36 son las calles que forman el núcleo histórico de la ciudad de Hanoi, el escenario escogido por T.R. Napper para situar esta sórdida y dolorosa trama cyberpunk.

Nos encontramos con un Vietnam ocupado por China, que sigue en guerra de guerrillas tras años de confrontaciones. El autor aprovecha este lugar cargado de historia y de resistencia al invasor para desarrollar un relato de manipulación mental, de problemas de identidad y de lucha constante.


36 Streets es un libro muy deprimente. Se relatan desapasionadamente adicciones, desmembramientos, manipulaciones de los recuerdos… como si fueran una cosa habitual, pero es que en el mundo que Napper ha creado, lo son. La trama gira alrededor de la investigación de la desaparición de los dos programadores principales del juego Fat Victory, una simulación peligrosamente adictiva y manipulativa de la guerra de Vietnam con los EE.UU. Lin Vu es la encargada de la investigación e iremos conociendo sus orígenes y sus problemas para “pertenecer” a Vietnam, pues a pesar de haber nacido allí se crio en Australia.

Es posible que la ambientación os recuerde un poco a La chica mecánica de Paolo Bacigalupi y no andaréis demasiado desencaminados, aunque aquí se hace poco hincapié en el cambio climático pero bastante en las manipulaciones corporales. En el transcurso de la investigación de Lin, también asistiremos a una serie de flashbacks de su pasado, cobrando especial importancia los durísimos combates a los que se vio sometida por orden de su superior en las bandas vietnamitas, Bao Nguyen, que la ve como su sucesora. Es terrible asistir a su tortura tanto física como psicológica, ver cómo las heridas corporales tienen solución gracias a la más avanzada tecnología o a los implantes pero también seremos testigos de cómo las cicatrices mentales que permanecen pueden ser borradas para dar lugar a una personalidad totalmente distinta. Es una lectura desgarrada y desasosegante.

Si estás preparado para una lectura violenta en la que no habrá pasajes fáciles pero que te hará reflexionar sobre los nacionalismos, el colonialismo y la manipulación de las memorias, creo que 36 Streets no te defraudará.

After the incredible, immersive experience that was his 2020 short story anthology Neon Leviathan, T.R. Napper returns with 36 Streets, a full-length novel in the same setting that delivers mystery, action, compelling questions and heart-wrenching emotion. Born in Vietnam, raised in Australia and comfortable with neither heritage, Lin ‘the Silent One’ Vu is a brutally efficient gangster living and working in the dangerous streets of Hanoi’s Old Quarter. When her boss tasks her with investigating a murder at the request of a strange, rich Englishman, Lin has the opportunity to put her skills to a different use to normal. As her investigation proceeds though, the secrets she uncovers force her to confront her own painful past, and consider anew her place within the thirty-six streets.

Lin is the classic cyberpunk outsider – troubled, angry, violent, increasingly dependent on artificial stimulants and with a self-damaging tendency to push people away. She’s not necessarily a likeable protagonist, but she has a livewire presence that makes her utterly compelling, and her sense of discomfort with the world in which she lives gives her a fascinating perspective. Whether she’s hustling for narcotics, arguing with her sister, beating the living daylights out of someone, being beaten black and blue herself, hunting down answers, dwelling on her pain, she’s the kind of character you don’t want to look away from even for a moment. Through her eyes the thiry-six streets come to vibrant, violent, thrilling life – a setting so real that you can almost feel the heat sweating off the streets.

For all that this is essentially a murder mystery, the core of the story is really an exploration of the thirty-six streets, and through them Hanoi, Vietnam, and the power dynamic between Vietnam and China in this alternate but entirely believable future. Napper’s world building is slick and cool but also gritty and grounded and utterly immersive, with surprisingly subtle tech adding interest without dominating, and clever uses of linguistic idiosyncrasies which help reinforce Lin’s dual-outsider nature as someone comfortable with neither aspect of her heritage. The Kandel-Yu machine that played such a big part in Neon Leviathan takes a back seat here, but in its place the virtual reality game Fat Victory allows Napper to tackle similar themes of memory and identity, and through them complex politics, propaganda, and Vietnam’s relationship with its history of war, conquest and pain.

