Eden & Echo - A Gritty Cyberpunk Noir Thriller

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Eden never meant to hurt anyone.All she wanted was to become a cop and make her grandfather proud. But after an encounter with a rogue AI leaves her mind infected with the memories and abilities of an infamous killer, everything changes.

Now, with enemies all around her and no idea who to trust, Eden must adapt and overcome if she wants to survive. It's a good thing that her new skills make her absolutely vicious in a firefight.

As Eden descends deeper into the darkness, attempting to discover what is really going on, one question remains. Will there be anything left of her humanity when the fighting is finally done?Or will Eden give in to Echo's bloodlust, and lose herself forever?

What to Expect:

Ultra Violence, Complex Characters, Amazing World Building, Tactical Combat, Super-Soldiers, Hard-Boiled Cops, Spooky AI

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2024
Author: Alex Karne (TheDeliciousMeats)

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.4/ 5.0
Followers: 1,398
Views: 277,478

Chapters(67 total)

What readers say about Eden & Echo - A Gritty Cyberpunk Noir Thriller

“An honestly good story, with an interesting world setting, characters that have actual backstories and personalities, and a main character that doesn’t make « op mc » life choices. From what I saw, this story is well written, from both the narrative perspec…”
TilaztRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“What can I say, I love this story! Style: It follows a similar-ish style for Cyberpunk 2077 without ruining the game or story that's all I'll say on that. It also has good bois and evil Kitties, and an MC to love because shes both smart and capible but far…”
BroMandoFettRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

TilaztRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
An honestly good story, with an interesting world setting, characters that have actual backstories and personalities, and a main character that doesn’t make « op mc » life choices. From what I saw, this story is well written, from both the narrative perspective and the grammatical perspective. There is very little fo criticize at the level at which I read this. Congrats on a good start, I hope this story goes far.
BroMandoFettRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
What can I say, I love this story!
Style: It follows a similar-ish style for Cyberpunk 2077 without ruining the game or story that's all I'll say on that. It also has good bois and evil Kitties, and an MC to love because shes both smart and capible but far from a Mary Sue.
Character: The characters feel well written and interesting, and are not just NPCs on the side that stand around looking pretty. I care about their well being and feel that they have a rich story to explore and I hope to see more of each of them!
Story: The story moves at a good pace and only sits in one location or event long enough to feel the impact and then it moves along smoothly. I really feel that the world is filled in with interesting tech and world building elements that fit in perfectly.
Grammar: To be fair I am terrible with grammar and I read fast enough to where unless something is jarringly bad my brain just skips over it and fills in the gaps for me. But I've yet to see anything that has triggered my brain to backtrack. Not to say that there are not human mistakes or typos they are just rare.
Check this story out, you wont regret it!
C.T. YarrowRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I genuinely believe that The Delicious Meats (AKA Alex Karne) is one of the finest writers on this website. Certainly top 5, possibly top three. It is amazing to me that this dark, fiercely stylish cyber noir is written by the same person who wrote the ultraviolent, and very funny, Isekai LitRPG, Magic Murder Cube Marine.
This is a densely laired narrative with rich world building. It manages to be spooky without ever relying on supernatural elements and, like all good scifi, manages to be relevant to the here and now without ever being preachy.
Style - I feel like anything selling itself as cyberpunk stands or falls on it's style. This story definitely stands on it's own two, heavily modified feet. The trappings of the genre are shot through almost every scene but never in a way that feels obtrusive.
Story - There's a lot of story going on here and all of it good. I said that it was a layered narrative and I meant it. The central noir story is laid over a war story, in much the same way that the classic noirs of the 40s were laired over the real, and very recent history of global conflict. There are also hints of a more traditional scifi narrative in the recent past and a feeling that beyond yonder horizon lies space opera.
Grammar - Absolutely solid. I've never had any difficulty in working out what was meant and I have never spotted any obvious errors.
Characters - Katzen, Hund and Human, I love them all. Even the characters who are terrible people are great characters. The hyper competent characters have earned their competence. The dumbassess are believably dumbass. Our protagonist is, in some ways a classic noir protagonist, in that she does not yet know how little she knows but she's learning fast. She starts the story with a lot of unearned privilege but also a history of loss and a good heart. She cares about people and the conventions of the noir and cyberpunk genres suggest that she's in for a bad time because of it.
It's clear that the narrative intends
TBOB1Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This Novel manages to capture feelings in a Way that only few can.
I didn’t bring any attachment to any of the characters, and still, certain parts just convey emotions … it’s hard to describe.
and yeah the characters feel "good", no one’s perfects, no one’s is just unable to learn, no one feels like they don’t belong here.
the whole world became one living thing, even though it’s not just earth.
I can’t recommend this enough
ThndrusRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Curious blend of past, present, and future woven into a pretty good story. You feel for Eden and cheer for her through the whole story. The story is a familiar trope, but you're not going to see it until near the ending. Very much worth the read. You won't be disappointed.
Sum1whoismeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Exactly what it says on the can, except better. Going to read the author's other works now too. Why do I need words in a review? I would have liked to just give it the 5 stars now then edit into an advanced review later... How to people get review bombed with so many words?
GhostlyGooseRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The world of Eden and Echo has a subtle creeping wrongness to it. Characters are not who they appear to be when first introduced. The world doesn't even seem to be so. The mysteries are many and layered. Our protagonist slowly has the veil lifted only to find other veils in its place.
A very interesting story with compelling characters and a complex protagonist. Well worth the read.
haranRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
A sheltered princess in a dystopian post-holocaust future. Demi-human cyborg dog-soldiers and cat-assassins.
The author has clearly spent a lot of effort building up this world. The reader along with the sheltered princess are slowly being introduced to it and web of intrigue as the chapters pas along.
She is literally as well as figuratively robbed of agency as the plot unfolds and characters such as mind controlling AI and viral war-criminal persona are introduced.
It’s an interesting enough beginning, but I can’t help feel that it is too grand in scope as we jump from crisis to crisis introducing one characters dark past after another. This lack of agency leaves us spinning and I wish the story would settle down so that we and the princess can get some traction.
AezoraRoyal Road
★★★ 2.5
My main issue is that the pacing is off. It's too slow and then too fast and then too slow...
But it's also very different from what I expected in a not great way plot wise. It's scifi sure, but not really cyberpunk at least in the traditional sense, has a Hitler character, a holocaust and lots of people from that era are still alive, the MCs family is very wealthy and powerful, and I don't see how she could be be "on her own" given how they have treated her. There's a lot of not so subtle world building that seems like it was meant to be subtle.
Overall, seems like a good writer tried to write something they weren't ready for and it didn't really work out.
phobos15Royal Road
★ 1.0
The main character is a boring mess who has barely any personality, is both the average Jane and the most special girl ever.
The writing isn't very compelling or interesting. I don't feel hooked or invested. Just found it kind of boring. Tried to give it more and more chances because the other reviews say it's good, but I got 29 chapters in, and still, nothing is happening.