The Ghost System #2
B Plot Starts To Make Sense
I got this issue as a backer (just the digital one). Funny how it’s only when David Unger asked for a review that I finally got around to reading it. I’ve got so much to read that I’m still trying to get through. Just-
Why Am I Doing Stuff On Substack?
Honestly, this is more efficient to release content and I don’t feel like editing my post back on Gutternaut with what’s going on right now. Besides there’s too much going on that’s more unique than the first issue.
Soro and The Ghost System
Like this. We’re finally getting around to the titular group in present. Soro’s old classmates from primary school who made themselves into a more extreme version of Anonymous. But it looks like they had a falling out with Soro, especially with the Ghost System’s figurehead who was ready to have his ex-friend killed for using the code of the network he helped build with them. Pretty decent effect to show how serious this “Eizoku” is by displaying parts of himself around the many screens to surround his partners.
But what does Soro have to do with this? Just showing some insights to his behavior. He was already asocial before his cat was killed. Partly from whatever happened between the Ghost System and his mother dying from cancer.
As well as how dependent Soro became on his technology, since that was one of the last ways he could comfort her. It is basically Soro weaponizing his trauma, using it to focus on the things he can control.
But that’s also why Soro’s coworkers feel alienated and threatened by him. He never looks their way despite attempts to connect and are afraid of losing their jobs to his privileged decisions.
Trauma & Disenfranchisement
It’s a feeling that’s shared by just about everybody. And the reactions are as messy as they come. Readers can definitely feel like they’re in Soro’s corner. His cat’s killers are just a bunch of thugs who bully everyone around them while showing off the latest tech they practically stole.
But the lengths he went to put a lot of people at risk. He managed to successfully manipulate his boss to privately track the other thugs down. But that caused both Soro’s coworkers and the Ghost System to act.
Even more is how readers can anticipate how characters will react. Soro now has the means to get away with everything, including blackmailing his co-workers when their paranoia got them to invade his desktop. Maybe enough to be his shields against the the Ghost System as the codes they used for revolution were being used by Soro for petty vengeance and could be traced back to them.
Conclusion
Frankly it’s a lot easier to have read every issue together in sequence. The pacing is a slow burn which can make or break readers’ investment. Thankfully David Unger does make this a little easy using links for accessibility. Not only that, there is plenty of intrigue going on for readers to get a clear mind for anticipation. 8/10