It’s a book that’s rich in texture and detail, full of complex themes but told in such an engaging, accessible way and populated by such compelling characters that it’s simply impossible to put down. Napper consistently finds the right balance between flair and accessibility, dipping in and out of a choppy, noirish descriptive style that’s remarkably effective, but using it sparingly and to great effect, never letting style dominate over substance. It’s not always an easy book in terms of its content, from Lin’s brutally violent lifestyle to its believably bleak sense of time and place, but that’s as it should be – it’s a book with points to make and absolutely no intention of pulling any blows. Whether as a standalone story or as an extension of Neon Leviathan, this is speculative fiction at its brutal, honest best – call it cyberpunk, call it sci-fi, whatever you call it this is just a great book.

An exciting fast moving sci fi /alternate universe novel which I very ,much enjoyed reading
this novel has some the most exciting and beleivable fight sequences that I have read for along time, I often find myself lost whilst reading fights in books but was able to follow clearly what was happening in almost cinematic clarity . I suppose I should add here that I'm sure this book would make a great film our TV series and Im sure its rights will sell quickly they haven't already
The author describes this other earth in an intelligent exciting way making the book fun to read. The little extra touches that make the world believable in its science fiction reality are allover the book making it colourful and utterly believable
At the core of the book is a detective story a alternative reality whodunnit which is complicated when it becomes clear that reality can be altered by mind changing technology
The book is firmly set in a Far Eastern city much like Hong Kong and the street life is particularly well described I loved the concept of the VR computer game which foreign powers were using to alter the minds of their enemies ,I suppose it is the clear next step from the false news stories we see now on social media
I would recommend this book to lovers of sci fi who want an intelligent thought provoking read

36 Streets was an interesting and evocative read - I never felt like I was fully understanding what was happening from the start of the book all the way to the end. Napper's characters are incredibly well done; their depth and development really shine throughout the story. He does a fantastic job of accentuating the mystery aspects of cyberpunk and really pushes the bounds of what *is* cyberpunk. The setting feels fully fleshed, traceable through the history that Napper slowly feeds to the reader while avoiding exposition. This is definitely one I'd push to any of my tech-excited reader friends.

Cyberpunk is a fascinating sub-genre one that started to glimpse where the web and digital world would get us and then the world has now moved. In a world of crypto and evil corporations surrounding us what has cyberpunk got left to say to us? In TR Napper’s new novel 36 Streets we get a good attempt to show us cyberpunk is not yet short of ideas but I’m not sure it needed to honour it’s past as much either to be fully successful.

In the near future Hanoi is occupied by the Chinese Army but there are areas of the city that belong to the criminal gangs and the unwary do not try to take over the 36 Streets where various gangs vie for power. Bao Nguyen is one of the most feared and under his influence is part time gangster part time detective Lin Vu. She gets hired to help find the murderer of a computer game designer and discovers the dangerous game of Fat Victory sucking in many Vietnamese into a virtual reality take on the US-Vietnam conflict of the 20th century. Lin finds herself in a maze of hidden intrigues, counterattacks and violence where memories cannot be always relied upon and danger gets closer.

I enjoyed reading this tale. Napper has a visual fast flowing style. Future Hanoi seems an interesting mix of old and new worlds where technology can translate other languages and record memories; but also the endless delights of food, fighting and bodies are also easily on sale. It’s a grimy, neon shadowy world where life is cheap. We move through the various factions of gangsters and govt officials and discover it is hard to tell which has the most honour and which can be trusted the least. Napper moves from scenes explaining the politics to action fight scenes and VR trips skilfully creating this world and its rules that we as newcomers need to explore. I love the idea od VR games being used as subtle propaganda tools and the concept of memory becoming something that be edited and rearranged is compelling and I wish had been explored in more detail.

With Lin we have a female character who is only just realising that the various games going on around her need her to play various roles. Intelligent, brittle, reckless and fierce and hiding her family secrets in many ways this story is Lin’s origin story as she becomes someone to be reckoned with. But I didn’t think her story arc really worked for me. The central arc is supposedly Lin learning she needs to let go of her earlier self but we don’t see a lot of her life before she meets Bao until very late in the day. She is already a hard closed off character and by the end of the book she is pretty much the same. I would have loved to see more of Lin’s inner conflict being explored as wishes balances hr life. Lin’s relationship with her sister is flagged as important but she has very little time on the page for us to get to really know their dynamics

