I like the start of this book. I felt the build-up was good and I got to know Fae and her backstory. I enjoy sci-fi so I really liked learning about the world the characters were in!

Little bit too YA for me, and I have read it some time ago, and did not really remember the details. I liked the cyberpunk / scifi setting however!!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Astral Hacker by Brian Terenna is YA sci-fi novel that will appeal to fans of Goddess in the Machine and The Infinity Courts. The story takes place in New America in the 22nd century. The story revolves aroud Fae, a 17 year-old girl and hacker and her artifically-intelligent humanoid robot Sunny, who she created herself. One day, the unthinkable happens, and Fae is forced to fight new enemies and uncover a deadly conspiracy.

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 1 that introduces us to Fae:

"After a run-in with the law, I knew I needed a better way. My solution was coding, and now it's my entire life. I went from long days and late nights of driven studies at age nine to winning the NIA hacking challenge at ten. At eleven, I designed a life-changing program, but I shouldn't talk about that. And for the last six years, I've learned and practiced relentlessly, constantly striving for perfection.
I went from a half-starved wraith, wearing stained hand-me-downs, to a healthy teen with an elite reputation on the mesh-site, Progs. I have hundreds of royalty generating applications now. When I move out in a year, I'll be able to support myself, use my resources to improve the foster care sytem, and hopefully, make some real friends. Maybe I'll even find love."

Overall, The Astral Hacker is an action-packed YA science fiction novel and a promising start of a new series. One highlight of this book are the intense action sequences. The book never lost my attention as it moved from scene to scene. I did take off 2 stars, because I don't typically enjoy sci-fi books. There are some sci-fi books that I've enjoyed, but I felt like this one had too much new terminology and new technology. I felt confused a lot of the time while reading this book. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of YA science fiction, you can check out this book, which is available now!

Fae is an gifted hacker who bounces around foster homes,
before her mother died , her mother specifically told her not to get an evo implanted ,but if she did she would be increasing her coding ability tenfold .

her journey begins when she's matched with a new foster mother ,
when she thinks she finally has stability it all come crumbling apart due to mysterious circumstances .
she's forced to reach out to her online guild partner .

Where she's introduced to a band of experienced and highly lethal band of rebels and loyalists

There she digs deep in the into the conspiracy that is herself and her family .

This book was well written and i especially adored the characters I grew to understand what they did and why .
Though in the beginning i was a bit left out of the loop in the world building and the plot immersion, i was glad we got to know the characters a bit before major plot break throughs
overall a fun witty read

Received ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to #NetGalley and #BooksGoSocial.

I loved this, it’s a first in a series, a modern sci-fi / cyberpunk nice coming of age story set in a dystopian future. The characters are fun and endearing with lots of action - my favourite is Sunny the human level AI robot. I would recommend this to both adults and young adults looking for a fun and techie sci-fi. 4* I’m looking forward to the sequel.