as the Axis—now forced to work as a corporate spook, hunting hammerjacks down. He gets swept up in a war between a corrupt government, and anti-tech terrorists, as a strange infection begins to change his mind and body. There is one sequel, Prodigal, published in 2007.
Tropes in this work:- Action Girl: Zoe, Avalon and Lea Prism, introduced in that order
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Lyssa will do anything to be free of her boundries
- Ambiguously Gay: Andrew Talbot, depending on your interpretation. Since he gets no physical description we don’t know if he wears a pink shirt or prissy glasses, but we do know that he’s a sassy, sarcastic, humorous friend to Lea.
- Audience Surrogate: Both male leads Cray Alden and Nathan Straka have very generic personalities in comparison to the other characters, and neither are given any physical description or even an age.
- Awesome Mc Cool Name: Avalon, Lea Prism, Vortex, Funky...
- Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: Cray Alden According to the Inru, anyway.
- Author Appeal: All of the female characters in the first book have great bodies (justified with Zoe, Avalon and Lea, as they’re action heroines). And all except possibly Avalon spend a good portion of the story either dressed in revealing cloths, acting seductive, or both.
- Bad Ass: Basically everyone
- Bad Ass Longcoat: Avalon. And, according to the book cover, Cray Alden.
- Crapsack World
- Cyberpunk Arguably a throwback to classic '80s cyberpunk
- Chase Scene: Only about every other chapter or so...
- Cool Shades: Avalon’s eyes were eaten away by the Mons virus, and replaced with cyborg implants, which she covers with onyx glasses.
- Cyberspace
- Decoy Love Interest: Zoe, who is introduced as a young sexy action-girl in a black leather suit that "left little to the imagination," and who Alden is on a mission to capture...and she ends up dying in at the end of the first chase scene!
- The Dragon: Avalon: in the first book for Phao Yin, and in Prodigal for the Inru.
- Dying as Yourself: Both Lauren Farina and Avalon in "Prodigal."
- Ensemble Darkhorse: Avalon
- Expy: Nathan Straka, the new male lead in Prodigal, is almost identical to Cray Alden in personality (or lack thereof), and is even an ex-hammerjack who works for the government. Lea Prism and Trevor Bostic also fill the roles that Cray Alden and Phao Yin had in the first book, of ex-hammerjack-forced-to-work-for-the-govornment, and the evil boss. (Though Lea and Trevor's relationship has the extra dimension of Trevor's attraction to her.)
- Goth: Apparently in the future, the Goth subculture will evolve into a violent cult.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Alden’s ascension into the computer world
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Zoe, at the very least. Possibly Avalon, as her “dark clothes” could be interpreted as leather (since it’s a cyberpunk story after all). According to the cover of “Prodigal,” Lea Prism.
- Hello, Nurse!: If a male character falls in love with—or just comments on the beauty of—a woman in the series, it's Lea.
- Hollywood Cyborg: Avalon’s body and senses having been largely eaten away by the Mons Virus, so she had to be rebuilt with enhanced reflexes, a “sensesuit” that gives her inhuman senses, and two small lights where her eyes used to be.
- Impossibly Cool Clothes: Avelon’s shimmering sensesuit
- Meaningful Name: Avalon is mysterious and solitary; in Prodigal, Eve Kelean brings about a sort of "fall of man," when she unleashes the virus on the crew.
- Miss Fanservice: Cray’s newfound ally Lea Prism just happens to be young, sassy, single, and beautiful. She is forced by circumstances to disguise as a prostitute (twice). Lyssa also likes to take the form of a sultry, seductive babe, for no explained reason.
- Moral Event Horizon: When Avalon tries to strangle Alden, it's pretty clear she's officially a "bad guy."
- Anti-Hero: Over the course of the two books, Avalon switches sides almost more than Captain Jack Sparrow.
- Storming the Castle
- Pinball Protagonist: Cray Alden moves through the adventure through almost no choices of his own, at least for the first half or so of the book.
- Psycho for Hire: Avalon
- Punch Clock Villain:Eve Kellean, in Prodigal.
- Relationship Sue: Arguably Lea Prism, for Cray, in “Hammerjack.” Fortunately though, Lea does not suffer this trope in the sequel, as she is now the protagonist.
- Unstoppable Rage : Avalon. Holly hell, Avalon. Especially when she goes on a rampage against Yoshii Tagura’s gang in the middle of Prodigal.
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