But I think my biggest issue with the tale is that this story feels very very familiar. Despite the exotic setting we still just have a tale of someone finding out life with gangsters is dangerous and leads to more intrigue, double-crossing and violence. I may be feeling my age but I didn’t see what has changed from the cyberpunk stories I read in the late 90s and early 2000s. Lin comes from along line of female badass characters in SF who play just as hard as the guys. I never though really saw her more than a plot device and I wish we got to see the internal decision-making she experienced as her life drastically changed. My other observation is how the other female characters all fall into typical noir roles of moll, good girl or even prostitute and I wish that we could have had a bit more diversity in terms of gender balances. I’m struggling to believe that women would not in a few decades have also got more firmer positions in a life of crime and could itself have led to some interesting dynamics. Even the mystery of Fat Victory doesn’t feel that well explored as a concept. This is one of the few times I wish we had a few more chapters to help flesh this world out and not just race to final confrontation scenes

I had fun reading this book and suspect many more will do so but ultimately, I got a sense of an author that knows cyberpunk very well and wished to ensure the beats of such tales was honoured; but I never found it had something more radical to say to push the genre into the 2020s. Napper though I suspect is a name to watch and I hope future novels stretch their ambitions for cyberpunk; but for now this is more for me a promising start than a total success. SF fans though wish to explore this just to refresh their memories of what this genre has to offer.

T. R. Napper’s debut novel 36 Streets is a rich, multi-layered thrill ride. On one hand, it delivers a slick, neon-soaked cyberpunk narrative, with a gruff anti-hero protagonist, tense action and near-future tech. But on the other, it’s a surprisingly thoughtful story, with nuanced explorations of family, identity and memory in the face of immense tragedy. Pair that with the living trauma of its Vietnamese setting (specifically its capital city Hanoi) and the result is a potent mix of futurism and the human condition.

The highlight of this book was two-fold for me: first, the setting. Napper’s future vision of Hanoi is gorgeously detailed, with neighborhoods and citizens coming to life with subtle descriptions. Of course, being a cyberpunk book, there is neon glow, glittering futuristic vehicles and lots of rain, but it feels natural within the borders of this city. Plus, Napper’s own experiences in Hanoi and Vietnam (he lived there for three years) add an extra layer of believability to the setting. And, to make it even cooler, he sprinkles the setting and story with hints and connections to his short story collection, Neon Leviathan, as it takes place in the same fictional future.

What’s more impressive though, is how he ties the setting directly into the experiences and history of the protagonist, Lin—this was highlight #2 for me. She is second-in-command in a Hanoi street gang, and her nickname is ‘The Silent One,’ so there are lots of cyberpunk tropes here. What makes Napper’s execution successful is how Lin is an outsider on two fronts. She was born in Vietnam, but grew up in Australia, so she doesn’t fully belong in either. Lin exists in the liminal spaces of identity in relation to the city, its language and its culture. The result is a character who is constantly seeking something, somewhere to belong, and that was engaging for me as a reader.

As Lin takes on a job from a mysterious foreigner, investigating a murder of his colleague, her relationship with both Hanoi and her own mind, memory and identity begins to dissolve. Her troubled family history is also skillfully woven throughout the tense narrative, and I ended up caring a lot for Lin’s sister and adoptive mother. They also helped to balance the outward gangster toughness of Lin, revealing her flawed, relatable internality. Then, to make it all tragic, the ways in which her investigation ramps up and intersects with her personal life was devastating and beautiful.

Napper’s play on identity and memory made 36 Streets stand out in the cyberpunk milieu. He’s taking well-worn tropes and toying with them, applying them to a character who exudes the typical anti-hero toughness but trickles out complex emotions. On top of that, Lin has agency, ultimately choosing how her confused identity and a lifetime of traumatic memories would come to define her. Or not.

That paired in such a dark and delicate manner with Vietnam itself. The nation and its people have been subjected to countless horrors, from Chinese invasion to the Vietnam War, and that trauma persists as an underlying narrative for the Vietnamese. Aspects of their memory and identity, their collective consciousness, is rooted in trauma, and it has the ability to permeate the culture in so many ways. Napper comments heavily on this, imagining a future Chinese occupation of northern Vietnam—a reclamation of territory that used to be a province of China. In doing so, Napper puts front and center the long-lasting effects of war on the psyche of individuals and a greater population. How much can they sustain, and how can a collective narrative normalize something like PTSD or trauma?

