“a dystopian thrill ride that ratchets up the action with each page and begs the question – who can claim humanity?” -Jacqui Castle, best selling author of The Seclusion
Life sucked until cyborgs murdered his sister. Then things got worse: superhuman hit squads, cybernetic powers, secrets better left unsaid.
Raek’s your average sixteen-year-old wolfish: claws, keen eyes, a nose for trouble… … wolfish: claws, keen eyes, a nose for trouble… There’s just one thing: he’s got built-in blasters and is a threat to the immortal world government. That’s why the Resistance wants him, and why the cyborgs want him dead.
With only the advice of a mysterious professor and the help of a fragmented half-human Resistance, Raek must navigate crushing betrayal, self-doubt, and a limitless enemy whose evil knows no bounds.
The fate of mankind may rest in his hands.
Cynetic Wolf is the first in the Wolfish YA sci-fi dystopian series that features bloody immortality, post-apocalyptic progress, and gene editing that splinters the very fabric of society. If you like dark technothrillers, fast-paced adventure, and surprising sci-fi, are a fan of Divergent, Red Rising, or the Hunger Games, or love classics like the Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World and Ender’s Game, you’ll love this speculative fiction thriller.
Buy Cynetic Wolf today for a page-turning dystopian whirlwind… right up to its astonishing conclusion!
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This is a great 21st century hero’s journey book. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to everyone. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
I’m not really a dystopian story kinda person but I agreed to read and give a review, so here goes.
I wanted to like the book because I do like sci-fi books but with the unpronounceable names and cities it stopped the flow of the storyline. Also the emotions going back and forth was hard to believe. Also, young characters just don’t have the depth of older characters when an author tries to write them. They come across whiny, unstable, and cartoonish. Then you had descriptions of everything with -ish at the end of it. This required too much of my logic and belief to be suspended in trying to make it remotely believable and ended up becoming sophomoric. Never assume the reader to be a teenager who will swallow this. We adults like to escape the realities of our time and immerse ourselves in fantasy but I wasn’t able to do so here. Sorry.
CYNETIC WOLF
By Matt Ward
A YA Dystopian Novel
In the mid-21st Century, technical and biological advancements came at dizzying speed. Cyborgs first, then microminiature components made it possible to implant newborns, simplifying the process and changing the name from cyborgs to cynetics. A small group discovered how to encrypt and back up a person’s soul, personality, being, and achieve a sort of immortality by rebooting the back up into a new body. The enhanced took a biological direction to increase size, strength, senses.
And the most horrible experiments of all, hybrids, mostly human, but the genes taken from animals lent their characteristics. Bearish were big and strong and mostly brown furred. Lizardish were always cold, with greenish skin scales. Rabbitish were nervous and quick, with big ears. Etc, etc, etc. and our hero, Raek, is wolfish. He has excellent hearing and smell, he’s a great tracker and hunter, and smarter than most other hybrids.
But Raek was different. Raek was special. Not only was he wolfish, he also was cynetic. He was smart. He could hook directly into the internet or read a whole book in just a few minutes. And he had blasters inside his hands. When the war started, both sides wanted this special boy. The rebels wanted him to lead them, the government wanted to take him apart to see how a wolfish could be part cynetic.
There are many layers to this story, from the ethics of genetic experimentation, class structure, and slavery, to the horrors of war and political intrigue.
Matt Ward is a wordsmith of great talent, his characters are real and three dimensional. And David Akiva Klionsky is the perfect narrator, with a wide vocal range, and as Raek he is a typical naive teenage boy.
Don’t miss it.
I LOVED this book. I thought it was very thought provoking and the characters were very good. A 16 year old hybrid loses his family and friends and is the hope of the future for all humans of each differing branch that has been established. I enjoyed the story and thought it was great. I would highly recommend it.
Even in the future, equality is still unobtainable. And, slavery of a sort still exists. Messing around with genetic engineering created a caste system of immortals to animotes (human/animal hybrids). The entire world was run by a Council of these immortal and enhanced beings, with the animotes serving as the worker bees. There was no way to change your “class”, or so it was thought. A young wolfish (wolf/human hybrid) suddenly became the most important member of the animotes, and their hope for change.
This was such an entertaining story and was like nothing else I have read. The author developed a dystopian future that was rich in detail and horror. Since humanity is as messed up as we are, I wouldn’t be surprised to see something along those lines actually happen. Hopefully, good sense prevails sometime in the very near future!!
I received a free copy of this book. I only leave reviews to let others know what I really think.
His sister has been killed and he is being his by rebels who want to use his powers to overthrow the government. The government want him dead. What will he do? Can he stay while he decides if he wants to join the rebels? See what he will do
This was a short story and I would have given it 5 stars because of the writing. This could turn out to be a good series. Experiments gone bad leaves society with the have and have nots. It will be interesting to see where this series goes with they cybernetics
3.5
An original storyline, with interesting characters. The style was a bit to spare in laying down the background for my personal taste. It would have been helpful if there were a legend for names pronunciation and clearer descriptions of the subspecies of humanity. For me it would have made it easier to develop in my mind. If you like sci-fi with a militaristic feel and clean cut writing give it a look, I think you’ll enjoy it.
