Good for Reading? ∣ The Cyborg Tinkerer Honest Review

What makes a story, a good story?

Some may say it’s the characters, some say the plot or theme, and some may argue it’s the message. Maybe the ending, the beginning, or the middle. The voice, the style or the prose. But, what about how it all fits together? How everything combined can make it feel like a perfect game of Tetris?

Let’s dive in to find an answer.

That said, let me welcome you to this spoiler-free review series where the best of the best will be ranked as ‘Tetris-style’—What can I say? Gaming has a big chunk of me.

Note: I don’t intend to say that the parts make the whole. Sometimes, many things converge and end up producing a much greater result—or worse, for that matter. So, stay tuned!

W H A T I S T H E C Y B O R G T I N K E R E R ?

Gwendolyn Grimm, a ship tinkerer of the Union, is offered an opportunity to defeat her brain tumor by becoming an illegal cyborg in a circus. This, in exchange for her services to the cyborgs as their own personal tinkerer. Upon taking it, she finds herself involved in a deadly competition she hadn’t prepared for; her new family at stake. The purpose: help the outcasts make a life for themselves—away from the Fed’s incessant pursuits.

Try picturing this as a steampunk space opera—plus a dragon—, and you could have a perfect mishmash of elements any Victorian-era-fan might enjoy when looking for a fantasy romance, right?

Well, it might, or it might not.

Before I go in any further, I do have to make the disclaimer that I personally admire Meg LaTorre for the things she has built for herself, and I think there is much promise to her ideas, but this review was intended to be honest, and honesty will be made. No matter how much any author contributes to the internet and the community. Especially one such as Meg.

That being said…

The characters had their sass, the plot had its action, the themes were going in the right direction… But it all came down to being too much to handle in 100,000 words —or whatever the exact amount was.

Let’s take it piece by piece.

C h a r a c t e r s

Characters are a hard thing to nail down. You have to develop empathy with them (understand them to some degree), and be able to tell them apart. The Cyborg Tinkerer’s problem was not the latter, but the former.

Character motivations weren’t clear enough to surmise and didn’t quite fit with the story arc or the main character’s decisions. They changed abruptly; no explanation, or development given—they wanted one thing, and then suddenly, wanted another. Sometimes it was out of the blue, and sometimes, it was driven by what the plot needed; not what the character would do given the circumstances.

Not having this part clear enough in my head (the motivations, mostly), I struggled to connect to said characters, to support them all across the book; and I even found Gwen, the protagonist, (or hero —not an antihero) to be somewhat of a bad person at times (to say it in friendly terms). I wasn’t sure if it was the goal of the story at large because her character arc was not made clear to me by the end. She changed, that was obvious enough, but why? It wasn’t relatable.

Which leads me to character emotions and reactions. Linked to the writing style (explored down below), emotions in characters and how they, themselves, express them, made them feel flat; though they had every characteristic of a fully fleshed cast. Connecting with their emotions was hard, and sometimes, their reactions were unrealistic and unexpected. Especially with their given backgrounds. Not that characters aren’t allowed to change, it’s about the way they change. It can be fluid, or… clunky.

But not everything is as bad as it sounds. Gwen does have her sass, and a few laughs escaped me at her one-liners. She did have a sense of humor and she was indeed a strong, independent woman—something no one should get tired of. Bastian, one love interest, had this air around him that made you want to cheer for him and support him, and Rora, the other romantic interest, well, she was a sweetheart.

Verdict? N O T F O R M E

P l o t

By far the strongest part of the book. It was well-paced and sort of engaging; the middle, a hard part to get right, was the thing that made me kept me going, despite it not being the most original or well-crafted. Every turn of events felt possible, and plot holes were little to none—story-wise. When intertwined with character motivations, it felt lacking, but overall, it was believable and a bit fun.

Its flaw: predictable moments. Don’t get me wrong, the events in and of themselves were not predictable, but the structure of the story was; the good guys beat the bad guys, the end. Few plot twists were offered, and it would end just how you’d expect.

Verdict? W O R K S F O R M E

R o m a n c e

Now, to the main part of the book; the polyamorous love triangle. For this part of the review, it is essential to bring back my previous thoughts on character emotion. When they are hard to embody, amorous relationships are harder to experience. The insta-lust trope on one of the love interests was palpable in every sense of the word, but it quickly turned into an insta-love one. The relationship didn’t quite feel real, especially at the end of the story. Given the time dedicated to it throughout the book, this one was bound to touch the reader the most, ideally. However, it turned out the other love interest stole the spotlight…And the whole book after that (I have no complaints here but, it is a polyamorous romance).

In the end, the polyamorous like-relationship felt short. There was much to explore given the fact that those relationships are a very new approach to romance, but it ended up feeling like a monogamous one, with a third wheel to boost.

But I do have to admit, there was a chunk of the book that made me swoon. Props to that!

Verdict? N O T F O R M E

W r i t i n g

Although the writing style was not my personal favorite, it worked.

For the most part.

It wasn’t annoying, it was sometimes funny, and it was what Gwen’s voice promised; dripping with personality. However, some inconsistencies do pop up here and there.

If this were classified as a Young Adult novel, this particular style would suit it perfectly, however, it is marketed towards adults, which leaves one confused by its tone; cursing and talking sex explicitly doesn’t always make it adult. Its lack of depth in existential issues and complex emotions made it, perhaps, a tad too simple for the intended audience. One might argue against this last statement, but the character voice felt almost too young, and their thoughts on these subjects too juvenile to be called adult; more like a trip through adolescence. This is closer to a YA experience than anything.

Another flaw to the writing style: the amount of telling versus showing. The book and the character’s emotions would’ve benefited from decreasing the telling of it by a hundred. It is different to be told it someone is sad, versus the description of said moment. The love stories lacked this the most. In the end, it was too much to cover in too little time, in my opinion.

It’s hard to find the balance between the two, I know. But telling is not many people’s favorite.

Verdict? N O T F O R M E

T h e m e s

The themes a book touches can sometimes get into spoiler-y territory, so I will refrain from describing them too much here. But what I can say is this: The book does find topics worthy to talk about in this day and age— as in technology, corrupt systems of governance, posthumanism and LGBTQ+ themes, and all that. However, those subjects are not touched in depth. Depth they need, and depth we crave.

For more on this, read my analysis of the book when it comes!

Verdict? N O T F O R M E

To make a long story short, this book is:

Not for me.

F i n a l t h o u g h t s

Making a book is extremely hard. Many don’t make it, and more don’t try. When people do birth their idea, it might be hard to make it perfect. Thus, I try my best to recognize the authors and the stories they write. Getting good doesn’t mean having to traverse haters. And horrible ones at that.

So, you could try to give this book a chance.

Who knows? You might enjoy it.

If you do take the risk, buy it here. My kudos to you!

And follow me here, for good measure.

…What?

That wasn’t self-promotion… maybe.