Behind Blue Eyes

Behind Blue Eyes, Book 1

By: Anna Mocikat

Narrated by: David Reimer, Jessica Weyman

Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

In a future world ruled by warring mega-corporations, cyborg Nephilim believed she was fighting a righteous cause. As a powerful cybernetically enhanced elite soldier, her job is to do all the dirty work for the mega-corporation she belongs to. She and her elite cyborg squad are deployed on the most dangerous missions–to protect Olympias from threats outside and inside, at any cost.

One day, a malfunction in her implants separates her from the all-controlling grid. For the first time in her life, Nephilim is free. She learns that everything she has believed in all her life is a lie, and decides to defend her newfound freedom. But Metatron, the leader of her unit, has very special plans for her future and won’t let her get away. Soon, Nephilim finds herself hunted by the killer squads she once belonged to. She’s the best of them, but will her skills be enough to survive?

Blade Runner meets John Wick with a badass female lead!

©2020 Anna Mocikat (P)2023 Anna Mocikat

cyberpunk at it's best

The world:
do you ever wonder what it would be like if every major cooperation ruled the world? Behind Blue Eyes paints an eerie and terrifying future where corporations rule.

The characters:
Nephilim is easy to love and route for. Total bad ass.
Adriel: sleeper hit character. I hope I see more of him in book 2.
Metatron: great villain. Love to hate him.

Narration: David and Jessica are some of the best in the business! they have great chemistry and bring everyone to life.

I could go on and on but the long and short of it is if you want a cyberpunk book that will knock your socks off and leave you begging for more check this series out

the voice acting was in my opinion awesome

ooof this book kept me on the edge of my toes but I absolutely loved it and I can't wait to read the others

Ugh

I just couldn't quite finish the story. The writing comes off as misogynistic at times with comments about how the guys are or are not "real men". The writer needs to work on using more contractions and honestly a lot of the characters were just very two dimensional. It just gave me the impression of a beginner writer that didn't get a good editor.

Generic, but quite alright

Writing and storyline feel very generic and follow normal cyberpunk megacorporation tropes from the megacorp soldier perspective. It's an easy listen, if you want something light to play in the background! They also put a surprising amount of effort into the recording, so there's also that going for it.

As a side note, author's fixation on power exchange over people dynamics is somewhat amusing.

Action Packed!

Behind Blue Eyes is an action packed thrill ride through a dystopian future where the angels are made of titanium. it's sexy and violent and leaves you wanting more. Excellent story and performance!

This Is Exactly What I Needed!!

I've been trying to find a good cyberpunk series to get into for a long time and couldn't find anything interesting...until now!!! This was better than I could have imagined and I'm completely hooked!! I just downloaded the second book!

Highly recommend this book!!

Behind Blue Eyes flows like water, it has everything you'd wish for and more in a cyberpunk story. The characters are exciting, and you get the sense that everyone has a purpose in the story, no one gets left behind. The dialogue between characters feels real and has a purpose making you alert and crave more of what's ahead of you.

The story begins on a mission led by the head of the guardian angels. It explains who and what the guardian angels are and their purposes in life. It gives you a clear image of how beautiful and intimidating they are. And what they are capable of doing to anyone standing in their way.

In this new world set in the distant future where everything is divided between three mega-corporations. Olympias, Rosprom, and TogbuaXiang. The main focus will be on Olympias City 1 where our main characters live and do their business. It's the beautiful cyberpunk city of your dreams, where you have everything you need to survive and live your life to the fullest. At least so it seems. You will get a detailed view of the everyday life of the guardian angels and the megalopolis they live in.

You will not be disappointed by Behind blue eyes book 1. The narrators of this book are very talented and give their best performance so you'll have the best experience of the story. I highly recommend Behind Blue Eyes Book 1. Written by the talented author: Anna Mocikat

Great new entry to the cyberpunk genre!

Behind Blue Eyes is a new entry into the resurgent cyberpunk genre, which had sort of been
left for dead for quite a few years, but is thankfully seeing something of a resurgence. As we
come to the years that the Cyberpunk of the 80’s was set in, it’s fun seeing what came true
and what didn’t.

With Behind Blue Eyes, we get to see a bit further down the road, in a
Cyberpunk world set in a time where nations have fallen, and everything is controlled by three
Mega-Corporations set up in various mega-cities in the ruins of the old world. This very
cyberpunk world has all the social inequities you’d expect, with the haves and have-nots very
much separated. The propaganda machine and societal changes ensure obedience, as a
very modern form of bread and circuses has developed. And just behind the scenes in the
mega-city of Olympias are the Angels, the not so mythical cyborg enforcers of order in the
regime.

This is where Nephilim and her fellow angels come in. Nephilim is a ruthless agent of the
regime, the perfect assassin and soldier, equally adept at disappearing dissidents and fighting
cyborgs from rival mega-corps. She is the perfect tool of the order, ready for greater things,
including being made an Archangel, one of the leaders of the cyborg soldiers. Perfect, that is,
until a freak encounter with another cyborg send Nephilim on a path she couldn’t ever have
seen coming, as she is given something no other Angel has: A choice. A choice to continue
being a weapon in the service of Olympias or going her own path, and this choice has
consequences for not only her, but for Olympias and the greater world in general.
The protagonist can only be as good as the villains they are fighting against, and in this case,
Nephilim has not only rival corporation’s cyborgs to deal with, but also Metatron, the leader of
the Angels, and the biggest threat to Nephilim if she goes off the rails of her pre-planned life.

He is such a well thought out character, always seeming a step ahead, always that menace
that holds the sword of Damocles over all their heads, ready to remove those heads if they fail
to comply. Nephilim plays off his menace well, and you can only hope as the story goes that
she is able to find a way out from under his seemingly all-seeing gaze.

The narrators both do an excellent job of bringing the characters to life. They give depth and emotional resonance to the characters, and do an excellent job of differentiating the characters from each other. Their narrative pacing is solid, never bogging down in a monotone of clipped speech. A fine performance indeed.

This new breed of cyberpunk plays homage to the classics by writers like William Gibson, but
goes in it’s own distinct direction, never feeling derivative. It’s got those interesting
speculations about what the fairly near future will hold, and you can tell the author put a lot of
effort into creating a world the reader can become immersed in, and will definitely have some
interesting possibilities in future stories. I can see this story appealing to fans of traditional
cyberpunk, and fans of sci-fi in general. I am excited to see where the story goes from here,
and recommend this book wholeheartedly.

TRUE CYPERPUNK

cyberpunk story that is more than just a vibe. It begs the question free will our own, and where do you draw the line between man and machine.

Classic cyberpunk, heavy on the tropes

The story is fun and easy to read, and the voice acting is very good.

The book explores a hyper-consumerist society, and how the main character copes with her role in enforcing its norms. It's heavy on the action and heavy on the sexuality. The violence is well described in a cinematic style; the sex fades to black after some scene setting and nudity.

The two cautions would be 1) some non-consensual close calls that might be triggering, or 2) trouble with suspension of disbelief -- mostly from tropes of the genre (mega-cities that span huge areas, a dictator who demands brainwashed levels of obedience, monocultures, cyborgs that look human but are ten times better and with telltale glowing eyes, etc).

Don't expect a sociology textbook, a nuanced exploration of the disadvantages of augmentation vs human evolution, nor deeply nuanced characters. It's action movie fare in the theater of your mind, and as long at that's what you're expecting, you're likely to enjoy it.