Cyber Dreams

Cyber Dreams is one of the new poster children of Royal Road, earning some of the best ratings and its fair share of positive feedback. How good is the new cyberpunk story and is it worth reading?

Let's find out.

The Good 

Style. It's amazing. I have nothing but praise for it, a lot of published books can't reach this level of prose, all the while weaving in a lot of vocab for the cyberpunk setting that makes it feel incredibly alive. Combine this with a lot of different sensory input (all the senses are used, the weight or warmth of something too) and this experience is immersive as can be. 6 stars if it were possible. 

Worldbuilding. A continuation of the above. The world feels alive. It's like having a vivid dream of living in a cyberpunk world. It feels mundane, as if this was all part of a new normal without becoming boring. There are tons of minor characters that are well designed and just pop off the page. At the same time, I've never had a (litrpg) story that feels so much like playing a game. It's like I'm also in there, deciding what to do, what to buy, how to survive. Really well done.

Tension. I had to take some breaks from the story, especially at the beginning because the tension in this story can reach incredible heights. Some things are just so raw, intense and almost sickening (some descriptions are more vivid than I'd like) that you don't know if you want to read twice as fast or not at all. Fights feel like anything could go wrong. A simple gunshot feels like a violation. Props for that.

The Bad 

The main characters. Angels is Juliet's personal AI and she reads like a dialogue with a chat bot. No personality, no agenda, nothing interesting really. She's like a talking cheat code for Juliet and most of the time, the story would be better if Juliet didn't have someone holding her hand and doing most of the work for her. On that matter, Juliet is too much of an everyman. In contrast to the vivid setting, Juliet is just so bland. She's the rookie slowly becoming the professional, but there is no personal stakes, no motivations or anything. It's just as hard to like her as it is to dislike her. Either way, there's not much there. Most of the time, the story masks it well, but in the long run this will drag the story down.

The plot. While the story starts of really strong, it quickly devolves into random missions for money that are only losely connected. These missions are well designed, exciting and fast paced, but after a few of them the repetition starts to kick in. There's no larger story behind it, nothing but surface level connections between them. The stakes are that Juliet dies, but other than that? What's the worst that can happen if all Juliet has to do is go to another city and search for new jobs? 

The Ugly

The good points of this story are enough to make me rate it 6/5. The bad points drag it down some, but it would still be one of the best stories on RoyalRoad. In this last category, I'm talking about the dealbreakers. These are the reasons why I'll drop a story. They might be the reason why you'll drop it too. 

The emotional core. There isn't one. These is one of the best executed litrpgs I've ever read, but still has all the fatal flaws of the genre. There's no character arc, no overarching story tying it together, no deep emotional experience while reading. Your brain will be excited with all the dopamine inducing facets of the story, but you won't really feel anything while reading - I know I didn't. The story is incredibly exciting, but it's not sad, tragic, epic, heartwarming - take your pick. There's this indescribable quality that elevates a story to a special place in your heart and this story doesn't have it. 

In my book, great fiction gives you a strong emotional experience. This story does everything else perfectly, but it doesn't do that, so what am I to rate it?

4/5. I can't go lower, it's too well written for that. I can't go higher, it's a perfect example of the craft, but it's just not art. 

This was very entertaining so far. The style is consistent and the pace changes to match with the activity in each scenario. I felt like I was fully immersed while reading this which is the most promising indicator that I'm going to thoroughly enjoy the experience. The MC is adapting rather quickly to her changing circumstances but nothing is beyond the normal realm of possibility which is appreciated as in so many stories the MC is instantly cool with a world of changes and that kind of breaks my immersion. The fight scenes flow smoothly and realistically and the interactions with other characters do as well. The first chapters that I read had grabbed my interest and the most recent one actually got my adrenaline flowing. The spelling and grammar are excellent and I can't remember any standout errors in the editing. The MC is both relatable and likable. She has the toughness that someone in her profession would likely have. She is somewhat beaten down by the society she lives in but still has an optimism tempered by the harsh reality that she has experienced so far in her life. I'm looking forward to seeing where this story goes.

From the first chapter I have loved this story. It is well written and edited and is very engaging. It is a cyberpunk story with a female lead who is trying to come to terms with the tech she has acquired. So far she is overpowered in one sense but still limited by a massively unequal society and corporate power structure. 

I'm a BIG fam of Plum Parrot and this story just reinforces my appreciation of his talent as a writer.  A great story with lots of sub plots and foreshadowing.  Really reminds me of the Shadowrun Books from the 90's and early 2000's.  Lots of action and adventures.  Story set in an interesting semi-dystopian earth. 

