NINTH STEP STATION – Episode 8: The Clawed Limb by Jacqueline Koyanagi

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Ninth Step Station by Malka Older, Fran Wilde, Jacqueline Koyanagi, Curtis C. Chen
Published by Serial Box on January 8 2019
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher

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A few notes about how I’m going to review this series. There are ten episodes, and my plan is to put a review up each Wednesday as they become available. I’ve never done this before, so let’s see how it goes! Also, I won’t be giving star ratings to the individual episodes, but I will rate the series overall when I’m finished.

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About Ninth Step Station:

A local cop. A US Peacekeeper. A divided Tokyo.

Years of disaster and conflict have left Tokyo split between great powers.

In the city of drone-enforced borders, bodymod black markets, and desperate resistance movements, US peacekeeper Emma Higashi is assigned to partner with Tokyo Metropolitan Police Detective Miyako Koreda.

Together, they must race to solve a series of murders that test their relationship and threaten to overturn the balance of global power. And amid the chaos, they each need to decide what they are willing to do for peace.

Episode 1: The Faceless Body

Episode 2: The Bodiless Arm

Episode 3: The Fallen Executive

Episode 4: The Blackout Killer

Episode 5: The Deadly Defection

Episode 6: The Stolen Xiaohái

Episode 7: The Loud Politician

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I loved this episode! I think it’s my favorite so far. Koyanagi hits the ground running and the action never lets up. The story opens with a couple of police officers chasing a suspect through the streets of Tokyo, a young man who attacked his girlfriend in her apartment. The man swears he didn’t attack her, but that his surgically altered right hand, a body-mod that looks like a claw, attacked her against his will.

That sounds strange enough, but later Emma and Miyako are called to a crime scene, a restaurant near the Chinese border called Hotaru Kaiseki, a popular place for people with extreme body-mods to hang out and socialize. The restaurant has erupted in chaos, after patrons started attacking each other. In every case, the attackers swear their modified appendages attacked on their own, as if someone else were controlling them. To Emma and Miyako, it looks like the two events might be connected. And because of the body-mod ties to the Nakajima family, the Japanese mob, Kensuke is called in to help.

The Clawed Limb is short, but a lot happens in this episode. Not only do we get the cool but extremely creepy attacks by the body-mods (sounds like a sci-fi movie from the 60s, right??), but Koyanagi delves deeper into the tension between the Japanese and Chinese and the dangerous resistance movement. I’ve always loved the episodes that revolve around the characters with body-mods, which may be one reason I enjoyed this so much. This time we get a guy with luminescent hair that sparkles when he runs his hand through it, who also has two leg modifications that make him a fast runner.

I’m also fascinated by the drones in this world, which have all sorts of functions, from spybots to sentries to simple decorations. For example, in The Clawed Limb, a tiny drone that looks like a firefly plays a big part in the outcome of the story. I love the idea of firefly drones that mimic the real thing and add ambiance to a public place. Although watch out, because these little drones aren’t quite what they seem…

On a personal note, we get a nice, domestic scene when Miyako visits her girlfriend Kaori in the Chinese part of town. I love how their relationship is complicated by the fact that they live in different sectors, even though they’re both Japanese. With the stress of their jobs, we rarely see Miyako or Emma relaxing, so this scene is also important in that it shows the human side of our characters. There’s also a brief but oh-so-satisfying scene where Emma give Kensuke the brush-off. And boy did I love that!

And speaking of human, wow, both Miyako and Emma are fierce, bad-ass cops in the interrogation room! I love seeing female characters with traits that are usually associated with male characters. At one point one of the women kicks over the chair that the perp is sitting in, she gets so mad at him. Emotions from the growing tension at the border are creeping into the characters’ actions more and more, and it’s almost palpable.

The ending was pretty shocking, and I think it’s safe to say that in the next few episodes things are going to come to a head. I can hardly wait!

Check back next Wednesday for a review of Episode 9: The Assassin’s Nest by Fran Wilde & Curtis C. Chen

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Are you intrigued? You can purchase the entire series for $13.99! Click here now to learn more.

About Serial Box:

Serial Box brings everything that’s awesome about TV (easily digestible episodes, team written, new content every week) to what was already cool about books (well-crafted stories, talented authors, enjoyable anywhere).

Like TV, we release a new episode of our serials every week and serials typically run for seasons of 10-16 weeks. Easy to pick up, episodes are enjoyable on their own but build over the course of the season to tell a bigger story. Each episode is available in ebook and audio and takes about 40 minutes to enjoy.á