Excellent book for young men. Action packed dystopian science fiction. Original story with nonstop excitement. I received a free review copy of the audio version of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Suspension of disbelief is probably the most important element of science fiction and fantasy. If you can’t put the reader into that state, any other premise may be lost. More often than not, today’s books drop the reader directly into the action without benefit of how or why the action started in the first place. If you are writing a murder mystery and start out with ‘A shot rang out. Edgar fell dead.’ the action is defined within the parameters of the genre. On the other hand, if you start a science fiction story with words not found in any dictionary, you may find your readers spending a lot of time scratching their heads and possibly putting the book down mostly unread.
I read a lot of books from a multitude of genres and will generally give the author the benefit of the doubt that the plot will become clear fairly quickly. While reading CYNETIC WOLF, the first thing I wanted to know was what exactly does ‘cynetic’ mean? It is close enough to cybernetic to allow me to guess. It quickly becomes apparent that what is happening here is something in the far future of earth and that scientists have manipulated human genetics in such a way as to create any number of sub-species… wolfish, pigish, owlish, etc. While struggling to grasp the story, I found myself reminiscing about George Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM which put me in a different frame of mind vis a vis CYNETIC WOLF.
Over the past several years, I have been reading more and more new and ‘indie’ authors. By doing this, I find myself starting at the beginning of a career that I may or may not follow. Back in 1976, I picked up a book that captured my imagination and made me want to read everything the author had written or will write. That book was ‘SALEM’S LOT. Although I found out later it was King’s second book, after reading CARRIE, I read everything in the order it was written. By catching the author at the beginning of his or her career, it is possible to see how that writer develops and matures with each and every book.
CYNETIC WOLF is an action packed novel of a very dystopian future with a single government ruling the world. The basic underlying theme is racism in the extreme. As has become common in today’s science fiction, the betterment of government and society is resting on the shoulders of a teenager with good intentions and horribly bad luck. The very nature of dystopian fiction runs to nihilism which is pretty depressing at best.
The books ends with “to be continued…” As you might expect, this is not the most satisfying conclusion a book can have. I have always been a fan of the complete story in one book. I can’t tell you how many times I have read a book of more than a thousand pages and closed that book wanting more. More and more authors are serializing tales that, in my humble opinion, should be experienced as one long book.
I always find it difficult to review a book that I both liked and disliked. This is such a book. I found the writing a bit to staccato for my taste and the storyline to be more than a little intriguing. Balancing text and plot required a bit of mental juggling.
This young boy/man has no idea how his whole life is going to change with the 3 different groups in this world. I feel sorry for this main character he is put in a position he does not want and he has so much self recrimination for all the deaths that happen because of this..
This. Was. Awesome.
In a world of science, hybrids roam the earth. For 16-year-old Raek, he’s the first of his kind. Not only is he wolfish but a cynetic too. His differences make him wanted by every group. When the war breaks out, Raek finds himself at a special place. He has the support of the hybrids and the rebels while the government wants to capture and destroy him. His leadership will either end the war for good or he’ll die trying.
The worldbuilding was absolutely phenomenal. In the future, the science experiments have led to cyborgs, hybrid animal/humans, and cynetics. Each group seems to suffer in their own way, and as the world continues on, things only get worse. I thought the detail of the science behind each group, and the creation of “cynetics” was extremely unique.
The main character was interesting because he was not only a hybrid but he was also a cynetic. Personality wise, he was a character I found it easy to relate to. He had self-doubts, but he always kept his mission at the front of his mind. There was something admirable about that especially since it wasn’t an easy thing for him to do.
Even though this is a YA book, the author had many layers of important thought fodder throughout. From human experimentation, to society and the way it classes people, to war, and the suffering that innocents can undergo from the fallouts of politics.
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.
This is a surprising tale of species differentiated and the law of survival that always seems to prevail on mankind. The characters come alive on the pages, and the plot keeps you guessing what is at the next turn. I truly enjoyed this book.
energenic he finds hes differant and is wanted by the goverment for what he is he founds friends he never thought about and love when he never thought he could
Complex and haunting!
A dystopian book to read and reread! We’re thrust into a world where science has been twisted into a knot of consequences. Engrossing multi-layered tale that ebbs and flows…each of these species (cyborgs/cynetics and the various hybrids), are intriguing with their histories, politics, social norms, and complex characteristics/abilities. No one is pure in this dangerous game and will there be any winners or only losers? You’ll want to cheer the young and flawed Raek on his perilous journey to becoming an uncertain hero. This author is a minstrel of words and a weaver of worldbuilding. Highly recommend!
No one wins a civil war
Raek McKorian is a half-human and animotes wolf. He gets caught up in the war of the classes after a friend’s dog is found dead with a cynetic nanotech’s six claw mark on it; the dog is missing parts of its body.
A murdered sister, a missing mother, and brother; Raek doesn’t know what to do. He is the prime suspect. He barely escapes the law and soldiers with the help of a teacher.
The struggles between the classes in his world are real.
• Enhancers
• Cynetics
• Emulates
• Animotes
Read to find out what happens when a teenage boy learns he had additional powers, is wanted by all waring fractions, and reluctantly leads a civil war.
This book is a unique look at what could be if we allow genetic splicing between species. Nanotec is already live.
I received a free ARC. Warning–revolutions aren’t pretty.