It’s fascinating stuff, especially for a history buff like myself. But, on the flip side, there was one section that was visceral to the point of overwhelming. Part of the story involves a VR immersion experience called Fat Victory, a virtual recreation of the Vietnam War where players can assume the role of the American soldiers as they lose. It’s an empathy experiment gone awry, video game addiction run rampant, and as a reader it was incredibly jarring. Napper wholly succeeded in evoking the sheer brutality and hallucinatory chaos of war, but itcaptured the grotesqueness of war so purely that I had to put the book aside for a day after reading those few chapters.

I applaud him for including this, and it tore me open in ways that few experiences have (Apocalypse Now being the main one). But I have no doubt it will put some people off, and the distinct need for me to put the book down after the Fat Victory section threw off my sense of pacing for a little while as I reacclimatized to Lin’s reality. I guess it works in the sense that Lin too was thrown for a loop by her VR experience.

That being said, most of the book clicked for me. I don’t get put off by the brutalities of war or trauma, rather I use those moments for intense contemplation of what the human experience has been and can be like for many throughout history. But there were a few things that nudged me out of truly deep immersion, the main one I’ll mention being my lack of investment in the side characters.

For example, the crime kingpin Bao Nguyen, who is Lin’s boss and mentor, gave off an interesting veneer, especially how he appeared in both the present and in harsh combat training flashbacks, but there wasn’t a ton of complexity there. Lin’s family too, while I empathized with them, didn’t have as much depth as I needed to connect with them. And that’s pretty much the case across the board—with Lin’s gangster compatriots, the English foreigner who hires her, or the story’s antagonists. Many characters cared for Lin or tried to use her, revealing tidbits about themselves in the process, but Lin and Hanoi carried the story for me.

There were also small stylistic choices in the writing, such as the overuse of forward slashes (‘/’) in fight scenes to give an effect of combat strikes hitting in rapid succession. The depiction of fighting was brutal and weighty, hitting hard in the right ways, but style things like that didn’t work for me. It’s a minute criticism though, and ultimately didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the book.

As a cyberpunk aficionado, I can safely say that Napper is solidifying himself as a pillar of the genre’s future. Neon Leviathan was an experiment in worldbuilding, each short story deepening the lavish details of Napper’s futuristic vision of Australia and Southeast Asia. Beyond that, it established themes that have seeped into the forefront of the author’s imagination: war, trauma and PTSD; identity, memory and history; and technology, both in the ways we use it and the ways it uses us. Whereas Napper’s short stories felt like ruminations, 36 Streets is a cleanse—a true explosion of brilliant ideas. While the execution isn’t perfect, this novel presents a complex protagonist in a complex world, fleshes out its concepts in fascinating ways, and hits the landing with style.

I didn't think I would like the mystery aspect of this book much. To be honest, I thought I would only pick it up because of the Cyberpunk-y scenery. But guess what? I totally loved it!

Obviously, I fell in love with the Cyberpunk/futuristic setting. It's not like most sci-fis that depict how clean and neat such a society would be. Here, we get the dirty grimy district, which got its hands on some technology, but not the best quality, and not always legal, etc. It's the shadyness that I absolutely loved. Since I played Cyberpunk and Detroit : Become Human, I could absolutely picture the story taking place in one of those settings.

The plot was also pretty intricate and complex, which I liked a lot. There are so many little paths here and there leading to various leads, and giving out little clues. It's so dense and complete, it was fantastic in that aspect. The only reason I'm not rating it 5 stars is because towards the end, it got a little too dense, and I ended up losing myself in the twists of the plot. I mean, I got the general idea, and understood most of the ending, but I feel like I missed details and some information because sometimes I got a bit too much of them.

Still, the author managed to create a fully immersive world, in which I loved getting lost and going through the 36 streets! I would gladly read another novel set in the same world, maybe a little later, or in another country, neighbourhood?

Then we have Lin, the main character. She was so perfect for this book! She's the second in command of the biggest gang in Hanoi, and is everything I love : perfectly imperfect. She's this lost girl, picked up by the gang on the streets, even though she does have a family she rarely gets along with. Stuck within her own mind, full of bitterness and want for revenge, she is a spiralling mess. Between all the drugs and fighting, she finds a way to pick up a new mission for the gang : solving the mystery of an influential man's disappearance. From there, it's a wild ride in the 36 streets, between the scheming of the government and a rival gang.

I loved Lin, I loved the setting. I basically loved everything. It was just a little too dense from time to time, and featured flashbacks with Lin and her martial arts master, which I didn't care for much. In the end, it's a very good sci-fi for people who don't like the genre when the plot is set in space! It's gritty, full of personnality, and definitely action-packed!

