REVIEW by @GinnyLurcock: Synthetic Dreams by by Kim Knox – Release Date 2/27/12 (@KimKnox)

Vynessa Somerton was just a girl when she learned about true evil. An encounter with the tyrannical Corporation scarred her body and exiled her to the crime-ridden S-District. Now an adult, Vyn creates glamours, worn by those who visit a virtual playground to live synthetic dreams. She’s tried to stay unnoticed by the Corporation, but her latest invention has brought their agents to her door.
Paul Cross works for the Corporation, but he’s been plotting their downfall since they took his brother and replaced him with an imposter. Paul has a plan to get his brother back, but he’s going to need Vyn and her invention to carry it out.
Vyn agrees to help Paul, but their alliance shatters the barriers she’s put up to protect herself, tempting her to give in to desire. Just as Vyn starts to trust Paul and believe he wants her, scars and all, the Corporation prepares for its final move. Can Vyn trust Paul completely, or has he been using her all along?
 
I’m just going to start by saying that it was really hard to review this title without giving anything away.
Synthetic Dreams is the cyberpunk love story of Vyn and Paul.  Vynessa “Vyn” Sommerton, formerly a member of the elite upper class who never quite fit in and now a creator of illegal glamour for the formorians who… never quite fits in.  Paul Cross is a dreamy high ranking security officer with top access in The Mind.
Oh… did I not explain The Mind?  My apologies my friend.  The Mind is a cyber world where you can send your… well… mind while your body sits idle in the real world.  It’s run by “the corporation” which is, of course, evil and has several tiers depending on your social class.  It’s like the cyber world in Caprica, or the one in “Under the Never Sky,” or like the Matrix if you knew you were going into the matrix.  The Corporation makes a lot of money from selling glamours to people so they look better when they’re in The World.  Then there are people like Vyn who create illegal glamour…
You know what, you probably don’t care about any of that crap.  It’s in the blurb.  Let me get to the good stuff.
This book was good. It’s short, the epub file clocks in at 104 pages, but it really was the perfect length for the story.  There was some fantastic world building without any sort of info dumps.  You learned enough about the world for the story to be compelling without spending three paragraphs describing the toilet paper…  The story has the perfect pacing.  Smooth and flowing with a lot of action.  It never felt rushed, it never felt too overly packed, and it also never dragged.  I think the most compelling thing is that I literally can’t tell you anything about the story without giving something away.  Hell, just telling you that it was a love story felt like too much.
The plot is a bit out there, it is cyberpunk, but if you can accept the mind, the twist is totally plausible.
If you like cyberpunk or sci-fi (and don’t mind romance, because there is romance…) then you should pick this up.  It’s a great quick read and a fantastic story.  4 stars, all the way.
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