Over the years, I have come to appreciate dystopian books more and more - probably since I left school and reread Orwell without all the pressure of the school system on me. So choosing Public Domain was not a difficult decision, and to be honest, its rather compelling plot was enough to completely convert me.

The fact is, however, that the novel consists only of good ideas accompanied by bad execution. I rarely decide to stop reading a book because a part of me hopes that sooner or later there will be that "click" that will resolve its fate, but this time I came very close to abandoning it. I liked parts of it, partially appreciated the style of the narration, and am quite convinced that the plot and intentions really had potential to be exploited to the fullest; however, I also came across scenes and statements that I found very off-putting, sometimes racist, others loaded with excessive prejudice that blew my mind.

As a reader, I do not pretend to always agree with what is written, but I do believe that a reader has the right knowledge to describe certain characters without falling into platitudes and racism. And then I find myself irritated because the characters created were so good that they seemed alive and were completely swept away by biased sentences and a pacing that had very little of the urgency, in fact became quite boring at some points. However, praise must be given to world-building, which is undoubtedly a substantial base to graft the narrative and move such strong protagonists - from a characterization point of view - and full of vitality.

I had high expectations, and they were disappointed more by some stylistic choices than by poorly constructed characters or landscapes. What a shame, really a great, great shame.

It has a good hook. In one page, I know the first narrator is some kind of either android or demigod unaccustomed to being human, called the China King and with an appropriately Chinese-esque flair to the text and setting. At first, it seems like it knows exactly what it is and expectations continue to match, which gives me confidence in the combined skill of the author and his team. Within only a few pages, the author does a great job of undermining the narrator and making him seem possibly crazy, but it's executed with a grace that shows it's clearly intentional. We are supposed to wonder what the truth is, and I genuinely can't predict the answer yet. The technique is above reproach - the initial stakes for the first character are introduced promptly and it gives a perfect segue into the next character.

Shortly, there is a tone shift and it no longer feels thrillerish in the way the cover and initial hook indicated. It begins to feel like classic old school dystopian scifi instead, the kind of stuff I read a bunch of in the late 90s in 8th/9th grade. Terms like 'conformed citizen' and a lot of familiar tropes. I find it fun and familiar and nostalgic, with a great sense of genre and execution, although after the interesting ideas from the first few pages are dropped, no uniqueness sticks out to me. It's also becomes very eurocentric after the first few pages, and the Chinese sounding refernces do not run fully through it. It's more like how there were a bunch of theoretically nonwhite characters in Starship Troopers, and less like the profound Chineseness of Three Body Problem (which the first few pages had implied it would be.)

The first section (it doesn't have numbered chapters) ends in a way that is kind of prolouge-y, without a true hook. It switches hard from third person to first in the second section, and completely switches voice, tone, and genre feel. Where it previously had a Giver/1984 voice, it abruptly goes straight into actual Starship Troopers, a vertiable homage to "I always get the shakes before a drop."

The hook isn't quite as good in the 'new' book that starts abruptly in the second section as it was the original, and this is where my reader-brain becomes tempted to skim. This whole section reads as derivative, although in an above-average way. Fortunately, I loved the originals so as a teenager, so watching the author shift from classic old school dystopian to 50s/60s military scifi like some kind of writing exercise is enjoyable to witness. The constant cult refrains are very Brave New World. It's a sort of a 'scifi's greatest hits' pastiche. Unfortunately, the original hook gets completely dropped for about 80% of the book (it does return, but it takes a long time) which makes it read a lot more like an academic exercise than a single cohesive story. The third narrator does not hook me at all, personally, but you may enjoy it if you are a widely read classic scifi fan as well as an enjoyer of short story collections where a 'variety pack' of loosely connected concepts and styles appeal to you. Despite the title and cover, after the first few pages, there are no remaining thriller elements. After the about 30% of the book, it shifts into crime fiction in it's feel. Any hopes of a Chinese-esque world are long gone, it's just a nickname in a totally white world in Future Chicago where Some Guys Do Guy Things. This is 50/60s scifi boys fiction, a wee bit of dystopian meets a wee bit of mil meets a wee bit of crime-solving. It has a lot of 'bro' energy, the way a bunch of military guys together in a room will spend hours quoting 90s Will Ferrel movies. The one female character in the prologue is immediately fridged to serve as a macguffin.

This book will be enjoyable to people who like reading White Dudes Investigate Stuff books (classic hardboiled, classical mil sci, etc) and such readers should please not be put off by the first section, which makes the book seem like it will be about women or Chinese characters. You can just skip the prologue and get the book you like and expect. People who enjoy books about women or Chinese characters can expect the elements they liked of prologue to come back at the very end if they can just hold out through about 80% of the middle. It will be particularly enjoyed by aspiring authors who would like to study well-executed etudes demonstrating all of the different traditional styles in sequence, and fans of short story collections.

this was a good book! i liked the futuristic and dystopian imagery and world of this book. I liked the way the author wrote, and how the characters were written. I enjoyed this book and I think it would make a great book club read!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

This was a fun little read. There seems to be some big things in store from this series, and I think I’m going to give it a shot. Don’t go into this first book expecting tons of action. This was a lot of character stuff, and some heavy world building.

