Falling Into Oblivion by Aaron M. Payne is a blitzing cyberpunk thriller that hooks you immediately with its chrome tendrils and punches you in the face with amplified fists.
We’re presented Nox city, a corrupt and dark gutter of the world, through the eyes of a low-ranking detective, Sol Harkones - a cyberpunk noir hero who wants very little to do with the cyberpunk noir. Surrounded by characters with cyborg-esque modifications like enhanced eyes, iron lungs, and super strength, Harkones instead becomes the most interesting character on the page through his outright refusal of modifications (called “modies”), and standing out in his simplicity.
Sol isn’t the strongest guy in the city, but he is clever, using his tools at strategic times, and has morals that often conflict with those he must ally with. But this poor guy finds himself in so many horrible situations that aren’t necessarily his fault, and gets his clock cleaned so often, that I wondered if his name should have been S.O.L. instead.
I always prefer to watch the story unfold from the POV of the average person, or everyman. So, this further enhanced my, uh, enchanting time in Nox city.
What Falling Into Oblivion does exceptionally well is keeping the reader’s interest piqued with its fast pace and unrelenting action. There’s very little downtime, and when there is, no words are wasted.
Payne effortlessly weaves worldbuilding into actions and quick observations, ensuring the action never stops. For a book with a relatively short page count like Falling Into Oblivion, this was the perfect way to establish setting. Through these crumbs, the reader is given ample details with which to paint the picture of this really quite dreadful place of drugs and robot arms.
I have very few gripes with this novel, and I do feel it’s an incredibly strong debut. The quality of dialogue varied, at points extremely strong - especially during the interrogation scenes – and others, a little clunky.
This is a me issue, but I do prefer longer books so I can sink my teeth into side characters more. I find it difficult to do so with shorter works. I wouldn’t have minded spending more time in Nox city if it meant we got to see more of Desson or others.
Overall, Falling Into Oblivion is a fun story – it has thrills, action, and even some laughs, and delivers on its promise by the end.
4/5 stars!
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