A compelling military SF book. Most interesting is the bonding between a pilot and a machine, a kind of metahuman system. ( )

Cry Pilot by Joel Dane introduces readers to a far future Earth that had nearly succumbed to global environmental destruction. Thanks first to AIs, then to corporatised military, the Earth is now slowly healing. Terrafixing is repairing the planet, but it also repairs biomechanical creations from the last great world war, resurrecting them as Remorts. For the strongest Remorts, CAVs are employed. These nimble machines seem made to be symbiotically paired with a human pilot, though no-one knows how. Instead, cry pilots are used, and when the pilot dies, the CAV returns home. These kamikaze pilots are taken from the criminal pool. A pardon, and chance to join the military, await the scant few lucky enough to survive.

Maseo Kaytu is a man with secrets, and the need to make reparations. Unable to enlist in the military by normal means, Maseo commits a crime, and volunteers as a cry pilot. Managing to survive by wiles, Maseo gets to enlist, but before he and his group are ready, they are sent after a deadly new Remort, one capable of chewing up CAVs. Can the fledgling Javelin squad survive long enough to learn about these new creatures and how to destroy them, or is humanity's time about to be up?

I wasn't feeling this book to begin with. There were several things that felt like they didn't have enough explanation to start with, and it left me feeling confused. After about the first third, the story became quite engaging, and things were fleshed out. The training and initial conflicts with the lampreys were exciting, and once they left training, the action got pretty intense. Just don't get too attached to characters! Several die some pretty grim deaths. Fighting the lampreys is no joke. I'm glad my favourite character- Ting Ting- makes it to the end. I'm looking forward to seeing how things progress with her in the next book.

I loved the concept of the technopaths! I hope we get to meet more in the next book. It seems like they could be very valuable assets against the lampreys. Most die young or are killed given how unpredictable and dangerous being an untrained technopath can be. But we see a potential maintenance medicine here, with stem, and it seems like such an obvious solution that maybe the government is using it on their captured technopaths, and not owning up to it. Just the ability to control tech with your mind sounds so cool! I found Kaytu's unique meditation fascinating and I want to learn more about the culture that created it. Recommended, especially if you enjoy the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown.

***Many thanks to the Netgalley & Berkley/ Ace for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. ( )

I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley.

By the description, I expected far-future sci-fi. Cry Pilot is that, and a whole lot more--like a cyberpunk and military scifi combination, all in an original take on post-climate apocalypse Earth.

Kaytu is a complicated young man trying to do right. He's a gutter rat, a former refugee, and he has set his eye on military service with one of the major corporations that holds dominion over Earth. With his background--which only emerges in perfectly-paced detail across the book--he's forced to take a more criminal route, which gets him assigned to be a cry pilot--essentially, a piece of meat dropped into an AI-driven mecha that does battle with other bio-machines that threaten to undo the resettlement and terraforming of the planet. Most cry pilots die. He does not--nor does the flighty drug addict with him. Together, they soon find themselves placed in different roles as they train to face a horrific threat unlike ever seen before.

With some scifi books with a far-future setting, it feels like the emphasis is on the world and tech and the characters are outright tropes. Not so here. Everyone feels vivid and alive. Kaytu's peers are an eclectic bunch, and as he became attached to them, so did I (a dangerous thing when they are facing some pretty nasty threats). The world is incredibly immersive and detailed, and it builds in just the right way; I never felt overwhelmed. Not only is the tech advanced, but social constructs are radically different, too, but this is handled in a casual, natural way. Poly relationships are common (and make perfect sense, given the need for humanity to repopulate) and sexual preference is fluid.

I found the book to be absolutely enthralling. Not only is the story fantastic, but as a writer, I can only admire the elegant pacing of the world's construction. This is a book to point to as an example of how to do scifi right. ( )