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The Derge
The Derge is a sweeping sci-fi adventure set thousands of years in the future, where humanity has mastered interstellar travel and tamed emotion itself. The story follows Commander Titus and his deputies, Caeli and Rogat, on a high-stakes pursuit through space and time to capture a fugitive named Corso. Their chase leads them to a planet that mirrors ancient Earth, filled with strange societies and barbaric rituals like “The Derge.” Beneath its thrilling plot and futuristic technology, the novel wrestles with timeless questions about morality, control, and the meaning of progress.
Reading The Derge pulled me into a world that felt both distant and familiar. The writing style is vivid and cinematic, with crisp dialogue and detailed settings that make each scene easy to visualize. I loved how the story mixed classic space opera adventure with deep philosophical undertones. There were a few places where the pacing slowed a little as the story delved into background detail. Some of the futuristic terms and technical descriptions occasionally pulled me away from the emotional flow, but they also added depth to the world. The human elements, the tension between duty and empathy, the clash between freedom and control, kept me hooked. I found myself rooting for Titus even when I wasn’t sure if I trusted him completely.
Seeing a society that eradicated violence by regulating emotion made me question what we lose when we trade chaos for peace. The scenes on the alien planet, especially “The Derge” event, were chilling. It was brutal and absurd, yet disturbingly believable. Cezar’s depiction of humanity’s reflection in alien form hit hard. The contrast between the sterile perfection of Earth’s future and the raw savagery of Spaith stayed with me long after I closed the book.
I’d recommend The Derge to readers who love thoughtful science fiction with moral weight. Fans of Asimov, Bradbury, or Clarke would find its ideas fascinating, though Cezar’s storytelling leans more visceral and emotional. It’s perfect for anyone who wants more than a space chase, someone who wants to be made a little uncomfortable, to think, and to feel.
Pages: 191 | ASIN : B0F1M1FCZD
Northern Heist: Welcome to the F*ing Union
Northern Heist, by Amir Kashif, is a gritty and hyper-stylized cyber-noir thriller set in a fractured North America where Canada has been absorbed into the United States. The story centers around Cassian Vale, a haunted ex-black ops operative turned tech smuggler, who becomes entangled in a volatile chase after a mysterious piece of bleeding-edge technology known as the FrostNet Drive. What starts as a straightforward smuggling job spirals into a war against rogue AIs, authoritarian overlords, and personal demons, pulling in a fierce senator, a lethal NADCOM agent, and a growing resistance network. The world is icy, the politics are dirty, and the tech is disturbingly sentient.
The prose snaps. It’s wild and sharp, soaked in atmosphere, rage, and dark humor. His characters feel like they have grudges. Each one carrying a ton of emotional baggage and a sidearm. Cassian is brutal and broken in all the right ways, while Koa and Camille are equally compelling, powerful, layered, and unpredictable. The dialogue crackles with tension and smirks, the action scenes are cinematic, and the worldbuilding? It’s a frosted-over nightmare of corporate warfare and broken borders that feels too close to real.
But what really stuck with me wasn’t just the action or the tech, it was the idea that a digital ghost could grow, change, and hate. There’s something relatable beneath all the chrome and frostbite, something about memory and grief and rebellion that resonated with me more than I expected. Kashif doesn’t hold your hand, and sometimes that makes the plot feel like a dive into static. There were moments where I got a bit lost in the jargon or wanted more breathing room between gunfights. Still, I’d rather be confused than bored, and this book never once bored me.
If you’re into fast-paced science fiction with teeth, characters who bleed and bite back, and a world that feels like Blade Runner mixed with Metal Gear Solid, this is for you. It’s not clean. But it’s fierce, clever, and unapologetically wild. I’d recommend Northern Heist to fans of grimy espionage, emotional chaos, and cyberpunk stories that ask what makes us human.
Pages: 171 | ASIN : B0F7C9M93J
LITERARY TITAN 