Action is difficult in books, and often I read an adventure novel that would be better blocked out as a comic or I assume might originally have been a screenplay. That's important here for 36 Streets because there is a lot of action, predominantly martial arts, which is not only clearly described but its character purpose is normally very clear. Action is character is a classic film criticism line, but it works well here too. And its just as well, because there is a lot going on in 36 Streets.

Lin is an mob enforcer for a Hà Nội gang in future Chinese occupied Vietnam. A refugee bought up in Australia and then deported, she feels like an outsider, both from her family and her country of birth. She is given a job, as a pseudo-private detective, to find a missing English games designer, who designed an immersive neural simulation game called Fat Victory, taking place in the American Vietnam war. As you might imagine, the investigation gets violent, uncovers some surprising truths that involve memory manipulation, propaganda and some very big picture things about Chinese and Vietnamese goals. There are a number of cyber-punk staples in here around memory altering surgery, implemented memory, though the books grounded setting within a Hà Nội gangster milieu makes it seem fresh, and the mystery plays out in a very satisfying manner. Lin is a terrific creation as a central character too, damaged and hard-boiled as they come, you sense in her a self-destructive urge that is exploited by everyone around her, and yet with enough agency to be responsible for her own doom. This is cyberpunk noir but I didn't really think of cyberpunk still I started writing this review - it ticks all the boxes for that genre, but very few of the weaknesses.

What makes 36 Streets work, above and beyond the character work mentioned above, is its setting. Vietnam is a quixotic place, full of contradictions. I spent a week in Hà Nội almost twenty years ago, and some of the conversations I had with locals chime well with the philosophy expounded here. It has been colonised before, and yet it knows how to run a resistance, how to live under and undermine a grand power. It equally identifies how long China have been an imperial power, and to them Vietnam should be Chinese (and taking place after China has become that global power is good subtle futurology). Despite its future setting, this was a Vietnam and Hà Nội I recognised, and whilst I was not plunged into a conspiracy to brainwash a nation, or rewrite its history, it was a pleasure to revisit it and watch the action unfold.

4.5 ish.
Set in futuristic Vietnam, a gangster is hired to find a missing VR programmer.
I’ve read a few cyberpunk novels in the past, and most of them were disappointing for one reason or another. Neuromancer for example, was too hard to understand at times, and Snow Crash had a plot that was a bit too unbelievable in my opinion.
This one was by far my favourite.
The setting was imaginative and believable. It’s set in a Chinese occupied, Ha Noi, about 50 years in the future. Technology has advanced far enough to allow computers to be implanted into people.
The main character was kinda badass. A drug using gangster who, as an Australian struggles to fit into the local culture.
The plot was well thought out. A seemingly standard detective story, about a missing person with a few twists along the way.
Would recommend to fans of Altered Carbon.

The title Blade Runner and the genre of cyberpunk have become so synonymous with one another that it has become impossible to separate the two. The problem with this is that it has now become a go-to for any cyberpunk form of media to automatically be compared to that film, which is pretty unfair. Kind of like pitting a debut author against the likes of Dickens and then being disappointed when they falter. It isn’t often something new can withstand the glory of a genre defining archetype. In this one case, however, the comparison is valid. 36 Streets by T.R. Napper is the Vietnamese gangster grit of Furie (2019) meets the dystopic but slick futurism of Blade Runner (1982).
I am referring, of course, to the film Blade Runner and not the Philip K. Dick novel it was very loosely based on, because 36 Streets is, at its core, a pulp noir. If you’re not sure what that is, think of it this way: a gritty mystery with hard-drinking characters down on their luck, but also throw in some flashing neon, plastic clothes, cybernetic body mods, and androids because it’s the future and the future looks a lot like an 80s nightclub threw up in a bucket of transhumanism. I will admit, that was a little graphic, but that’s also why I like cyberpunk so much. It is graphic and gross and also really frigging cool in how it examines the idea of humanity and the enhanced versus commodified body. This book manages all of that, but also falls in line to be a pretty good mystery novel as well. So, would I recommend it? Probably yes for people looking for that quintessential cyberpunk experience outside of a movie or videogame.

