6.5 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2023/08/15/mindbreaker-by-kate-dylan-review/

Now, Indra’s no Sil Sarrah; I actually found her quite a bit more agreeable as a narrator. Where Sil was overly gruff and angsty, hailing from a non-tech religious cult seems to have mellowed Indra a bit. I mean, she’s still a teenager, so don’t expect a complete attitude adjustment, but it’s not as if you can read YA and not expect such things.

While Mindbreaker offers a return to the world of Mindwalker, it does so in a way that ruins the magic of the first book. I mean, in general we know that big tech companies are tech (shocker, right?), and the Analog Army, while being labeled terrorists, are actually the scrappy underdogs that everyone likes to root for, as they’re really just a family built around loss. Yeah, yeah—I know that’s a bit cynical of me, but in my defense, Mindbreaker really doesn’t try anything new. It’s basically the same formula, same plot, generally same technology, only a different protagonist. It’s hard to bottle lightning twice. Especially that same spark. And that’s what I found found this one to be lacking—a spark, the magic, that certain something. It’s not a bad read, exactly, just… a bit middling.

The ending however, is ridiculous. Not remotely believable, in the way that the world—specifically in a world where the rich rule arguably more than they even do today—is at all fair. Now, I realize it’s YA, and they generally strive for some sort of happy ending (well, most stories do), it’s just that the circumstances surrounding this ending are all so unlikely that together they might as well be impossible. And no—I can’t explain that without spoilers, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. But maybe keep this in mind as well: what failed to work a second time on me might work quite well for someone else. If you loved the first one and wanted more of the same, this absolutely could be amazing. And that’s fine. That’s a perfectly valid opinion. Just for me, right now… it could’ve been much better.

So, I guess take that with a grain of salt.

Also, as an aside: my favorite detail of this was an implantable NDA. That’s just an amazing—if horrifying—idea that totally needs to happen in the dystopian cyberpunk future.

EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BOOK WAS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED!

If you had asked me before I started reading, I would have told you I couldn’t possibly like this more than Dylan’s last book, Mindwalker. But I was stunningly wrong. This book intertwines religious ideology with hyper-capitalist dystopian cyber-punk tech in a way I have never seen before and am frankly obsessed with. I loved this so much and will continue to instantly read everything by this author forever.

This is the second book set in the same universe but featuring a new main character, Indra a former anti-tech cult member who gets injured during a radioactive storm and then enhanced by one of the mega tech companies from book one. I found Indra a hard character to like, she hadn't had a lot of choices in her life and was very angry about the fact (understandably!) but it made it difficult to empathise with some of the things she did and the choices that she went on to make. When Indra and her hacker buddy meet up with the cast of the first book I felt that things improved a lot - from having a much bigger set of characters to care about and catching up with old friends from Mindwalker. It's a solid sequel that leaves room for further instalments.

Mindbreaker is a fiercely pacy sci-fi and an excellent follow-up to Mindwalker. Stand-alone, but featuring characters from Mindwalker, Mindbreaker follows Indra, an ex-cult-member-turned-cybot who is forced into the hands of a tech company in order to save her life. Forced to accept her new reality as Glindell’s trademarked property, Indra tries to get used to Tian, her sort-of-friend and a research assistant, rummaging around in her mind. That is until Indra starts having dreams where she’s handling bombs and losing pockets of time. But she’s been in her room the whole time… right? Faced with the need to get answers, Indra finds herself on the run, desperate to find out what happens before Glindell shuts her down for good.

This was a fascinating sequel. The world in Mindwalker was shown to be a post-god society, but Indra was part of a religious commune who still believed in a god and she spends a lot of the story grappling with her faith, her learned aversion to tech and the lessons that had been ingrained within her, as well as her struggle to understand the actions of her family. It’s sapphic too, which I loved!

Just damn. Kate has done it again and created a sci-fi technology universe you can’t put down until you finish the very last chapter, or in my case until you realise it’s 2 am and you probably should go to bed because you have work to do in the morning.
I didn’t think that this book could be any better than the first, but damn was I wrong, Kate has developed her writing even more, which I didn’t think was physically possible, to be even more amazing; creating a world that you fall in to and follow each electrical pulse along the adventure’s twists and turns so much I ended up messaging Kate several times with comments like ‘what the fuck’.

Although I am not the biggest fan of sci-fi, as you can probably see from the little amount of sci-fy I read…this is definitely one book that even if you are not a sci-fi fan you must read. I loved it from beginning to end and you can see the work and love that the author has put into every single chapter and character. I cannot wait for everyone to read this book, not only that, but I am insisting now that Kate must create more books because I need her writing in my life permanently permanently.

A massive thank you to Kate for letting me read this early and having every emotion under the Sun escape for me while reading it. I hope that the special edition I have designed lives up to this amazing story.

