I was initially interested in reading this book, however my tastes have shifted and I do not think I will be able to get to it now. I will likely purchase a copy of this book myself. Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a digital copy!

This was completely different to anything I have read before, but I have been wanting to get into sci-fi for a while and after his maiden voyage i can say I enjoyed it. I am usually one for murder & crime, so it did take me a while to get used to it, however after I was settled in with it. I found there was a lot going on at times, but its worth persevering!!!

Ex-neuroscientist Carina doesn't know which is more disturbing, her addiction the virtual reality drug, Zeal, or her real-life compulsion for murder. Forgotten by her former colleagues and over-looked by the government meant to protect her, Carina believes what is left of her life will be spent in the haze of a drug-trip where she can shape reality to her own choosing. But reality has other plans for her.

The synopsis of this promised a fast-paced, high-intrigue read and that is exactly what it delivered. I did however find the plot a little overwhelming and felt I missed a lot of the reason behind the action occurring.

Perhaps this was not this particular novel's fault, as I find this a recurring problem with science fiction. Give me complex rules of magic and I'll be fine, but for some reason futuristic settings and scientific advancements overwhelm me. I enjoyed the parts I understood but felt a little like I was drowning in other parts of this. This was an interesting concept and I enjoyed exploring the darkness of the human psyche but still felt lost and needed a guide map to this world.

Unfortunately I had to quit reading this book at 50% as I was not enjoying it at all. I read the previous book in the series, False Hearts, which I wasn't a fan of, but I was assured that this latest instalment was a better read. For me that was not the case. I have read this author's earlier young adult books and really enjoyed them but her attempts at this supposedly more grown up genre have left me cold I am sorry to say. In view of the fact that I did not finish this book I have not left a review anywhere but here on NetGalley. I would like to thank the publishers for approving me for this title and wish I could be more positive about my reading experience.

Carina is an ex-neuroscientist, and she was pretty damn good. Until she got addicted to a drug that takes her into a virtual reality. A virtual reality where she doesn’t have to fight her conscience and her urge to kill, she can give into it without hurting anyone. She’s on the path to self-destruction, caused in part by Sudice, the company she used to work for. When she starts seeing a dead girl in her virtual reality, a dead girl she didn’t create, she finally discovers what Sudice did to her, and how she can stop them. But she can’t do it alone. She teams up with a group of hackers to finally take down the mega-corporation.

I’ve been wanting to pick up a Laura Lam book for a while. I’ve heard great things about her work and I have both False Hearts and Pantomime on Kindle but haven’t got around to reading them yet. So, I requested it on NetGalley when I saw it to finally encourage me to read one. It is set in the same world as False Hearts,which I haven’t read, but I still found to world-building to be well explained and I read it fine as a standalone with no previous knowledge of the world or technology.

Shattered Minds can be best described as Cyberpunk – a very technological heavy read -which is why I struggled with it a little bit. I did enjoy the book, but the story relied very heavily on technology, such as virtual reality, hacking, brain chips and implants etc. But sometimes it just got a little too tech-heavy for my personal tastes but others may not have that problem.

Our main character, Carina, was a very… interesting character. She was a Dexter like character. She was a drug addict (recovering for most of the book), who had a very strong urge to kill. She is the epitome of an unlikeable, but well-developed, female character. I wouldn’t call her a pleasure to read, her inner thoughts were a little bit uncomfortable to read at times but she was a well developed and complex female character. I particularly enjoyed reading of the conflicts she had, and that of fighting her drug addiction. I also really enjoyed Daz, a transgender hacker and doctor who aides Carina through her recovery and her mission to take down Sudice.

I also really enjoyed the nonlinear narrative (I’ve always been a fan). I liked how the mystery of the past unfold alongside the thrilling-action of the present.

Shattered Minds was a dark and brutal read, but I would definitely recommend to science fiction lovers, especially those who love science and tech-heavy sci-fi.

This got off to a bit of a slow start, for me, and I thought I was going to get a bit bogged down in the technicalities of neuroscience and mind-altering virtual reality drugs, but all of a sudden I was hooked by the story of Carina, and the assortment of characters with whom she bands to try and bring down evil corporation Sudice.

This cyberpunk thriller will infect your brain like a code virus. You’ll be as addicted to the novel as the protagonist is addicted to the virtual reality enhancement drug.

I think it's safe to say that me and present tense narratives do not get along. That's not to say that's the sole reason for my low rating of this book, but it's a big one. And when it's present tense for both the present and past (besides Carina's memories), that just makes things even more confusing. I don't know exactly why I have a problem with present tense narratives, but I can't name any books that have used one that I've particularly liked.

On top of the present tense writing, some phrases just came across as purple-prosey, forced, and downright cringeworthy at times. There were scenes which sounded exactly like badly written action film scenes (you know the type) and it just didn't work in a book.

I mostly found the plot of the book boring, to be honest. Firstly, it was hard to sympathise with a serial killer as the main character (though granted she only killed people who had themselves committed terrible crimes, and only in her drug-induced world, but it still was hard to connect to her). Also, I didn't really need all the graphic descriptions of exactly how she was fantasising killing people. Thanks, but no thanks.

Secondly, the story never really seemed high stakes enough. Sure, there was the risk of death if any of them actually got caught, but it honestly never really seemed like the bad guys were even getting close. There was one close shave that seemed like it was slotted in to try raise the stakes, but it still didn't help.

The whole idea of the plot was great, and I really thought I'd like it, but in the end, I was just a bit bored by it all.

Really couldn't get into this one and DNF-ed it at 40%. It seems to me that Shattered Minds is aimed at a younger audience.

(Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC).

