1.5/2 stars because the story itself is good. Some *spoilers* below (a few excerpts to demonstrate the writing style - not anything to spoil the story though)

I wish I would have read the reviews before jumping in on this. The story itself is not bad. I like the idea. However the writing is just so very distracting that I found myself at first re-reading sentences and paragraphs that didn't make much sense thinking I was missing something. When it kept happening I just gave up trying to understand it all and skimmed the rest of the book instead of taking a DNF. Considering it was less than 200 pages, I forced myself through it.

The writing style wasn't the only problem. The character development was lacking in a way I've never encountered before. It was so hard to understand what the characters were actually thinking. This should never be a problem in writing since it's a medium in which character thoughts & feelings can be so thoroughly conveyed to the audience. Still, I was constantly trying to figure out the characters intentions, feelings, and motives. You never really get to know them themselves or what they think of the other characters. Especially our two main characters. I felt like I understood the AI robot Paci more than the others.

Because of this, and because of the writing style, it was hard to become attached to anything enough in this book for me to want to continue the series. The story alone can't carry it.

Early on in the book I was pulling bits that didn't make much sense to me, or that bothered me (maybe more than they should have?):

*“The guy came marching up the engineered, sophisticated floating steps that led to the gallery. The gallery itself was cut right into the side of a hill. Sorry, she meant cliff. It had a stunning view through plateglass windows down into a ravine and the capital city beyond.
To get to it, you either flew your private cruiser to the helipad on top, or you used the directional floating stairs that led from the top of the ravine above.”

"The guy must've remotely hacked the building security, because even as she reached the open door, it closed and locked."

"Her world came crashing down around her ears."

"She fancied her skin became green and her lips cracked open like someone splitting a belly with a knife."

"The soldier ran his tongue around his teeth. It served to shift his blocklike jaw to the left and right. It looked like a swinging blade."*

I realized I could pull pages worth of quotes to makes notes on so I gave up on that... I stopped thinking: I'm sorry, what? And just got it done (although it took much longer than it should have since I wasn't craving the read). I'd really like to know what happens in the rest of the series because again, I like the idea, so maybe I'll go read some summaries.