~thank you netgalley and hodderscape for a review copy
~This is a really solid sci fi book that I really enjoyed!! If you enjoyed the first one you would love this one just as much! The plot was one of my favourite parts of this book, the main character Indra was sold to a tech corporation as she was on her death bed as the last resort to save her but her family are part of an anti-tech church and once she is her mind is uploaded to a robot they are never be able to speak to her again. I found the plot so evenly paced, throughout the whole book the pace was fast there weren’t any lulls or parts that slowed down the story. The characters were amazing!! Indra was an amazing protagonist, and you will see some familiar faces from the first book! The world that these books are set in is so vivd, you can immediately see the greater world and how it became this way even though it isn’t described in detail. I think the writing has improved from the first book (but that was amazing as well!) it tied all of the elements of this book together nicely! I don’t really have much criticism for this book but it was just missing something for me to rate it 5 stars

Come with me if you want to love.

Indra Dyer is dying, and the second-largest tech corporation in the United American State offers to save her life, totally for free, with just one minor catch: she’ll become their wholly-owned intellectual property. Raised in a church that shuns technology, she becomes the ultimate blasphemy. Instead of saving her body, they download her mind into a identical android copy.

Is she still Indra? Mostly. Will her family still accept her? Unlikely. Is there a good explanation for her missing stretches of time, and the nagging feeling that she’s done some really bad things along the way? Let’s be honest, it’s a cyberpunk book, almost certainly not.

This is the second book by Kate Dylan in this YA setting, the first being Mindwalker which I liked a lot earlier in the year. While the main characters are different, and it’s still a self-contained story, it is more of a sequel than I was expecting, which was a pleasant surprise. You’ll certainly get more out of it if you have read the first book, however it’s not strictly required.

I very much enjoyed this one too, it has a good mix of sci-fi action and intrigue with a welcome sprinkling of romance on the top. I really hope we’ll see more of all these characters again in the future.

Thank you to Hodder Books for the advance copy.

(Spoiler free)
4.5/5 stars

No more quiet rebellions

Indra Dyer lived a simple life, growing up in a religious cult on the edge of society. After a trip to the city goes wrong, and she is left in a terminal condition, signing her life away to Glindell technology is the only way to ensure her survival... But it wasn't the cure she had hoped for. Saved by the very technology she has been taught to despise, Indra mind is uploaded to the first-of-its-kind MindDrive, housed in a fully robotic shell.
She still looks the same, but on the inside, she's not sure. Something is wrong... She keeps finding herself in places she really shouldn't be, with no memory of how she got there and dangerous abilities she can't explain. So when news breaks of an attack against Glindell's biggest rival, Indra suspects the worst- With the help of research assistant Tian, Indra must uncover the truth behind the procedure that saved her life, before Glindell can use it to change the face of technology, and what it means to be human, forever...

Wow! Just Wow!

I have so much to say about this book! I absolutely loved jumping back into the same universe as Mindwalker. I fell in love with the characters almost immediately and was so happy to see some familiar faces along the way. I honestly didn't think the twist was going to catch me out like Mindwalker did... but oh boy, was I wrong! ...I think I have whiplash.
I am really hoping there's going to be another book as I want to find out what happens next.

Thank you to NetGalley for my early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review :)

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book. I was sceptical of this book at first when I was reading the first couple of chapters wether it was for me or not but I pushed through and I enjoyed it in the end, the concept was a bit harder for me to grasp than other books but I am glad I persevered with it because I enjoyed reading it and the pace picked up after the first 3 or 4 chapters. 3.5 stars

An interesting thriller about the dangers of corporate power and what it means to be human in a tech-enhanced world. Not as good as Mindwalker. I found the main character hard to root for.

Today's the day my parents decide whether to sell me or let me die.

Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton for providing an arc in exchange for a review.

Indra is near death when a profiling tech company offers to take her from her anti-tech religious cult and upload her mind into an artificial drive, a MindDrive housed in a fully titanium shell.
But there’s parts of her memories missing and she’s having vivid dreams of death. But that can’t be right. She’s been in the facility and accounted for at all times.

She escapes to seek aid from her hacker friend and they fall in with a rebel group seeking to reveal the darker side of tech corps.

If I do agree to them, I'll become proprietary IP. Glindell will save my life, but they'll also own it.

Disclaimer: I read this without first having read Mindwalker as my kindle downloaded them in the wrong order and I fully didn’t realise until I came to write my review.
So this book can definitely be read as a stand-alone! There are mentions of Sil and Riley (characters from book one) - the rebels who Indra and Nyx fall in with, but honestly, the only reason I really remember their names is because I read the blurb for book one.

I liked that even though this wrote about indoctrinated and religion, it never felt like a blatant attack against religion itself. More of the lack of choice and free will in decisions and lifestyles. Then, having this compared to a tyrannical tech corp or capitalism… pretty smart.

