I really liked this, although I didn't *quite* love it. It's definitely good enough I'm interested in checking out other SerialBox productions. If you're not aware, these are presented like a TV series. Each story is an "episode," the book is a season. It's how I released the Riley Parra seasons way back when if you're a reader of my stuff. Good stories, a good series, and a good introduction to a new service.

A fun, very engaging near-future police procedural set in occupied Tokyo, starring an American peacekeeper and a Japanese police officer. This story is set up much like a TV crime show, with distinct cases in each episode tied together with some overarching narrative threads. It took a little while for me to get used to this format - I struggled at times to keep track of the larger storylines and to have a sense of the timeline of the different cases. There were a few rough transitions and times...

(Disclaimer: I received this free book from Netgalley. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)More like a 3.5 from me.Ninth Step Station is a fast paced crime science fiction thriller. There's mystery, murder, and manipulation. Written by four different authors, it is a serialized action book. I'm interested in how it felt to work with three other authors and you can see their characters develop. Each author picks up where the other left off, taking you to a new case with

Apparently I never reviewed this back when I read it. So forgive me because a few of the details may be a bit foggy.I really enjoyed this. The kind people at Serial Box (now called Realm), reached out after I won this in a giveaway and offered me the audio portion as well. I absolutely love the audio versions of the serials at Realm. Emily Woo Zeller narrates and she does a wonderful job. I think what brings these serials to life are all the little sound effects and background noises. They reall...

This read much like a series of Ghost in the Shell. From the NeoTokyo setting, to the ubiquitous cybernetic body mods, I expected Major Kusanagi to pop up at any juncture. That said, it also ruled. It’s been a long time since I read serialized fiction outside of comics, and the episodic nature made for a fun time. Each author added to the tale, instead of distracting with wild stylistic flourishes. I would happily read another series with Emma, Miyako, and the rest. There were less political mac...

This is an excellent serial revolving around a Tokyo cop and an American peacekeeper's efforts to solve a series of murders in a Tokyo that has yet to be. The mysteries were written by several different authors, but the pacing was excellent, characterization was strong and consistent, and there was a fascinating story arc that transcended each installment. The setting was so real that I felt like I was in Tokyo again, and I loved the way that inter-office politics brought secondary characters to...

One of the benefits of an anthology or collection is that the reader is exposed to different writers and gets the opportunity to discover a new diamond. Ninth Step succeeds in this regard. There were several really compelling episodes and watching how each author took on the cast, setting, and the past details left behind by the previous author was fascinating. For this, both the authors and editor deserves a lot of credit. The stories flow together really well. The characters maintain the same

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.In a future that doesn't seem so nice, Japan finds itself occupied by China, as well as the USA after a war. There's a strange murder, and a cyborgized American finds herself paired with a Japanese female detective. The two fight crime, and try to keep China on their side of the line.Pretty good, especially if you're into Manga and/or anime.

This series at Serial Box really lends itself to the weekly episode format.The blurb is the best introduction to the basics: Years of disaster and conflict have left Tokyo split between great powers. In the city of drone-enforced borders, bodymod black markets, and desperate resistance movements, US peacekeeper Emma Higashi is assigned to partner with Tokyo Metropolitan Police Detective Miyako Koreda.Each episode is a case, setup, conflict, solve, which makes satisfying reading for those who don...

So - that was fun!Enjoyed listening just now to "The Faceless Body" by Malka Older, first episode of the first season of the Serial Box serial "Ninth Street Station".I tend to only listen to "audio books" when trying to get to sleep, but with this format (episodes in a season, each audio episode I guess around 90 min) I thought it might work well in my "podcast slot" (i.e. cooking and doing the dishes) - happy to say it did. Certainly planning to buy the full season now (something I didn't expec...

With uncanny plot points presaging American stumbles in democracy, the all-star authors of this podcast (originally a Serial Box serialized novel) have created a near-future, proto-cyberpunk, earthquake-shattered, divided Tokyo whose many factions harbor hidden agendas and grudges. The Chinese occupy half of the city, American peacekeepers patrol the other half, and the Tokyo police (and organized crime) are caught up in the middle. And what is the top American diplomat in the city up to?The tec...

This is such an entertaining read. Mix a near-future setting (Japan has been laid low by natural disasters and Chinese interference, and is now a divided nation) with some very plausible scifi-tech (body-mods, implants, and people who use tech-y "sleeves" to communicate and interface), and make it all a cyber-punkish police procedural, and you get the vibe of this excellent story. But what really sells this for me, are the two main characters, US peacekeeper Emma Higashi and Tokyo Metropolitan P...

Over the last few years I've discovered a fondness for Japanese mysteries and science fiction. I think the Japanese style is mannered,  rather like the Edwardian style,  and perhaps because it's unusual to my perspective,  I enjoy very much reading Japanese mysteries and SF in translation. NINTH STEP STATION is Near-Future Apocalyptic Dystopian Science Fiction. Yes it's all of these. Set in the early 2030's, Tokyo is partially destroyed by a terrible earthquake plus is a divided city following C...

This is what you get when you mix Blade Runner and Altered Carbon in a feminist blender. The two protagonists are women, a soldier and a cop and they are delightful. The futuristic world-building was excellent and each of the cases was interesting. I kind of cheated because I didn't listen to the episodes as they were released weekly but rather binged them all in a few days. Either way this was an exciting story that kept me listening and I'm ready for season two!The narration was very good with...

Liked the idea of episodic content written by different SF authors, but this lacked any new or interesting ideas. All the tropes you would expect from a detective noir story including plenty of male perpetrated violence with female victims.Was often bored because the characterisation was mediocre and the detectives were at times annoyingly lacking in curiosity.

On your mark. Get set. Tokyo. A fistful of years beyond the 2031 opportunistic China partial grab, the city is global player sectored and kept that way by checkpoints and drone walls. Reconstruction, power, records, data access are all sketchy. Tokyo Metropolitan Police Detective Miyako Koreda is assigned a murder case. And a new partner, US peacekeeper Emma Higashi, on a let's-see-how-this-goes basis for both organizations, with the silent admonition that the women need to be the ones to make i...

Review 4.4 starsI was pleased to receive this serialised fiction as an ARC from Serial Box Publishing as it was an exciting read. This police procedural set in a near future Tokyo consists of ten engrossing episodes written by different authors, including at least one, Jacqueline Koyanagi whose debut novel I've read and reviewed. The style is reminiscent of US crime series, but with its own interesting approach as the sense of an imminent future pervades but doesn’t take over the plots. This cou...

2.5 stars not rounded upThe author knows the noir and cyberpunk genres very well, but doesn't really do anything new with them, leading to a "benn there, done" that feeling with the individual cases being solved.The relationship between the POV characters and their colleagues xould have bern interesting, but they sadly remained somewhat underexplored. This was pleasant enough background listening for chores and such, but I had hoped for....more.

This is a very cool concept, and if one of myriad TV networks out there (looking at YOU, Netflix) needs more programming, they should check this out.Great characters, interesting worldbuilding, and murder mysteries, all chopped up and neatly packaged in serial format.Like any series, there were stronger episodes and weaker ones, but the overall quality and compatibility among the crack writing team made this a genuine pleasure.4.5/5

Set in a near future Tokyo divided between a China-controlled sector and a US-chaperonned, Japanese sector, NINTH STEP STATION is an amazing mystery serial. I loved the way the impact of the recent war was threaded through the every episode, both in the crimes and their motivations and in the means available to our two police MCs (limited or unreliable databases, no access to the Chinese side, etc.). Watching the slow build of trust between Miyako and Emma was so rewarding--I'm always here for p...