T. R. Napper has a lot to say about colonialism, cultural imperialism, personal struggles for identity and the nature of violence in 36 streets. In a Chinese-occupied Vietnam, Lin Vu has been taken under the wing of gangster leader Bao Nguyen; she enforces for him, and he provides training above and beyond that which most of his men get. Meanwhile, a destructively addictive VR game, Fat Victory, a simulation of the US-Vietnam war, is taking over the city of Hanoi. Into the midst of this, a fatuous Englishman comes looking for his erstwhile partner, and when Bao asks Lin to help him, she becomes drawn into an insidious conspiracy of evil corporations and deadly technologies.
36 streets is possibly too short a read for all that it tries to encompass, but the fast pace befits the action and the brutality of life in this cyberpunk era. Lin is a complex character, drug-addicted and driven – she has been brought up in Australia, then moved back to Vietnam, but she feels like she doesn’t fit in anywhere. I think Napper doesn’t explore the full psychology here, as Lin has a twin sister with precisely the same upbringing and practically the same genes, who manages to not only fit in, but has become beloved of all who meet her. However, the storyline flows really well; this is not one of those terribly convoluted plots where the reader becomes bogged down in elaborate and circuitous details, and this is reflected in Napper’s glowing, punchy prose.
The ending leaves the reader a little bit stunned, which means that this book will stay with you long after you have finished it. Napper is not quite there yet, but he is definitely a sci-fi writer to watch.

My thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book – it’s probably one I will buy IRL anyway.

TR Napper writes an edgy cyberpunk, sci-fi detective noir, set in Chinese ruled war torn Vietnam in Ha Noi, featuring the flawed 24 year old Lin Thi Vu, the silent one, her language skills are not the best, relying on translations that come up in the corner of her eye through the on-retina, having been raised in Australia. Lin is a gangster, an accomplished fighter working for Bao Nguyen, in this hard hitting, gritty, hallucinatory, over-bright, colourful neon and paranoid 36 Streets. Reliant on booze and addicted to the drug ice-seven to cope with the hard living world she inhabits, Lin has had enough of taking part in exposing Viet Minh guerilla operations, and is looking to do something different. Bao has just the job, wanting her to play private detective, after all it uses many of her current skill set, working contacts, using informants, tracking down people who do not wish to be found, not to mention having the requisite experience of being regularly beaten up.

There is a Englishman in need of the services of a PI, staying at The Metropole Hotel, where the rich can do and get anything amidst the background of local food shortages, starvation, and the burning pyres of the dead. Lin goes to meet the louche Herbert Molayson, he is an integral part of the development of the popular video game Fat Victory, the main programmer, Raymond Chang, has been murdered, and he wants her to find the other missing man in their enterprise. With a traumatic past, Lin has no sense of a home, she is a woman laden with demons, having undergone unbearable personal losses, experiencing heartbreaking grief, and her relationship with her family, Kylie, her twin sister, Phuong, is the polar opposite of her, is a dysfunctional mess. She is the eternal outsider, in Vietnam and Australia, trying to keep her emotional distance, avoiding getting close to anyone.

With the apparent background of gang warfare with the Green Dragons, Lin investigates a case where nothing and no-one is as they appear, including her client, having to face what appears to be an unbeatable titan of an opponent in the American Passaic Powell. As the death tolls climbs, it turns out the dangerous game, Fat Victory, is being used as a weapon of war. This is a story of identity, of memories and their instrumental role in the creation of narratives of who we are, personally and nationally, of family, of never ending conspiracies of war, history, and colonialism. Napper's world building is dark, outstanding and imaginative, and his writing drips with atmosphere, capturing the geopolitics and history of this part of the globe. A terrific read, but I must warn readers that the levels of brutality and violence are shatteringly high. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

I do believe that the author created an interesting world in 36 Streets. However, I can’t say that it managed to hold my attention or enjoyment for the entirety of it.

I have received this book in exchange for an honest review, thank you Titan Books and NetGalley for the opportunity.

I have my own blog now (https://www.daysinotherworlds.com), so please do pay it a visit if you're interested in my other reviews :)

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In comparison to Fantasy, I don’t read as much Science Fiction. And that in turn, makes me excited whenever I find a sci-fi book that piques my interest. 36 Streets is set in a futurized Hanoi where augmentations and the like are now the norm. It sorts of reminded me of the video game Deus Ex, which has a very similar idea when it comes to the physical changes. Long story short, I enjoyed that part of it immensely.

While I do know that it comes with its own set of problems, having the ability to change one’s own body is still fascinating. T. R. Napper gives many examples in the book of what is possible and what can be done to a body. The thing that makes me appreciate it even more is because, 36 Streets follows Lin, as both a gangster and a private investigator. Which means that I got to see many applications of the technology in either situation, or rather, either line of work.

