The Treasure of Lor-Rev by Bryan Asher

Blurb:

One discovery has unimaginable consequences…

While searching a deserted mountain range, an explorer locates a high-tech artifact he assumes is merely another interesting find. It’s only one piece in a greater puzzle leading towards a device of ultimate power, the Diffusor-Sphere. Suddenly, he’s thrown into a battle between an engineer who’s remade himself as a cybernetic demigod, and the one tasked with safeguarding humanity from him. The only way out is recovering the Sphere first, but will he reach it in time?

The Treasure of Lor-Rev is another exciting adventure from Bryan Asher, set in the world of floating nations known as The Intercontinents.

The Treasure of Lor-Rev won Honorable Mention for Best Adventure Novel from the Incipere Book Awards in 2021. It was also a 2021 Red Ribbon Winner for Best Fiction Novel and a 2021 Finalist for Best Fiction Cover from The Wishing Shelf Book Awards.

Review:

Again, worldcon 2025. This is the other Bryan Asher book I brought with me on my flight back home. And it was a fun read. One thing I like about his novels, so far, and what I assume will be the case for the other two, is that they are their own maintained stories within the same realm, so any reading order can be followed, even alphabetically in accordance with the last letter in the last word of the title. 

Without much ado, if I had to sell this to someone who is into cyberpunk, I’d give them these sentences:

“One knows not what he found. Another wants the world to be his. And one knows the full weight of it all, even if she has an incomplete picture.”,

after which I’d point at the book, and say that it is a quick read, and say that it’ll take a couple of hours, maximum.

To start off, we have the guy who found a rather interesting device hidden in the middle of nowhere. He has no clue what he has just found, but it looks cool. Throughout this story, he slowly learns more and more about the technology that holds Lor-Rev together, as well as much more.

Then, there’s the demigod cyborg/psychopath/idealist who wants to make the whole world into one connected being. Which causes him to search for the device of ultimate power, the diffusor-sphere. The only problem for him is, someone else found a part of it first, and he is still behind by a lot, and is limited to only physical contact, despite him being the closest thing to an intercontinental god.

Lastly, there’s the one who knows the full weight of what the demigod cyborg wants, but she, like the cyborg, has no clue where all the pieces are. Throughout the story, she slowly becomes friends with the guy who found the device, and his friend, as well as becoming more willing to be open with her sense of humor with them.

After that, there’s the plot. It goes from figuring out what the piece is to a fetch game between an enhanced human and co. and a demigod cyborg monstrosity. Albeit they never clash, the cyborg lurks, causing issues, and attempts to pull ahead in the game as much as humanely, or inhumanely possible. Meanwhile, the group against him uses all humane tactics to find the other pieces, going above and beyond with how much they were willing to go through. Shenanigans happen, and then the ending left me wanting more of the intercontinents.

Lastly, there’s that difference between Malcoze and Lor-Rev. Malcoze has their magic stuff going for them, and then Lor-Rev is a full on techworld feverdream, with enhanced humans, data centers, slums and sprawling high-rises. I think if anyone not from Lor-Rev had to deal with the city, they’d be lost without a native to help them out. The dichotomy I saw between after reading this one right after “The Assassin of Malcoze” was immense. This book is on the other extreme end of magic vs tech.

However, if I had to critique something about this book, is that it felt too much like the diffusor-sphere was the macguffin of the story, and therefore the path that led from the heroes to finding the villain was more or less guaranteed, even if there was a hitch in it. That is my own opinion though, so you’d have to read the book yourself to find out and create your own opinion about it.

As always, thank you for reading this review, and I hope I’ve helped add another novel to the evergrowing TBR pile or helped you find your next read. If not, don’t fret, here is a random link to a review on the site. It could fit in the same realm of story telling as this one, or it could be completely different. You never know until you click it.

Wherever you are reading this, have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night!