Unreal

About This Audiobook

Timothy Ellis packs a relentless torrent of moral ambiguity into *Unreal*, where survival often means making deals with the devil—or the galaxy’s most ruthless warlords. Lyla Cowan isn’t just dodging mercenaries and rogue AI; she’s navigating a universe where trust is a currency as volatile as plasma, and every ally might be a future enemy. The plot crackles with the tension of a ticking bomb, blending high-stakes space opera with the gritty pragmatism of a scavenger who’s seen too much to believe in easy wins. Ellis’s worldbuilding shines in the details—crumbling space stations, black-market tech, and the kind of political backstabbing that would make even Machiavelli sweat—all rendered with a cinematic precision that pulls you straight into the cockpit of a derelict freighter.

What sets this apart isn’t just the existential dread lingering beneath every chapter, but the way Ellis refuses to let Lyla (or the reader) off the hook. This isn’t a story where heroes win; it’s one where they barely scrape by, and the cost of their survival is etched into every decision. The pacing is relentless, hurtling from one explosive set piece to the next without a breath of filler, making it a perfect binge listen for fans of *The Expanse* or *Altered Carbon*—if those series were filtered through the lens of a cynic with a heart of steel.