In Sisco’s speculative novel, a young man who wants to find his grandfather’s killer is deemed a threat due to his mental illness. Several years ago, in an alternate history set in the “American Union of Nations,” a man with a mental illness known as Mirror Resonance Syndrome (MRS) killed people in an act of chaos and extreme violence in the town of Carmichael. In the incident’s aftermath came the Carmichael edicts, which have since subjugated those with MRS (sufferers are hyper-emotional and prone to daydreaming and periods of mental blankness) to being treated as less than human, looked at with suspicion, and forced to live on “ranches” they can never leave. Despite being part of the famous Eastmore family (his grandfather, Jefferson Eastmore, cured cancer), Victor has effectively had his life stolen from him due to his MRS diagnosis. Jefferson died recently, and Victor believes he was murdered—maybe even assassinated—and he wants to find who was responsible. Victor’s mental illness may be the key to the mystery; his friend Ozie tells him that Jefferson was trying to challenge the status quo for the treatment of those with MRS (he wanted to find a cure), a position that’s widely considered radical and may have made him some enemies. The country is also beset by the rise of addiction to drugs known as stims, which have had serious, ongoing consequences for people like Victor’s friend Elena (“She could tell him about the flood of stims the Corps had unleashed to hook as many people as possible”) and, by extension, Victor himself. Sisco has created an immersive cyberpunk world as the setting for an elaborate murder mystery and conspiracy thriller; the copious amount of worldbuilding detail is truly impressive. Victor is a relatable hero with eclectic friends in Ozie and Elena (as well as an herbalist, Pearl, who aids him in dealing with the symptoms of his condition). The world and the characters work together to effectively form a cohesive story about how easy it is for society to classify a group of people as dangerous outsiders. A fantastic SF thriller with a sincere and important message.

A breathtaking, deeply dark alternate-history Earth with complex characters, layered worldbuilding, and twist after twist after twist. This book contains sensitive content which some people may find offensive or disturbing. Broken Mirror: Resonant Earth is one of my first forays into the cyberpunk/dystopian sci-fi genre and I was very happy with what I read. Cody Sisco has created a breathtaking, deeply dark alternate-history Earth with complex characters, layered worldbuilding, and twist after twist after twist. I highly recommend it to fans of T.R. Napper, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Philip K. Dick, or anyone looking to explore sci-fi with a dystopian noir feel. The gritty prose really shines in this book. I was hooked from the start, and the highlight of Broken Mirror: Resonant Earth is certainly the worldbuilding and reality-bending commentary. Sisco’s descriptions of tech – both real and invented – allow for this alternate version of Earth in the 1990s to feel fully realized without becoming overly-complicated or convoluted. There were some instances of infodumping that could have been shortened, but those sections didn’t take much away from the overall experience. Another highlightis in its variety of representation. This story is very much about mental health and chronic illness, and Sisco combats a number of stigmas and slurs regarding mental illnesses in general, which was handled with tact. I really connected with the main character, Victor’s, experiences with the harassment, doubt, and fear that comes with his illness. There is also a fair amount of queer representation, all of which felt natural and compelling within the story. What I enjoyed most, however, was that the characters were all well-developed and flawed in realistic ways. Not one of Sisco’s characters truly had me rooting for them, and that’s a good thing. All in all, the combined atmosphere of grim worldbuilding and untrustworthy narrators are very in-line with what I know of cyberpunk/noir, which left me feeling satisfied with the story. Broken Mirror: Resonant Earth is on the long side for a science fiction thriller, and the story does drop off quite suddenly at the end, meaning the reader will want to pick up book two ASAP. Luckily, Tortured Echoes is available in its original edition, but I will personally be waiting for another revised version. Despite its length, the chapters are short and moved the pace at a speed that kept me interested.