Blogtour Review: Division Zero (Division Zero #1) – Matthew S. Cox

Posted 2 July, 2014 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Blog Tour, Reviews / 13 Comments

Blogtour Review: Division Zero (Division Zero #1) - Matthew S. Cox

Blogtour Review: Division Zero (Division Zero #1) – Matthew S. CoxDivision Zero by Matthew Cox
Series: Division Zero #1
Published by Curiosity Quill Press on 7 March 2014
Genres: Adult, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 282
Format: eARC
Source: Xpresso Booktours
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5 Stars

Most cops get to deal with living criminals, but Agent Kirsten Wren is not most cops.

A gifted psionic with a troubled past, Kirsten possesses a rare combination of abilities that give her a powerful weapon against spirits. In 2418, rampant violence and corporate warfare have left no shortage of angry wraiths in West City. Most exist as little more than fleeting shadows and eerie whispers in the darkness.

Kirsten is shunned by a society that does not understand psionics, feared by those who know what she can do, and alone in a city of millions. Every so often, when a wraith gathers enough strength to become a threat to the living, these same people rely on her to stop it.

Unexplained killings by human-like androids known as dolls leave the Division One police baffled, causing them to punt the case to Division Zero. Kirsten, along with her partner Dorian, wind up in the crosshairs of corporate assassins as they attempt to find out who – or what – is behind the random murders before more people die.

She tries to hold on to the belief that no one is beyond redemption as she pursues a killer desperate to claim at least one more innocent soul – that might just be hers.

*I received a free ARC of Division Zero from Xpresso Booktours in exchange of an honest review*

Welcome to my stop on the Blogtour for Divison Zero! I am sharing my review, some of my favorite quotes, and there’s also a giveaway! Don’t be too shy to enter 🙂

My Division Zero review:

Division Zero is totally my kind  of Sci-Fi! There is a very strong female protagonist, she has been through hell but survived anyway. Her mom was her worst opponent up until now, as she tried to beat the devil out of Kirsten because of her gift. The fact that her gift is being able to see and talk to ghosts in no way excused the mother’s treatment of her child, and in adulthood, Kirsten still has to deal with her abandonment issues, as well as issues that have to do with any kind of organized religion.

Set four hundred years in the future, Division Zero is filled with bots, hover crafts, different kinds of paranormal powers, and several ghosts. Some of the bots are almost human-like with and artificial intelligence making them quite scary in ways. Kirsten is quite the loner; she has two close friends in her division of the police force, both Nicole and Dorian accept her just the way she is. She can do much more than see ghosts, though, she can also read thoughts if she wants to, and she can obliterate ghosts as well as human minds if she really puts her mind to it. Division Zero is quite slow in the beginning, but this is needed so that we can get used to the world the story is set in.

The world-building is well done, and the main characters take on their personality from the get-go. Kirsten is a true heroine in more than one way. The fact that she managed to escape from her crazed mother when she was just a child herself is one of the reasons I loved her so much. Another reason is that she is complete, and filled with empathy even for those who might not fully deserve it. I do have a couple of things to point out that I was either puzzled about, or that I didn’t like as much as the rest. However, Division Zero still deserves five full stars in my opinion. Dorian, Kirsten’s partner is present all through the story, but his complete situation is stipulated in a side-sentence, as if it was not all that important. He is the one guy who is 100% behind all of Kirsten’s decisions, and I enjoyed all of their interactions, even if he was completely and utterly creeped out by the AI dolls.

There are several plot-lines taking place in Division Zero, and Kirsten is on the front-line everywhere. There is a murder mystery, and as I love detective work, that is one way it appealed to me. There are other important things going on as well, one being the way those who have the psionic powers Kirsten has are treated differently. Also, the world is very bleak, even if Kirsten is still filled with hope both for her own future and that of others who are close to her. For a story of only 282 pages, Division Zero covered a lot of ground, and I was able to feel completely immersed in this futuristic and alien world. It is possible to travel to other worlds, as well as communicating in ways we can only dream of now.

Even if the world is complex, I never felt lost or left behind. If you’re a Sci-Fi fan, Division Zero should definitely make its’ way to your TBR pile! Written from Kirsten’s point of view, in third person past tense, Division Zero was able to reel me in from the very first sentence, and kept me entertained and kind of entrapped during the whole story.

Some of my favorite Division Zero quotes:

After what Mother had done to her in the name of God, she paid little heed to religion. She had peered too deep into the other side to believe in man made stories. She knew the Abyss existed and something else opposed it – a lighter energy that defied exact definition.

Taking a seat by the sink, she plucked her e-razor from the shelf. A two-inch strip of intense blue light followed it around the curves of her legs, leaving behind a trail of warm skin as well as smoke wherever any hint of hair had been.

“This way.” Turning with a giggle, the doll pivoted on one heel and skipped off down the row of parked cars. Dorian shook his head. “In the grand scheme of all things creepy, that doll rates two points below a knife-wielding clown.”

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Author Bio

Matthew Fox Author pic - (un)Conventional Bookviews

  Born in a little town known as South Amboy NJ in 1973, Matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Somewhere between fifteen to eighteen of them spent developing the world in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, and The Awakened Series take place. He has several other projects in the works as well as a collaborative science fiction endeavor with author Tony Healey. Hobbies and Interests: Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour ) He is also fond of cats. Awards: Prophet of the Badlands (excerpt) – Honorable Mention – Writers of the Future Author Links: Blog | Goodreads | Facebook| Twitter You can find your copy of Division Zero here: Amazon | B&N | Kobo

Thanks for stopping by today. Good luck in the Division Zero giveaway.

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Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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13 responses to “Blogtour Review: Division Zero (Division Zero #1) – Matthew S. Cox

    • Lori, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy Division Zero! The mix is truly well done between the sci-fi and the paranormal, and Kirsten is awesome 🙂
      Thanks for stopping by!

  1. Lexxie, Thank you for the wonderful review and for letting me take up some space on your blog. I’m glad you enjoyed reading Division Zero, and I’m humbled by the show of excitement among the rest of the people commenting here. 🙂

    -Matt

    Matthew Cox recently posted: Divergent Fate #44

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