In Edenet, psychic contractor James Morgan had to save an AI scientist from China.
In book two, China tried to further interfere with AI giant Anatol Corporation expanding into Africa.
Now, having pissed off China too much, Morgan is stuck in Poland, part of the Free European Alliance, running operations against the Caliphate in Germany.
Now, Morgan is going to find himself in a war.
The Story
After an operation into the Caliphate in Berlin goes sideways, turning into a run-and-gun extraction, James Morgan is trying to catch his breath in Poland, until the European Caliphate start bombing Warsaw, Jihadi gunmen shooting up the streets while wired with suicide vests.
The Caliphate has finally declared open war on the nations of Free Europe. As a former SpecOps psychic, Morgan finds himself coordinating soldiers in the field. And since Anatol’s AI Edenet has been tied further and further into military systems, and Edenet likes working with Morgan, he finds himself in the field more than Jack Ryan.
The Digital Veil sees the series go from being a cyberpunk espionage to cyberpunk warfare. It’s clear that Cheah handles this genre which very easily.
The pacing is breakneck, despite still acknowledging the boring parts of war (all the waiting. All the intelligence analysis. Etc.), he covers it quickly and efficiently, getting to the meat of the conflict. Like any good technothriller, there is a lot of hardware porn in this, making The Digital Veil feel more like a Tom Clancy novel, rather than a Vince Flynn espionage novel.
Despite some parts where it goes on about the philosophy of warfare, overall, it is a fun, fast read, even though it’s 466 pages. And watching everything come to a head was just entertaining.
The Characters
James Morgan comes off as a very … zen operator. He’s not angry enough to be Mitch Rapp, but there are certain echoes when he screams “Deus Vult” at Jihadis in the middle of a mass shooting. I’m not sure if Morgan is becoming more of a smartass, or it was just well hidden in previous novels.
(I’m still a little confused at how Morgan is portrayed as a Christian, yet will occasionally espouse thoughts about Karma—which is part of no Christian dogma that I’m familiar with.)
Again, Morgan is teams up with Eligia Ogrod, the primary assistant to Anatol’s CEO. Her development continues to be interesting as she goes from background tech support, to analysis, to getting thrust into the frontlines. Though some of the conversations she and Morgan have make me wonder what happened to basic Just War theory.
The World
Cyberpunk has always been described to me has universally being a distopia genre. Funny thing about this series is that the true distopias have been the current distopias: first China, then Africa, and now, Islamic Europe.
In each case, it’s clear that Cheah does his research, because each country has the feeling of either the modern day culture, or historical cultures. And in this case, this cyberpunk Caliphate is just like the original caliphate, only with more technology to enforce laws on the dhimmis. If you have nightmares about the future of Europe and Islam … this should add to them.
Also, the Poles having a commando unit called the Winged Hussars is just very on the nose.
Politics
If you think that Islam is “the religion of peace,” this book is probably not for you.
Content Warning
Lots of violence. But about it.
Who is it for?
This is very much a Tom Clancy cyberpunk novel. It feels very much like the technothriller of Red Storm Rising, combined with behind the lines covert infiltration of a John Clark. Or just putting Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp into a war scenario. So yeah, if you’re a fan of Tom Clancy or Vince Flynn, and science fiction, this is definitely up your alley.
Why buy it
This might be the most readable cyberpunk world I’ve ever encountered.