I will begin by saying this is a sci-fi read. The world it is set in is meant to be some kind of utopia where murder has been eradicated and there is meant to be these great lives for folks. Pacifica is meant to be an ideal place to live and the company, Sudice, has created this brilliant way for people to go into these dreamscapes and satisfy their urges in their dreams rather than in reality. It is obviously all a lie and completely flawed, but that is where we’re at with this book. Shattered Minds is also a standalone book, as is False Hearts, they are set in the same world and there are references to things mentioned in False Hearts in Shattered Minds but you don’t need to read one to enjoy the other (I love when that happens).

I was completely absorbed from the first page with this one, much as I was with False Hearts. I just didn’t want to stop reading at all and it was because I was intrigued by all these characters you are introduced to. I actually didn’t expect that as at first I didn’t understand how Carina was going to play a major role as she was a Zeal addict (Zeal is the drug used to take folks into their dreamscape) but I soon came to care about her and it was swiftly explained how this addict was going to play a pivotal role. And I really liked Dax from the get go. He was so calm and together in the book and I loved that he knew exactly who he was and what he was working towards. Even Roz, the villain of our story, was a brilliant in her emotionless way as you completely got she was being rational and logical (mostly) and that’s what motivated in her crazy way. I mean, I loved to hate Roz and I love when you feel strongly for an antagonist, it makes you care more what happens at the end.

The story in this book is brilliant and I don’t want to reveal plot details but Carina ends up joining a group who are trying to shine a light on the crimes Sudice has committed. Sudice for too long has accumulated power and basically has control over Pacifica as it is this giant corporation with it’s fingers in all the pies. And I loved it was a total David and Goliath type storyline where this tiny group tries to take on the big guy and it’s utterly brilliant. You’ll be cheering for them the entire time and won’t be able to help yourself.

Essentially, this is a totally brilliant book you need to check out. This one is very much shining the flaws on society for me and it is an addictive read. Also, did I mention that Dax is transgender and a main character and the love interest in this book? No? Then you have another reason to read right there. I could list lots of reasons, really. It’s an awesome read and so addictive with these brilliant characters. You should really just check it out.

I am on a bit of a mission to read new genres to me and, as the synopsis for this book really intrigued me, I thought I'd give it a go. Apart from repeatedly reading Sudice as Suicide and getting a little bit lost a couple of times, probably due to my inexperience with sci-fi books in general, I pretty much enjoyed it throughout.
Our main player here is Carina. She has a bit of a past which lead her to an experimental facility where she was initially a patient and latterly an employee. Something happened during her time there and she has now quit and spends her time in a dream-like virtual world off her face on an additive drug called Zeal where she visualise killing. During one of her "dreams" she has a vision of a young dead girl which, even give her proclivity for violence, shocks her. She subsequently finds out that the vision has been planted by her old colleague Mark who needs her to help expose Sudice and what they do. Trouble is, Carina is already on self-destruct. Is she the right person to help? Mark directs her to like minded people, the Trust, a group of hackers. Turns out, they have a common enemy in Sudice. But, is their combined force, experience and the vast information dumps from Mark that Carina keeps unlocking enough to conquer their enemy, and if so, at what cost?
For someone like me who is new to the genre, I think I did pretty well with this book as it contains a lot that is completely out of my usual comfort zone reading wise. I have to say though that all was very well explained and, within my limited experience of the genre, all totally credible. I think it helped that the basic concept of fighting an evil corporation with various connections, coupled with Carina's personal struggles are familiar to me from my love of psychological thrillers. I found the personal journey she had to undertake in order to unlock the secrets in her head to be very eye opening which also allowed me to connect with her quite solidly from the start. I also found the relationship between her character and that of Dax to be interesting to say the least.
Other characters were also just as well crafted and I was well able to connect with the majority. Obviously there were some I struggled with but I think it's probably more a me thing rather than the author's fault.
Pacing was also well done, as was balance. It was quite a dark book by nature but it was never overwhelming. There were enough lighter moments to keep me going throughout, allowing a bit of respite if you will.
All in all, I am glad I am diversifying my reading; rewards are being reaped for sure. Obviously being new to the genre, I am always looking out for new blood so to speak. I think I may have found it with this author and I see that another of her books is set in the same world so I may well have a go at that one too.

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I am really loving Laura Lam's dark sci-fi novels set in a future filled with drugs that can transport you to a fantasy world, corporations dabbling in twisted and illegal experiments, and encrypted messages hidden away in a person's cerebral cortex.

It's so creative and nasty. This book is set in the same world as False Hearts, but it is a completely separate story with new characters, so it can easily be read as a standalone.

Carina, the main character, is an ex-neuroscientist who is plagued by the desperate urge to kill people. She wasn't always like this. She used to be part of a team of scientists in a huge corporation called Sudice, but her increased desire to kill drove her to drugs, and the vivid dreams of death and destruction they gave her. But the question remains: what made Carina change into someone who craves murder?

When an old colleague dies, Carina receives a bizarre stream of messages from the deceased in her drug-fuelled dreams - messages that have been encrypted into her brain so that only she can access them. Using this information and a small team of allies, Carina sets out to expose and destroy the company that ruined her life - Sudice.

The narrative jumps between different characters and between the past and present of the story. It took a little while to get used to, but when I did, I found it really effective. The mysteries of the past unfolded alongside the action and drama in the present, ensuring that the novel remained tense. I also liked that we got to see the perspective of the main antagonist, offering a complexity to her character and making her more than a mindless villain.

Lam has created a world full of atmosphere. It's part science-heavy cyberpunk with mind-blowing futuristic technology and part fast-paced thrill ride. I love the setting and the fascinating cast of characters, from the drug and death-addicted Carina, to a transgender hacker called Dax, to the ambitious and manipulative Roz. I only hope there's more.