Behind Blue Eyes, Books 1-3

By: Anna Mocikat

Narrated by: David Reimer, Jessica Weyman

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!

Books 1-3 of the bestselling cyberpunk saga!

©2023 Anna Mocikat (P)2024 Anna Mocikat

Authoritarian corporate dystopias as told by an emerging writer.

The concept of following a member of an elite corporate cyber force in a corporate dystopia is interesting enough, with regular tips of the hat to 1984 and Animal Farm. The author sometimes forgets the logical consequences of the technology in her stories, a common failing in sci-fi. The author also sometimes states things very plainly that are better implied or alluded to indirectly. We are often told how to perveive things rather than being invited to form our own impression through the lens of character actions and experiences. Language use is sometimes uninspired. But these failings diminish with sequels as the author becomes more experienced and comfortable. Books 1-3 are on sale as a package at a good price, making these early writings a worthy buy despite their shortcomings.

A Thrilling Cyberpunk Adventure

Behind Blue Eyes by Anna Mocikat isn’t just a book—it has the feel of a cinematic experience, and the Audible version amplifies that feeling tenfold. From the very first scene, the story unfolds with the pacing and intensity of a movie. Every chapter feels like a carefully crafted sequence, blending high-octane action, emotional depth, and stunning visuals (even though you’re only listening!).

The pacing is flawless. The story moves quickly, but never feels rushed, with each scene flowing seamlessly into the next. The action sequences are so vividly described and expertly narrated that I could practically see them playing out in my mind like a high-budget sci-fi film. The tension builds perfectly, with moments of quiet introspection balanced by explosive, edge-of-your-seat confrontations.

Incredible Characters! I love it!

This story is killer and kept me engaged the whole time! I love it and am hooked! I can't wait for more! It's action packed and the characters are incredible. If you want to be truly entertained and go for a great ride, this is your series!

A fantastic cyberpunk adventure.

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 when 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.
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 recommend this book wholeheartedly.

Not bad

The story is ok but way too many (and long descriptive) erotic scenes for my taste. Seriously, the erotic scenes feel overused (yeah it's a bit of the setting but still..) The narration is GREAT: really liked the alternating narrators.

Three Awesome Cyberpunk Books for the Price of One

The first three books in the Behind Blue Eyes series have it all. action, suspense, sex, and intrigue. Olympus City is aa spotless look at the future that hides a dark and gritty under belly. The most dangerous thing might be the guardian angels built to protect her. By the end you will question who is good and who is evil.

Fantastic sexy cyberpunk action series

BEHIND BLUE EYES by Anna Mocikat is a independent cyberpunk novel series. It is a story that draws on dystopian science fiction tropes as well as puts the author's own spin on the subject. It also incorporates the journey of its heroine from being a pawn of a corrupt system to being her own woman, finding out along the way that you can't trust anyone even if they seem to be the good guys. A lesson that she learns multiple times with increasing bitterness.

The premise is that in the distant future, humanity has mostly destroyed itself with the survivors living in arcologies run by various megacorporations. Olympias City is run by one and survives due to the efforts of a cybernetic assassins called the Guardian Angels. Blue-eyed mercenaries. they are created from children taken from the dregs of society or its outcasts then upgraded into unfeeling weapons that eliminate all dissidents.

Nephilim is one of the best of the Guardian Angels, soon to be promoted to their Archangel ranks that answer only to the mysterious Metatron. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she is damaged during one of her battles and starts to question her role as a government cleaner. Assisted by a nerdy computer programmer named Finwick, she manages to buy herself some genuine freedom and explores it with a young rebel named Jake. However, totalitarianism turns out to be harder to escape than it sounds.

I like the world-building in this book. Olympias City is a dystopia in the vein of Brave New World versus 1984, focused more on bread and circuses versus direct oppression. You are provided a job, security, and all the sex as well as mindless entertainment you could want. It just requires you to have your news edited, to never disobey your superiors, engage in no religion, and ignore the perversities of the society like legalized child trafficking. Anna introduces the darker elements one at a time so that it takes awhile to understand just how fully messed up the society is.

Nephilim is a fantastic character and one of the more likable heroines I've encountered in the genre. She desperately wants to be free and the good guy but is still fairly naive due to being programmed to trust her superiors as well as believe in her society's propaganda. This pays off in a way that I feel is the highlight of the book. I'm also a fan of Finwick, who is both repulsive and likable in equal parts. I mentally cast him as Seth Green just like I used Kate Beckinsale for Nephilim. Now there's a movie I would have liked to have watched.

Metatron is an amazing villain and comes across something like a Bond villain transported to a cyberpunk dystopia. Educated, charming, and urbane, he's a fellow that thinks he's less of a complete monster than he is. Despite my earlier statement that it's more BNW than 1984, he reminds me strongly of O'Brien from the latter. A man who has immersed himself in the culture of the old world and is aware of the Party's flaws but gleefully pursues its goals anyway.

The story for the first three books is a dark and action-packed one with lots of twists as well as turns. The good guys don't always win (assuming there are in this story) and the bad guys can be truly reprehensible. You won't know who to root for at times. The narration was really well done and I give props to the two who did it, smart choice to divide it between two. I hope there will be a second of these collections as you're getting a steal with the first three for one Audible credit.

Gritty Dark but heavy on erotica

While I did like the story and set up, the setting and characters. I had to stop when it just kept going on and on about sex. Like a good 40% of the story is about sex, fetish, kinks and abuse.

Once we got to the LEGAL child brothel slaves, I was out and tried a bit more but it just got more and more focused on a cheap erotica novel instead of story plot.

Great plot, decent writing

I love the plot and characters of this series. The prose, though, could use a bit more variety. I can't even count the number of times the phrase "less than two seconds" appeared in each book. Also, in book 3, I sometimes had the feeling the author was stalling, repeating things that had already been said over and over. Still, this would make for an awesome TV series!

Great Story Good Narration

Its a great base to build the rest of the universe. Love the tie ins with the rest of her stories