Plague Birds

Plague Birds is a fast paced, post-apocalyptic cyberpunk science-fantasy with a great deal of originality. 10,000 years after the collapse of civilization on Earth, humans genetically altered with assorted animal genes live in small farming villages and hunting clans that have been stripped of all technology except for the nanny-like A.I.s that watch over them. Laws are enforced by super humans that have A.I.s within their bloodstreams, called plague birds. When released through self-lacerations these blood A.I.s have the ability to obliterate, down to the last atom, anyone that has been judged guilty of crimes such as murder. When a young girl is manipulated into becoming a plague bird, she is in turn cast out on a journey to discover the truth about those that have manipulated her, and an even greater truth about herself.

3 1/2 stars for this worthy Nebula Award nominee with tons of action and suspense. This shot novel gets off to enthralling start, but, in my doesn't fully live up to its potential with a few too many convenient coincidences, and SF that's slightly too far on the soft end of the hardness scale for my taste (lots of extreme technological advances without explanation or basis in science as we know it). I definitely recommend this one, especially if you don't care for slow books and are okay with lots of blood. Prepare yourself for a phlebotomy rollercoaster!