I've already read this twice!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2020

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There is a lot to really like about this book. I bought it on Kindle a couple of months ago, and read through it quite quickly the first time.

The characters grabbed me right off the bat. There was a lot of quite high-techy, futuristic, but recognisable stuff going on in the sections of the story that took place on earth—self driven cars, implants that allowed communications over the ether, system hacks, holographic images able to be projected long-distances, androids, extremely high-level 3D printers, and so forth—but I got quite taken by the characters.

We have Raz, a Moroccan James Bond, who is self employed and works for various employers, depending on who is willing to pay for his services,. And his essential sidekick Namazu, who is Japanese. Namazu is a real person, who is an expert hacker. She only appears in the story as Raz's holographic partner, but she's a very entertaining hologram, to say the least. This partnership is highly skilled (but never overconfident), and has a history of efficient work behind them at the start of the story. However, undercover work is never easy, as they are about to discover.

Because I liked these two people from the start, I became very invested in their survival AND success.

Solar Rift alternates between the activities of these two characters, and an altogether different set of equally compelling characters who are out in space, in a small ship, dedicated to patrolling asteroids. Asteroids are being mined by several rival earth companies, including theirs, so their company ship has to be vigilant, and astute, when it comes to protecting and reporting back to their company headquarters on earth.

The three characters in this scenario are also compelling, and VERY different personalities from Raz and Namasu. The POV character is Zarina, who comes from India, and has achieved much in her budding career. She is a pragmatic and skilled pilot, but also capable of a great deal of emotion and care for her family back home as well as for her two crewmates. We only see these crewmates through her eyes, but they are also distinct and attractive personalities ...Dieter from Germany, and Dan from Australia, who is the ship's commander. They are involved in quite a dangerous mission. It's apparent that some of the mining operations on the asteroids are under attack ...from what turns out to be an A1 super-intelligent android being, being controlled from earth by a rival company. The crew's mission is to discover what they can, to report their findings back to their own A1 android on earth, and to engage and foil the rival, if encountered.

I read rapidly the first time, because my heart was in my mouth regarding the fate of all these characters—which was never assured. The two different parts of the story did not seem connected to each other, so I felt a pang of disappointment whenever the focus shifted from one to another ...which is a sign of how immersed I became in each of these separate scenarios. It's not till the end of the story that the connection between the two is revealed. It's a stunner, and bodes well for the upcoming sequels.

Because I was so invested in the characters, I didn't take on all aspects of the sting operation on earth, or the combat operation. I felt I had missed a few things during the first read-through, due to my anxiety about the characters. So I read the whole story a second time, more slowly—to happily find that the details and connections I missed first time were all actually there, in place. It's just that I got too anxious the first time and read too quickly.

The story is believably futuristic, but with enough of modern day still around to ground the reader. The characters are excellent, and I would love to spend more time with them (if they survive. :) ) The dialogue and pace works really well, and the story comes together at the end in a very satisfying way, while leaving things open for a sequel.

In short, I highly recommend Solar Rift: 2120. As a new story world, it certainly has bags of potential for a series.

No words wasted, tight pacing. Think Watch Dogs meets Snow Crash.

Well-paced and very visual without wasting words on extraneous description. A clean look at a cyberpunk solar system that promises an interesting arc. Looking forward to later entries in the series!

An auspicious beginning - Worth a credit

Solar Rift 2120 is billed as a prologue novel, and that it is. There's no beginning-to-end epic saga here. What there is, is a great opening to a story I am now very much looking forward to hearing the rest of. This is not to say there's no satisfaction at the conclusion of this book. Just keep in mind when you get there, that this is the prologue.

There are two separate story lines at play here, and Rivers creates two equally engaging plots, braiding together a high-stakes action tale in space and an anti-hero spycraft story back on Earth.

I'm no cyber-punk buff, but I do know that Solar Rift is fun sci-fi. There's adventure, espionage and highly imaginative tech, no dour dystopia or dismal post-apocalypse deathscape. It manages to be smart and engaging without dragging you through an existential nightmare. It does deal with a major class struggle that's integral to both stories. I have no doubt it will be a bigger focus later and might even get dark for all I know. For now though, it's more world-building and character motivation than focal point.

Speaking of world-building, this book is immersive for its size. There's just the right amount of mythology. It's intriguing and easy to imagine as a possible future.

I apologize for burying this lead here, but I have to say, the stars of this show are, well, the stars. I loved the characters. They were unique and quirky and imperfect enough to add a great deal of verisimilitude to the reality of the book. Namazu is destined to be every reader's favorite. She's just fantastic, and I want more.

As to the performances, color me impressed. I've listened to a dozen full-cast audiobooks, if not twice that. When they're good, they're good, but when they're bad, they're abysmal. An untalented cast or sub-par editing can absolutely ruin a novel, so I was apprehensive going in. According to the afterword, Rivers auditioned a ton of voice actors for each character, and it shows. He chose wisely. I don't know if the actors are actually from the same countries as the multi-national cast of characters, but it was definitely believable. Again, you'll love Namazu, and Rivers does a great job as narrator. The performances as well as the seamless timing between the narration and the dialog reminded me of listening to the His Dark Materials trilogy. It was well done.

Rivers also mentions in the afterword that he's an independent author, making this production all the more impressive. As I'm only the second person to review this audiobook, I imagine at the time of writing this, that it has not been heard by many listeners yet. Support independent art and spend a credit on this audiobook. You won't be sorry.

Wow, what a wild ride. I picked up this book with certain expectations, but I can honestly say that it didn’t at all turn out how I pictured it...which is probably the best indicator for how good an espionage story is.
I loved the cyberpunk and science fiction elements that made this future earth so vibrant as well as unsettling, and I especially loved the diverse cast of characters. The author made them come alive on the page, and I really enjoyed the way they tried to beat the odds when they came face to face with their adversaries.
Because the book is set in the future, I had doubts about how realistic and authentic the scientific explanations and descriptions would turn out...but it simply blew me away how much attention to detail there was.
I think it’s safe to say that I’ll be keeping an eye out for more books by this author, specifically because I hope I’ll be able to read more of Nam down the road. Who doesn’t love a spiced-up hairdo?

I've been beta reading books for probably over 8 years now, and this was probably the best hidden gem I've encountered.
Steve took augmented reality and not only brought it to its logical conclusion in every day life, but added the creativity of how a hacker like Namazu would use it to go on adventures with her partner without ever leaving her home.
The character depth he got in this book, being a short-novel length, was great. (Don't let the word novella he uses fool you, this is as long as some novels.) I felt a real roller coaster following Zarina, and Raz and Namazu made me smile so much.
The tension that builds in some scenes is a real page turner, and some of the set pieces are really inventive.
If there is one flaw, it is that there's not much quiet downtime to reflect on things, its a breathless ride. But considering the whole thing is a prologue to the real story, i can't wait to see what the author does with a longer format.