Audiobook Review – The Electric Church (Avery Cates, Book 1) by Jeff Somers, Narrated by Todd McLaren (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Cyberpunk/Science Fiction
Length: 10 hours and 55 minutes
Publisher:‎ Tantor Audio
Release Date: July 07, 2010
ASIN: B003VXLPMA
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Avery Cates series
Source: Borrowed Audiobook from Library
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Time is your curse. Lack of time. Everything requires time, and you have so little. This leads me to the fundamental question the Electric Church poses: How can you be saved when you have no time?

Avery Cates is a very bad man. Some might call him a criminal. He might even be a killer – for the right price. But right now, Avery Cates is scared. He’s up against the Monks – cyborgs with human brains, enhanced robotic bodies, and a small arsenal of advanced weaponry. Their mission is to convert anyone and everyone to the Electric Church. But there is just one snag: Conversion means death.”

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Avery Cates series, there are five books in that series. I borrowed this as an audiobook from my library.

Audiobook Quality (4/5): I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was fine. The narrator does a decent job with character voices and emotion. It was pleasant enough to listen to.

Thoughts: This reminded me a bit of a cyperpunk Nightside (Simon Green series) book, but not quite as creative or interesting as the Nightside. There are some quirky characters, the world is interesting (but seems a bit shallow), there is a ton of action, and a buttload of swearing (seriously there are points where every other word is a swear word). I listened to this on audiobook and my teen son would walk past my office and be like “Geez, mom and you tell me not to swear..”

The story follows Avery Cates (a gunner for hire) in a world where society has collapsed. He gets on the bad side of some cyborg Monks and then is hired by the dreaded corporate overlords to take out the leader of the Electric Church that the Monks belong to.

This portrays a gritty cyberpunk world and there is a lot of fast-paced action but the whole thing felt a bit thin as well. I just didn’t really engage with the characters and the story is fairly simple (there are some twists but they were pretty predictable).

The whole book was like a piece of sweet candy (with lots of guns, swearing, and misery)….fairly engaging and somewhat yummy but leaving you feeling a bit unsatisfied when you finish it. It was okay but I most likely won’t continue with the series. It just didn’t have the interesting psychological depth of a lot of other cyberpunk books out there. I mean I guess there is the discussion around what the Electric Monks are doing to people but that never got very thought-provoking and was mostly just gross and terrifying.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was an okay cyberpunk read if you are looking for an action-packed series of violent scenes with a lot of swearing. There are some quirky characters here that you never really get attached to and you don’t want to think about the story too hard. However, I enjoyed the gritty world and as long as I just kind of went with it and didn’t think too much it was an okay diversion.