Early Adopter - BookWyrm

eBook, 127 pages

English language

Published by Benekeid Ink, LLC.

ASIN:: B0CJJQ1PVP

"But what if she doesn't want to be found?"

Aided by their cybernetic eyes, private investigator Ryn Casler makes a living busting cheating spouses. While they’ll occasionally dabble in fraud and other typical cases, they don’t deal with the missing.

Until the persistent Shae Winters, a police detective, approaches them about the disappearance of a young Black woman.

Friction flies between detective and PI, as Shae insists on tagging along during the investigation. But as their search deepens and spills into the world of furry body mods, it becomes clear there’s more to this case than meets the eye.

"But what if she doesn't want to be found?"

Aided by their cybernetic eyes, private investigator Ryn Casler makes a living busting cheating spouses. While they’ll occasionally dabble in fraud and other typical cases, they don’t deal with the missing.

Until the persistent Shae Winters, a police detective, approaches them about the disappearance of a young Black woman.

Friction flies between detective and PI, as Shae insists on tagging along during the investigation. But as their search deepens and spills into the world of furry body mods, it becomes clear there’s more to this case than meets the eye.

1 edition

masukomi (📚) reviewed Early Adopter by Sienna Eggler (Early Adopter, #1)

Wonderfully different.

5 stars

Set in a near future where body-mods are common and black market surgeons can make you into the anthropomorphic animal of your dreams, Ryn is a non-binary, aromantic PI.

Sienna is a master at writing compelling characters who are - I suspect - difficult for most people to relate to. As a person who loves being in love I found it difficult to relate to the fact that Ryn is aromantic. My brain kept expecting it to be revealed that they just have a tough emotional exterior, and that they'd eventually open up to Shae romantically, but no Ryn's just aromantic. Similarly, Ryn's just nonbinary. It's not a plot point. It's simply an aspect of their existence.

I don't think that it's ever explicitly mentioned that Ryn is aromantic, much like we don't mention that we're breathing mostly nitrogen. It's just a thing that's part of Ryn's existing. …

Set in a near future where body-mods are common and black market surgeons can make you into the anthropomorphic animal of your dreams, Ryn is a non-binary, aromantic PI.

Sienna is a master at writing compelling characters who are - I suspect - difficult for most people to relate to. As a person who loves being in love I found it difficult to relate to the fact that Ryn is aromantic. My brain kept expecting it to be revealed that they just have a tough emotional exterior, and that they'd eventually open up to Shae romantically, but no Ryn's just aromantic. Similarly, Ryn's just nonbinary. It's not a plot point. It's simply an aspect of their existence.

I don't think that it's ever explicitly mentioned that Ryn is aromantic, much like we don't mention that we're breathing mostly nitrogen. It's just a thing that's part of Ryn's existing. I loved Ryn's casual acceptance of sex work and sex workers. I loved the way they respects the wishes of the person they're hired to find, and won't reveal how to find her unless she says it's ok.

I love the setting. I love the obvious trans allegory that furry people exist, and are fetishized, but also shunned and not accepted by much of society because of their choice to live as the person they see themselves as. I love that they have to go through black market surgery to have the body they feel is right for them.

I love all the characters, even the gross ones.

My only complaint is that it's too short.

I can't wait to read the sequel. I can't wait to see more of this world.

Subjects

aromantic
furry
nonbinary