Review: Oh Syd, you poor poor girl
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 30, 2012
Oh Syd (or Aerin as she's known to most of the folks in this book).  Dear, dear Syd. I want to shake you and hug you and then smack you.  Then feed you properly.  Things pretty much suck for Syd.  She's in a foreign country who's language she can barely cobble together a sentence from, working for a low tier Runner business as the lowest lackey, still hiding from Richard (who may or may not be looking for her), can't talk to any of her old friends ('cause she's officially 'dead') and her vampire boyfriend can't cook.  At all.I'm not entirely sure if its better that Syd now knows the deal with Malcolm or if she was better off not knowing.  A healthy portion of the book is Syd dealing with the fact Malcolm can't just be her boyfriend--he's in charge for Master Bronson (who she begins to dislike more and more each chapter), wears pimp clothing and hides a lot from her.  Plus there's his right hand man--er woman, Soraya who has got to be the coolest chick ever.  At least, her backstory is so cool, her personality is very 'This shit don't phase me' (except when it kind of does, tho more on that later), she's a gorgeous Amazon and she can fight.I'd have some anxiety over all that too.Admittedly I got the sort of irritation with Syd that I tend to get with folk in Real Life when they lament their problems continually and don't try to get things out in the open...of course she finally gets around to it and gets blocked by Malcolm's goons, beat up and nearly killed.  No one said a relationship was easy...Pacing wise everything stays fairly even.  Enough action happens to balance out the romance that balances out the gross factor and that balances out the sap factor.  I think we got a better feel for what it means to be a Runner in this book; Syd's out in the cold with none of her contacts or street cred.  She struggles to not be that way, but she's at the bottom of a short pecking order in a deadbeat Agency.  I was kind of rooting for her to take it easy, what little pay off she got was mostly for ego purposes.  Take a vacay girl!I've been assured by the author that book 3 is currently in the works (that heavens!) and that my fondest wishes may come true.  I can't wait.  Make it happen.(the author provided a copy for an honest review)