A Shade. A Storm. A Soul.

Welcome to the June 20th stop on the blog tour for Bittersouls by L.A. Morton-Yates with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.
Author Guest Post
Cyberpunk 2077 Edgerunners – The Almost Masterpiece
I should start by saying that I really loved Edgerunners. It was overall well-written and beautifully animated, and it really stands out among its peers. That said, I firmly believe that even the best written things usually have a few elements that could have been improved on. I think it helps me to improve as a writer to look at something great and still find things about it that could have been done a little bit better. There is always room for improvement, and if you can learn to spot those opportunities in what you consume, you can improve your chances of finding them in what you create.
Obligatory spoiler warning about the entirety of Edgerunners.
So let’s talk about it. As I said, it was overall very well done. The first few episodes establish some very compelling worldbuilding and slang, a well-developed main character with believable and relatable motivations, and from the very first scene hints at the primary arc of the series as a whole.
This is a world where the rich are superior to the poor not only monetarily, but physically as well due to greater availability of powerful cybernetic enhancements. One of the very first things we’re told about these cybernetics (or “chrome” as the characters often call it) is that if you use too many or too much, especially without proper medication, you will go violently insane—a state called “cyberpsychosis”. In the show’s opening scene, we watch as a military officer goes on a psychosis-induced killing spree—mowing down civilians and police officers alike.
The main character is from the lower class, but going to a high-class corporate school where he feels like he doesn’t belong. In order to send him there, his mother works extremely long hours as a paramedic and, as we soon find out, is also illegally fencing powerful pieces of cybernetics from people who have died in her care. Because of his position in society and the abuse he receives from his classmates, David feels a strong sense of animosity for the upper class and a sense of envy for those who can afford to “chrome up” and outfit themselves with advanced cybernetics. After his mother is killed in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting, David inherits an extremely powerful piece of chrome called the Sandevistan. David actually recognizes the device, as it was responsible for the cyberpsychosis of the military officer in the show’s opening scene, which David experienced through what basically amounts to virtual reality. Driven by dreams of rising above his lowly station and getting revenge against his tormentors at school, David has the Sandevistan installed, ignoring its established risk of cyberpsychosis.
David sets out on a journey to acquire power in the form of cybernetics as well as to improve his socioeconomic status. He joins a group of mercenaries, the eponymous “Edgerunners”, and soon finds himself in a place where he feels like he belongs. But like him, the other edgerunners act in pursuit of economic and cybernetic advancement, often with blatant disregard of the risks of cyberpsychosis. About halfway through the series, the group’s leader, Maine, begins to slip toward cyberpsychosis. Those around him notice and try to warn him, but by this time his whole identity is wrapped around this constant push toward more cybernetics—as he’s associated this progression with the progression toward upper-class status. Maine ignores the pleadings of his subordinates, and after his inevitable descent into cyberpsychosis, David is left to pick up the pieces and assume the leadership of the group.
Up until this point, it’s hard to find any major narrative problems with Edgerunners. The setup is logical, relatable, and believable. By this time, a perceptive viewer also has a pretty good idea where this is all going. After all, the parallels between Maine and David are all over the place. They come from a similar place, psychologically, and are clearly on a similar trajectory. Maine was simply further down the road to ruin than David. The primary narrative question from the beginning of the show, “How can David survive in a world like this?”, is replaced with the far more tense and tragic questions: “Can David avoid the same fate as Maine? Can he be saved from himself?”.
Personally, I found these questions very compelling. Unfortunately, this is when the subtlety of the narrative begins to disintegrate. The show jumps forward in time, to where David has now established the dominance of his group of edgerunners in the Night City. As had once been promised by Maine, David has inherited his arms—literally, as they were part of Maine’s impressive (and self-destructive) suite of cybernetic enhancements. We watch as David continues to follow in Maine’s path—the pressure of their lives increases, they take on a job more extreme than anything they’ve taken on before, and even though those around him warn David about how close he’s getting to the precarious edge of cyberpsychosis, he continually ignores them, ultimately ending up exactly the same way that Maine did—taking many of his subordinates out with him.
This ending worked for a lot of people. After all, we could see it coming from at least the mid-point of the show, if not earlier. But for some, it wasn’t entirely convincing. After all, David watched Maine during the course of his descent. He was even one of the ones warning Maine about the danger of his situation. So why was David unable to avoid the same fate? Why did he ignore the danger, despite having so much first-hand experience with its consequences? Why was it so important to David to continue on this path of ever-increasing power? Why could he not simply settle for where he was, what he had, and all that he had accomplished?
These questions are not, in my opinion, satisfactorily answered. They are almost answered, but they aren’t. The framework is there, the foreshadowing, the narrative foil, etc. But something is missing. After that mid-point when Maine dies, we stop getting scenes that give us insight into David’s inner thoughts. There were several possible ways to do this. Perhaps there could have been a conversation between him and Rebecca or Lucy that could tell us why he can’t deviate from his ruinous course. Perhaps we could have had more flashbacks about his mother and her hopes for his future, binding him to this fate because he feels duty-bound to her memory. If we’d gotten 5 more minutes of screen-time to reveal some of David’s mental process, the tragedy of the narrative would have hit home from beginning to end. It would transform the thematic statement of the show from “David’s descent into cyberpsychosis was inevitable.” to “David’s descent into cyberpsychosis was inevitable because…”.
Edgerunners is close to flawless, but in my opinion is missing a few important steps in David’s downward spiral that detriment the believability of his arc. Nonetheless, it’s beautifully done and well worth watching.
About the Book