This is the main strength to the novel, in my humble opinion, its world building. There is a mix of real-life history and fiction when it comes to this version of Hanoi, while also using that history to further one of the plot lines in it. The new hierarchy of the world, how the gangs play into the law enforcement of the country, the corruption, the disregard of humans lives and the technology being mixed up with it all; was very interesting to read about.

Especially given how unbelievably violent it all was throughout the book. The way the characters follow their set paths, further helps showcase said worldbuilding.

Characters, to me, don’t need to be in a certain way to be enjoyable or make me care. For instance, almost all the characters in this book could be considered horrible people. Yet, they fit the violent and awful setting the author is going for. Lin for example is ruthless, when need be, she’s battling her own internal demons and she’s got a pretty good head on her shoulders. This dynamic is what I imagine being in a gang world is more about, which made me enjoy learning more about those with her in the gang like Bao and Bull and their ways of operation.

There was also an interesting angle of how languages were being used or rather, utilized in the book. Given that Lin speaks English, Bao and the other speak Vietnamese and there are others who speak Chinese, there will always be the question of how exactly can they work in this setting? Without doing a disservice to the rest? To that, the author thankfully adds a tech-y solution to it, that both makes sense and adds another fun part to the possible usages in this world.

The first half of the novel though, was the more interesting part of it. Assuming I have to choose one, despite the writing being a little hard to get into at first. Maybe it was because I was just learning about the world, learning about the characters, because it was getting the rest of it set up, the violence or a combination of these elements. But I do know that I enjoyed it till that middle part. Following that 40-chapter mark however (it’s 80 something chapters as a whole), is when things started going downhill.

The extremely bizarre aspect here, is that the book doesn’t really change much in its basic elements throughout the whole thing. There is still excessive violence and swearing, being shown different sides of society, following the well thought out mystery trail and finally the addictive Fat Victory and its place in the narrative. But still, the book took a rather massive dip in enjoyment when I crossed that line.

As I’m writing this review, I can’t put my hand on what caused that shift in enjoyment to be exact. But maybe, it’s because the book tries to do too much. Turf wars (in a sense), drug addictions, colonialization, a mystery and a simulation that’s way more dangerous than expected in a world or rather, depicted setting that doesn’t deserve a shred of my sympathy.

Having many elements in a book, doesn’t necessarily mean that all of them will be given a satisfying conclusion or progression. And that is apparent in the much easier ways the various plot points were hastily wrapped up in the latter part of it. This dissatisfaction ultimately, ended up being my main feeling after finishing up the novel, which is not exactly what I hope for after picking up a book.

It’s got a lot of interesting ideas, that I will easily vouch for, but I am really saddened that it didn’t hold my attention to enjoy it in full.

Final rating: 2.5/5

Once 36 STEETS kicked off, I definitely got a distinct Blade Runner, Altered Carbon, Norylska Groans vibe. We are introduced to the morally gray main character Lin Thi Vu and right away it's obvious that she is harboring some deeply-rooted shit and is involved with people who are not really the most savory of individuals. Couple that with an obviously fractured family situation and yeah, I knew this wasn't going to be a tale that would play out in the usual warm and fuzzy tropey manner.

The thing that really endeared me to this book is the multi-layered story dealing with not only Lin's hardened gangster life, but also the murder mystery that takes root about a quarter of the way in. In that regard, it really elevated the story from simply a one-dimensional character study to a deeply complex plot that branched out in a number of different directions that I didn't expect.

And then there were the passages that depicted the VR simulation Fat Victory, which admittedly were extremely raw, violent, and difficult to get through at times to be quite honest. Fair warning, the language used by many of the army grunts and commanders are about the most cruel and hateful that you can imagine, especially toward certain groups of people. At the same time I realized what the author was trying to do. Napper doesn't sugarcoat anything from that period of history and that particular war. Eventually I got used to the fact that this wasn't going to be a pretty portrayal and it made it easier to focus on the overall story.

As far as that story goes, I found it to be very engrossing and that was only compounded by how the murder mystery plays out. In the end, I found 36 STREETS to be an unforgiving and unapologetic story about the harsh realities of war and how people in society can be marginalized in the worst of ways. And yet, the main character in this story refuses to allow this to define or defeat her. Yes, she's not the most likable "protagonist", but having been put through the things that she has, we can understand that even the most flawed can find redemption.