The story takes place in Shikago. Formerly Chicago. A lot has changed in the future. There’s a heavy crime element in the lower levels of the city. Weather in controlled now, so it is no longer the Windy City. Our two main characters are Lewen, a detective, and John, the leader of a gang in Shikago’s underworld. There’s a lot of fun stuff here. Neuro implants, immersion simulators, and murder! What more can you ask for in a sci-fi book?!

I’m not sure where exactly this story is headed, but I’m excited to be along for the ride.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC!

DNF. I wish I could make this one work, but I couldn’t. The concept was interesting, but the book was all over the place. The utterly unnecessary usage of the f-slur made my blood boil.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

for full transparency, i did not finish the book. i made it to 50% and i had to stop. it had such an intriguing concept, but i found myself bored. i wish i could have pushed through, but i'll discuss why i couldn't.

first, i will begin with the positives:
— the writing style is genuinely really good. shale nelson is a talented writer who is capable of stringing together words in a pleasing and interesting way that is also engaging. it's descriptive and detailed. the characters had unique and distinct voices with their personalities showing through the writing, which i appreciated because, as sad as it is to say, it can be a rarity amongst independent authors these days. i'm sure this is an interesting story in its entirety, and it's unfortunate that i couldn't push through it.

as for why i couldn't finish the book, i'll get into that now:
— the lack of distinct chapters. it made me feel like this was just one giant chapter that kept going on and on and on, and that alone was making me lose interest. there was separation in the form of the two narrators swapping povs, but sometimes it happened so frequently. it made it disjointed, especially with how much there was going on. things did tie together here and there from up to what i read, but this book suffers from the lack of structured chapters.
— i, as a japanese person, do not enjoy what appears to be the japaneseification of american words like chicago and michigan into shikago and mishigun. it feels like a bastardization of japanese in a way that also feels like a fetishization of the language and culture, which is unfortunately a common theme in futuristic dystopian novels. i don't understand why that's a trope, but alas.
— the beginning scene with the "china king" was just bizarre. we see a point where he's almost about to eat a small dog? i don't know if the character himself is white or actually asian, but regardless, with him calling himself the china king, it just felt so racist.
— the scene where we meet lewen, and he's in an immersive video game where people play as infants and are climbing a breast? it was so weird. and the constant talk of dick and cock is just gross and crass and really made me cringe.
— the reason why i DNF'd at 50% is because of nelson's use of the homophobic f-slur. i don't know if the author is lgbt+ or not, but if not, it's extremely inappropriate to use that word. i just felt bile in my mouth and all desire to push forward to finish this book for a complete review of the ARC died right then and there.

again, the author has talent. he can write. he weaves words together so well and could create something imaginative and wonderful, but for me, this wasn't it. there were a lot of things wrong with this thematically. i don't understand the obsession with asian/japanese themes in dystopian media, but its presence here, no matter how slim (though, when it's in the title of the book itself, how slim is it?) rubs me the wrong way.

i appreciate the glossary in the end of the book. however, there's an issue there for me. nelson introduces a korean character who is referred to as "duck fat" (also what is with that name??? something about it feels racially motivated to me), but his real name is avery quon. quon is a chinese spelling. if he's korean, it should be kwon.

i think the author should do more research on asian cultures if he's insisting on its inclusion in his story, because with his flagrant hodgepodging of it and the weird moments, some of which were blatantly racist, i don't see this book doing well.

i gave this a two star, with one star given as a bonus for nelson's writing ability, because i do think he has skill. there's just too many issues for me to enjoy this book, or continue it at all.

While the general premise of the book was interesting, it was not able to keep my attention. I the pace was quite slow, and I struggled to finish it.

This story definitely has that dark dystopian sci-fi feel, a bit similar to Altered Carbon on Netflix. Shale Nelson writing does feel very much like a TV show too, in how it's written, opening scene with a disturbing murder, then cut to 2 likeable POVs. However, overall I think Public Domain should've either been a longer book or world building pruned down a bit, because it just feels like the ratio of exposition setup to actual plot movement forward was imbalanced.

Nelson does a really good job of making his 2 MCs, Lewen Roi and John Shiver, feel fully fleshed out and alive--their history, motivations and what makes them tick, what they're doing to navigate life currently in their slice of the dystopian world, etc. I think what detracted from the story is how the side characters are introduced--it was like drinking from a fire hose. (54% in and still getting more characters introduced to us!) While a visual medium may allow digesting more side characters in one go easier, in written format, without any sort of diagram or visual aid, it really started to feel like a cognitive memory exercise, trying to track who's doing what, looking like what, for whom, etc. And so, the end result is, Nelson had really built out a rich world, with the 3 different areas of society full of characters in each slice, but pacing suffered. The characters hardly did anything to move towards a goal until about 70% in

This was a strong start to the Sons of Shikago series, it had that element that I wanted and enjoyed the overall feel of this. It had that world-building that I was looking for and enjoyed the way characters worked with this world. I cared about what was going on and was glad I got to read this. Shale Nelson wrote this perfectly and can't wait for more.