I am really enjoying this story. I like the world building, and having been born in Tucson, I enjoyed seeing it used as a location. It has a solid cyberpunk feel, but with a lot of cool unique flavor. I think you have struck a good balance between the law abiding society and the lawless element without seeming too contrived to support "adventuring".

I look forward to seeing where this story goes next. I can't wait until she goes off-planet. I am also looking forward to seeing more of what Angel can do. She hinted at some cool potential if Juliet got the right gear, so that could be a lot of fun later.

Thank you for sharing your time and creativity. 

I apologize for any bad grammar.
I started reading this book with no expectations. It was pretty high in best ratings, and I haven't read many books with cyberpunk themes, so I was excited to give it a go. The storyline was good, there wasn't anywhere specifically in the book when I was bored, but eventually, there was a point where I felt like the protagonist wasn't realistic at all. From what I have seen, there is a valid, but poorly executed attempt at conveying emotion in the main character as well as all the other characters that interacted with her. I have been treating it as a light read and chose to ignore any inconsistencies in characterization in favor of the plot, but when more importance starts getting placed on the emotions of the main character to justify her actions in the story, you can't just ignore the flaws anymore. Towards the end of book 4 was where it started to become a burden to read, and book 5 has not been showing anything worthwhile. The events that are happening in book 5 just feels like a filler now, and it's going in circles. I don't understand just what the protagonist wants anymore, even when it is directly written down because what she does and says just directly contradicts it.
I like everything else in the book, it's just that characters play such an important role in driving the plot, so when the characterization is done badly, there's really not much reason to keep reading.

It's an excellent story overall. What impresses me the most is how many intricate futuristic elements are present, yet they still work well together to create an immersive world for the protagonist to explore.

There are many unique characters as well, giving the world color and making each plot interesting.

Each sub-plot slowly builds up toward what may or may not be the story's conclusion. I personally hope that the conclusion lies further ahead than I suspect, but that's only because I can't get enough of Cyber Dreams.

My only complaints are the frequent discussions about the protagonist's need to seek out relationships or flings that don't go anywhere and her confusing reluctance to rely on her biggest advantage to improve herself.

Well crafted world with a dystopian bent. The world has depth and history, the tech innovative and slick and the characters are all very distinct. The merc/operator story angle is also interesting and the MC's reactions to entering are very believable and relatable. I literally have nothing negative to say about the story. Kudos to the author and to the reader, enjoy!

The setup is a classic: witness to a deal gone bad our hero goes from a broke blue collar civilian to a badass merc in the making. For anyone with a progression and cyberpunk itch you've found your scratch. Stat grinding, tech upgrades, and backstabbing, what's not to love?   No grammar or spelling issues at all to throw off the detail oriented readers, so you can fully immerse yourself in the world being built here.  Pacing is varied and natural. Every heist is different, keeping you glued to the screen with more than just big shootouts. And in the time inbetween jobs we learn a little more about the different people and histories of the area. No info dumps to worry about, just a new story or detail that naturally enriches the scene or the backdrop of the world.   The characters are what make this story shine. Sure corpos suck, and everyone's ready to kill for creds, but it's nice to know that there are still good people in a dystopia. More often than not, we've got good people trying to just get by without a big Corp ruining their lives. Make some friends, unwind between gigs, and having at least some moral qualms about gunning down everyone in sight.  

The novel starts off very good and quickly draws you in but drops in quality after a dozen or so chapters. My main issue is not with the story, which is quite decent, but with the characters. The author wants to portray a grim unforgiving world but characters act completely contrary to the setting. Mercenaries who often kill other people for a living in a cyberpunk-themed world are quick to trust others, exchange contact info and help each other out, and constantly 'grin' and 'laugh'. Their interactions sometimes remind me a group of friends going on a quest in some MMO rather than professional killers, who know that this miission might as well be their last one. Not to mention that Jullie, Ghoul and Honey (and Angel for that matter) at some point stop having any distinctive features and start feeling like the same person with different names to me. This is quite baffling since in the beginning all characters are well written, have their own motivations and unique personalities, don't easily trust others and even eager to betray to make a quick buck, which is quite logical given their line of work and the world they live in. Also, in some chapters there is a lot of unneccesary dialog. Overall, an interesting story but author needs to work on the characters and their interactions.

P.S. Don't get me wrong, this novell is way better than absolute majority of other webnovels, which can't be even judged by the same standards. This is why it's frustrating to see such inconsistencies, especially knowing that the author can do better.