36 STREETS is due to be released on January 18th, but definitely get your preorders in now because you aren't going to want to let this one slip by you. Challenging at times, but the moments of brilliance are worth sticking with it until the end.

3.5/5

So...I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, the gritty world and quick pace are impressive as is the writing. On the other hand, though, the omnipresent violence and unlikable (subjective)characters made it difficult for me to fully connect with the story.

I suppose fans of the genre will dig it and it's the obvious case of lack of fit between the reader and the book.

3/5 - Good

After an initial struggle getting into this book and the style of writing, it began to grown on me

This futuristic/dystopian tale set in Hanoi, Vietnam, is a loud, brash, violent, gritty, dark and angry thriller.

It’s frenetic, and fun , but gritty and serious. Full of high tech, drugs and alcohol, it’s boom boom boom explosive.

There is lots to like, some not so likeable, but as a whole I enjoyed the read, and would 100% follow on this series should there be more in this chaotic tank.

This was a pretty great read. Loved the writing and liked the world. The main character was a little hard to spend time with (shes moody and sullen pretty much all the time), but thats ok. By the end it felt a little like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for some reason - in that i think it may be pretty clever by i missed the point a bit.

I want to start by thanking Netgalley, Titan Books and the Author for giving me access to an ARC for an honest Review. I will start by tackling the elephant in the room, a few reviewers don’t seem to like this book. Of course each to their own but I personally feel it fits it’s genres very well and gives a rather refreshing take on a protagonist.

Thought to be Altered Carbon and the Wind-Up Girl meeting Apocalypse Now the book certainly doesn’t hide that it’s going to be gritty and action-packed. At the base it does also deal with ideas of memory, identity and the power of narratives. Certainly you have to go in with an open mind and a strong stomach for some of the violence we witness but it does match and pair with the plot and genres.

The book focuses on Lin ‘The Silent One’ Vu who is a gangster in Chinese-occupied Hanoi, living and hiding in the streaming, paranoid alleyways of the 36 Streets. Born in Vietnam, raised in Australia everywhere she is an outsider.

Not one to give up she has thought for her place in Hanoi underworld and secured herself tutelage under Bao Nguyen who teaches her to fight and most importantly survive. Because in the 36 Streets there are no second chances.

But the people of Hanoi have more to worry about than the Chinese occupation with Fat Victory. An addictive immersive simulation of the US-Vietnam war. One of the game’s developers – an Englishman – comes to Hanoi on the trail of his friend’s murdered and Lin is drawn into the grand conspiracies of the city.

Now Lin must confront the immutable moral calculus of unjust wars. She must choose between: family, country or gang. Truth, blood or redemption and no choice on the 36 Streets is easy.

Now I have to admit it did take me a little while to get into this one. What did keep me going was Lin. A protagonist who could be classed as grey morality at a push. A hero who is flawed in several ways, moulded by her past and those around her to survive and look out for number one. I can see why some people might find it difficult to sympathise or like Lin but I found her intriguing and it kept me wanting to know more and I am so glad it did. Most definitely this is not for the faint of heart or those who expect to have the cyberpunk feel but not the gore and grit that goes with it. There is drug use, there is alcohol consumption, violence and swearing but given the setting what can we expect? As such I feel that none of the above is out of place within the narrative and never felt like it was there for shock value or just because it can be.

I do have to say though that the story itself did take some getting into, it wasn’t that it was overly complex but rather that it seemed to come secondary in some instances to the action. Once you do get into it, for me about three chapters in it is a good book. It kept me going and I did finish it in three sittings after hitting that mark since I did want to know what happened.

All in all I would recommend this book to sci-fi cyberpunk fans but would caution that it deals with the darker and more violent side of these genres, sometimes in great detail. It isn’t clean cut good vs bad, you will find yourself wondering if the protagonist is making the right choice or doing the right thing but I personally found that refreshing myself.

36 Streets by T.R. Napper, I had a hard time getting into this book, simply did not appeal to me though I do see how others will enjoy it. Thank you for giving me a chance with this book.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a DNF for me. Now don't get me wrong, I think this cyberpunk tale will work for a ton of people, and the world was giving me Cyberpunk 2077 vibes, though that's specific to the aesthetic, the story itself is different (as far as I read anyway).

The problem for me is the writing. This book has a very distinct writing style and I just couldn't engage with it. I would definitely recommend this to sci-fi readers who are more open to experimental styles than I tend to be.