Sword Punk

Saving Seoul: A Cyberpunk Action Series

By: Steven Kelliher

Narrated by: Gary Furlong, Laurie Catherine Winkel, Justin Thomas James, Jeff Hays

Akio Prince is one of the best in the world at a dying art.

He’s put a lifetime of martial arts training to work in the arena, dueling with pulsing resin blades and glowing carbon fiber for the masses. But winning championships is small consolation while his city is taken over by the Hachinin, ruthless criminals spreading corruption, violence, and debauchery across the east.

When the same syndicate that claimed the life of Akio’s master threatens the few friends he has left, he decides to make a stand.

After refusing to throw a fight at the behest of the city’s kingpin, Akio enters a dangerous game of hunter and hunted - a bloody revenge tour that will push him to his limits and put his martial skills to the ultimate test.

In the near-future Far East, where heroes are hard to find, Akio discovers that a little bad might do a world of good.

©2020 Steven Kelliher (P)2020 Monolith Books

SBT is phenomenal!

SBT did a fantastic job with this book. I loved the work Gary did witht he MC, it was an easy listen hearing how the character play his way in and out of trouble with a smooth voice to keep things calm even during tense moments. if a voice could wear sunglasses, this is it! ( I'm saying that as the most common voice I heard in the book) The author could use some work giving more characterization to this cut and dry ( but not stale ) delivery of a modern samurai drama. For what it was the story was clean, didn't have too much extra, but it had a lot of unneeded filler in my opinion. Too much extra intrigue or filler to get to know the characters better. By no means is the book the author wrote bad, it just doesn't lend itself well to being anything other than a TV show script, but instead of reading it I much more preferred the delivery here by SBT, a must buy if you like SBT's works or anything by the author. Solid delivery on all accounts! I was given a code for this book, but I would have actually paid money/ a credit for it if I had been recommended, hands down, enjoyable. A better experience than a certain popular game with neon lights and futuristic samurai.

Fun futuristic fighting tournament

I need to establish that I am a sucker for fighting tournaments. So with that being said, I loved this book. The fighting was well explained and abundant throughout the book. The world was well described and created a cool setting where this can all transpire. The characters are diverse and interesting. The narration was expertly done and the fact that is is a full cast performance adds great value. The sound effects and music help with greater immersion in the book.

thrilling!

Great story and narration!

A martial artist must fight in a televised tournament in order to pay back debts of his deceased adopted father. Told to take a dive by a mafia boss will he bow to pressure or fight with his all? The world will never be the same!

Soundbooth does a fantastic job with the narration and bringing the story and characters to life!

This was a fun one!

I can't wait to find out what happens in the next book!

Pretty Good

I love the story, the martial arts aspect, all of it. There is plenty of room for individual character growth and ALOT of room for the history of the world and how it became so much more different than the world we all live in. The only thing I don’t like (and am hoping is changed by next book) is there is just way too much introspection. Especially in the middle of a fight. I found myself skipping 30 seconds ahead to get on with it already. But overall, good enough to get another credit from me on the next book.

Imagine Batman but it's Korean and Cyberpunk

great sound design, music used sparingly through important moments made it atmospheric.
some small editing issues in the beginning and to a lesser degree the end.
it acknowledges what it inspired by without being campy, I can't wait for the next one.

Excellent story! Just not my cup of tea

I thought the narration of this book was excellent. I love Soundbooth Theater and have often picked up books simply because someone from their crew was involved.
This particular book is well written and is simply not up my alley so it took me a while to get through it. The characters were interesting and the narrators truly brought them to life, I'm sure anyone that is interested in an urban vigilante mob story with some sci-fi mixed in is going to love it.

enjoyed

it was better than I thought, recommend light cyberpunk table. great voice acting A+

If you like cyber punk samurai then boom

I loved it as a martial arts nerd I really appreciated the accurate attention to detail in all the battles. Also all there are A LOT of battles in this book which is always a plus. Can't wait to see where the story goes

Missing any real depth

Felt like a side quest, no meat to naw on, just a tried old tale of street urchin being chivalrous and another underdog taking on the system of corruption and greed

Bland combo of Roller Ball and Batman

Even with some sound effects and four narrators, this failed to draw me in. The story is the standard archetype: a scrappy fighter stands up to the game makers, aka the criminal Them (think Reel Steel, Roller Ball, etc. etc. ). Unfortunately, without the visuals, the story really needed to step things up.
Instead, it was all so ho hum.

There was lots of inner monologue with the MC blithely thinking about killing or calmly saying he was angry. The bad guys were bland too, contributing little in the way of scene chewing or delivering quirky, colorful smarm that any Gotham-esque villain should. Although I didn’t hate any of the characters,
I also wasn’t invested in any of them. Finally, throughout the numerous fight scenes, there was never
any suspense or any doubt that Akio would prevail. I will not be moving on, should book 2 come out.