When I saw this book advertised I knew straight away, after reading MindWalker from the same author, that I absolutely had to read this book. And I wasn’t disappointed.
The story follows Indra Dyer, a girl born into a religious tech free cult. After sneaking into the city she ends up with a terminal condition and is given the choice to die faithful to her beliefs and upbringing or accept the cure offered by the tech company that basically runs everything and then has to deal with the consequences of that deal.
It’s full of twists and turns and I honestly could not put this down. This author is knocking out some fantastic reads and I can’t wait to see what she does next

Kate Dylan has done it again!
I absolutely adored Mindwalker and honestly, wasn’t sure if Kate could top it. But they did and boy was this book an emotional rollercoaster.
Mind breaker is a standalone read set in the same universe and follows on from the events of Mindwalker.
Kate did such a beautiful job introducing a new corporate programme whilst still leaving you to feel connected to the original story. The writing was stellar, the sapphic romance was stunningly slow burn and overall I just didn’t want it to ever end,

Thank you Kate for continuing to give this world to life and I really hope you bring us more in this universe.

WOW. Kate Dylan has done it again. I loved Mindwalker (unputdownable) and you can go ahead and add Mindbreaker to the list of books I devoured in just a couple days.

The story follows Indra - raised in an anti-tech cult and forced to embrace tech in order to save her own life...only to find that that tech has now turned her into a human machine and may yet rob her of her humanity altogether. In Dylan's typical style, this high-octane thriller catapults us straight into danger while also asking us to question the role of tech and tech companies in our own world.

I listened on audio and the narrator did an excellent job. Highly recommend the audiobook for other audio aficionados like myself.

Loved this sequel so much!

Indra is dangerously ill but is actually bought and paid for by Glindell Technologies and turned into....something else but all is not well inside Indra and she breaks free, meets up with an old friend and a new friend from Glindell, Tian. And it all comes out what has been happening - none of it good!!

This was fast paced and full of action and drama! I love this world so much! Also a couple of familiar faces pop up in the form of Sil, Ryder and the AA - so happy!!!

Indra ran into everything headlong and was totally reckless but Nyx tried to be her anchor, the voice of reason. Talking of Nyx, it was refreshing to get a friendship that didn't turn into a romance as they're both queer!

This book, as well as book 1, has just shown me not to trust tech!!! I really hope there's more in this world!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It is set in the same world as Mindwalker. Mindbreaker can be read as a standalone as it has its own plot. But I'd strongly advise you to read Mindwalker first because you might run into one or several of its characters. And they also discuss events that took place during Mindwalker.
I really enjoyed the book's evil tech corporation/dystopia elements as well as the general science fiction elements.

This was out much quicker than I expected, so that was good because it meant Mindwalker was pretty fresh in my head still. What I liked about this though was that it could be read as a standalone.

Character wise, they were mostly believable and likeable. I was worried at one point we were going down the romance route, but I'm pleased to say that was more of a side line. The ideas were interesting, not all original, but well done, if a little underdeveloped in places. I liked the sound of the bot wars and this was pretty rushed, I kind of felt like it was thrown in because they could really, it didn't really add much. If this was a duology or trilogy, I think this could have been massively expanded.

There were a couple twists and turns along the way. Nothing groundbreaking but they kept things going and the overall pace was good. I don't know which I prefer, book 1 or 2 as they are both different, but if there's another, I'd happily give that a go too

picking up after Mindwalker, Mindbreaker is an excellent follow-up that at least equals Kate Dylan’s first book in the series. indra, glindell, and a whole new tech are introduced here which takes place in the same universe as MindWalker but without sil and syntex. this book is for people who wish to dabble in cyberpunk scifi while keeping their attention on the plot and the characters. similar to mindwalker, this installment makes me yearn to travel to a planet full of human adaptability and perseverance despite being desolate and hanging on by a thread. although i believe you could read this without having read Mindwalker, it's recommended diving in for the world context and the larger narrative elements before taking this up!

thank you to the author and netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

picking up after Mindwalker, Mindbreaker is an excellent follow-up that at least equals Kate Dylan’s first book in the series. indra, glindell, and a whole new tech are introduced here which takes place in the same universe as MindWalker but without sil and syntex. this book is for people who wish to dabble in science fiction while keeping their attention on the plot and the characters. similar to mindwalker, this installment makes me yearn to travel to a planet full of human adaptability and perseverance despite being desolate and hanging on by a thread. although i believe you could read this without having read Mindwalker, it's recommended diving in for the world context and the larger narrative elements before taking this up!

thank you to the author and netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton; and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of Mindbreaker.

I am a massive fan of Mindwalker and so Mindbreaker was one of my most anticipated reads for 2023 and boy did Kate Dylan deliver.

I was drawn in by the story and characters straightaway - actually much quicker even than Mindwalker. Every time I set my kindle down I felt compelled to keep reading which is a sure sign for me that I’m loving something. Mindwalker was great but Kate Dylan took things up a level with the second novel set in the Mindwalker world. The pacing was spectacular, the characters were great and the overall plot was very enjoyable and felt in no way derivative of Mindwalker. Extra points to Kate Dylan for some of that dialogue too which was a punch to the heart in some places.

Kate Dylan is fast becoming an auto-buy author for me and I will definitely be picking this up again.