Bittersouls
by L.A. Morton-Yates
Published 16 December 2022
Synthesis Press
Cover Artist: César Pardo
Genre: YA Fantasy Romance
Page Count: 327
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
Cursed with forbidden knowledge, 19-year-old Dela must hide her secret from her nomadic tribe or face exile into the frozen wasteland of the Bitters. When she becomes separated from her people during a blizzard, a mysterious and dangerous wanderer named Talon promises to help her find her way back to them. She quickly learns that nothing is what it seems, that her curse may actually be a gift, and that the Bitters are far more dangerous than she could have imagined.
Packed with unexpected twists, Bittersouls is a mixture of survival, adventure, and slow-burn romance that is sure to get your heart pounding.
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK
Excerpt
A Storm
On the southern side of the Basin, the titanic peaks of the Skytooth Mountains broke the horizon from east to west. They’d all seen them before, every year on their pilgrimage, but the range never failed to invoke both awe and terror. The pass would be open for a month, at least, and beyond that, they’d find the herdlands where they tracked during the coldest part of the year.
They pitched camp in the lee of the mountains, just out of reach of the worst of a steadily rising wind. They ate their evening meal, speaking softly, each of them feeling a growing uneasiness even before the light descended. With the brilliance of the sunset to the west, it was tempting to focus on its beauty, ignoring all else. But as the Flame Above took shelter below the ice for the night, Dela found herself with the others on the eastern edge of camp, staring in horror at the horizon.
“A storm?” Dela’s eyes narrowed.
“Storm? No.” Hunter Umbar gaped at it. “That’s far too small a word. A squall like that doesn’t scour the Skytooths except for once every ten winters.”
“I remember nothing like it,” Mors said.
“We’re normally far ahead of it,” Minister Dolam muttered. “One protect us, we moved too slowly.”
“Or it came early,” the Carver suggested.
The Minister shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. That storm will close the pass. […] We must walk the night.”
About the Author

A life-long lover of the magic of storytelling, L.A. wrote his first story at the age of 7 and has been writing ever since. Speculative fiction, particularly fantasy, has always held a special place in his heart for the uniqueness of the places and the questions it can address. Though veiled by apparent strangeness, he has always seen it as capable of revealing deeper truth about our own reality.
L.A. graduated from Montana State University in 2015 with Honors in Biochemistry and a minor in Music Composition. This helped nurture his critical thinking and research skills which continue to be instrumental to his writing. During his collegiate years, he also met the love of his life, Julie, whom he later married. At once his greatest supporter and his staunchest critic (when he is wrong, which is more often than he’d like to admit), she has been an integral part of his creative process ever since.
In February of 2018, L.A. became the father of his first son, Griffin. His second son, Tiber, was born in December of 2019 and his third son, Malachi, was born in January of 2022. Though life has become considerably busier since he became a family man, L.A. continues to work on writing in what little spare time he can find. He hopes to one day pass on his love of literature to his sons.
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Substack | Amazon | Goodreads
Giveaway Alert!
L.A. Morton-Yates will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveawayJune 5 | Read Your Writes Book Reviews | June 6 | It’s Raining Books |
June 7 | Fabulous and Brunette | June 8 | Kit ‘n Kabookle |
June 9 | Sandra’s Book Club | June 12 | Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews |
June 13 | Literary Gold | June 14 | The Avid Reader |
June 15 | Andi’s Young Adult Books | June 16 | Christine Young |
June 19 | Lynn’s Romance Enthusiasm | June 20 | Westveil Publishing |
June 21 | Straight From the Library | June 22 | Long and Short Reviews |
June 23 | The Pen and Muse Book Reviews | June 26 | Candlelight Reading |
June 27 | Gina Rae Mitchell | June 28 | Jazzy Book Reviews |
June 29 | Books in the Hall | June 30 | Travel the Ages |
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Thanks for hosting today.
Thanks for hosting! I should be around periodically to answer peoples’ comments.
Good afternoon. What would you say was the most difficult part of writing Bittersouls for you? What was the easiest?
The hardest part was probably making sure I delivered on my goal of a strong female main character without having her feel flat, contrived, or stereotyped. I had a lot of input during the process from my wife and some other female alpha readers to iron out the parts that I got wrong, but in the end I am very proud of my work and feel like I learned a lot!
It is hard to pin down what part was easiest, since you wouldn’t tend to notice or remember those parts as much. As far as the process overall, I guess the drafting phase is the easiest for me–compared to revision, drafting is very straightforward.
Thank you for responding to my query I am looking forward to meeting your heroine!
The book details are very interesting.
I enjoyed the post today. Thanks for sharing. Sounds really good.
The cover looks so neat!
The book sounds terrific. Love the cover!
Thank you! I love how the cover came out, too. César Pardo does fantastic work.
y L.A. Morton-Yates is a new author to me, but I want to thank this blog for the introduction. I look forward to reading this book.
I hope you enjoy the read!