I can honestly say it's hard to categorize Keeping It Real exactly. There is definitely the science fiction element to it--Lila is a cyborg after all, and the end of Earth as we know it was presumably caused by a scientic thing (the Quantum Bomb). Plus there's plenty of technospeak happening for the techie gurus out there. Then there is also the fantasy element--High Elves, Dark Elves, Dragons, Elementals, Demons as well as the mysterious 'Games' that are played because of Wild Magic. There's also romance, mystery, humor and a shade of the horrific as well.

It all wraps up into a not so easily defined bundle of fast-paced action, crazy hijinks and even some thrilling heroics for Lila.

At the very beginning is a recap of how Earth became Otopia in 2015 thanks to the Quantum Bomb. Something happened that caused Earth to become not quite like it used to be, though no one is exactly clear on how exactly Earth changed. Regardless thanks to the Q-bomb all those creatures of stories have become real, living flesh...and the elves really don't like being called Legolas.

The first chapter or two was a highly confusing mixture of information dumping and of Lila's own brand of 'what is going on here?' information gathering. Robson doesn't quite meld the two together, with the info about the new world order awkwardly outshining the emotional troubles Lila is having as well as the exact nature of Lila herself. She's more metal and synthetic material then human flesh--with both her legs and her arms being replaced by machinery as well as a goodly portion of her brain, but I found it hard to picture her.

Zal, an unheard of aberration of a Rock star Elf, is mysterious in his motives as well. Its clear that he is interested and intrigued with Lila, as she is with him (albeit reluctantly), and possibly initiated the 'Game' the two are currently entrenched in, but he holds many cards close to his chest. Slowly his secrets are revealed, but often they just breed more secrets that have yet to be revealed. His banter with Lila is easy and quick-witted, he enjoys setting her off balance, but also enjoys her intelligence and biting sharpness.

A source of real confusion for me, even after several lengthy explanations is the exact nature of the 'Game'. From what I gather is gambler's dream--the stakes are usually pretty high, the pay out is even higher and the cost of losing is extreme.

The Game that Lila and Zal enter into is tricky and dangerous. It's not clear who began it, but Zal welcomes and relishes it while Lila is terrified of it. Her past experiences with elves are what led her to current state of cyborgness. The elf who caused the trauma also seems intent on hunting down Zal, though this book taught me something important--appearances and perceptions are truly not to be taken for granted.

By the end of the book several people lay dead, Lila has yet something else causing her to worry and the Game they both play is far from being done with it. The second book, Selling Out, sounds thrilling as well and I look forward to the continuing adventures of Lila the cyborg and Zal the Elf Rocker. ( )

Very poorly constructed and written novel. The worldbuilding is badly thought out and described, the internal logic inconsistent, the plot dismal and the protagonist has no depth whatsoever. The writing pretentious and unclear.
All in all an annoying waste of time. ( )

This is a good book. Fun, exciting story with a romantic touch.
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http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2570487.html

I thought this was really tremendous. I've read a lot of really bad books where the gateway between our own planet and the Faerie Otherworld opens up; this works really well because the basic fantasy premise is overlaid with a technothriller superstructure, where our cyborg heroine gets involved with dodgy technology transfer and music. I have generally liked Robson's work and I loved this; I'm surprised it didn't score in the 2006/07 awards season - perhaps too difficult to pigeonhole in terms of subgenre? ( )

First of all, the writing style reminded me strongly of Lilith Saintcrow because it pushed the heroine constantly to the limits of her endurance. More than once I wondered how Lila will come out of the impossible situations she was getting into... and she did come out swinging, although not without heavy repercussions.

Lila was a fascinating woman, broken, empty, cold, feeling worthless because after being tortured and damaged beyond repair as a human being she was turned into a cyborg, a perfect multi billion machine which is constantly poked and probed and experimented with. No wonder the woman felt sub-human and unworthy of reconnection with her old life.

Her first real life task is to guard a famous rock-star elf Zal who keeps receiving death threats from other elves. The human intelligence service suspects that Zal who always was a rebel is supposed to fulfil some sort of elven prophecy, and elven community which wants to separate itself from the rest of the worlds tries to stop it from happening by eliminating Zal.

Zal and Lila accidentally start a Game when they first see each other. Game is something that can happen with all the otherworlders, it's like a magical power that catches us making promises or refusing to do something or making a deal and forces us to adhere to the stakes until the Game is played out. It's complicated ad intricate like everything else in this book :)

Actually, expect to be constantly puzzled and awed by the depth of world-building and meticulous details in the series. Sometimes I was thinking "no way it could get more complicated", and sure as hell I would turn the page and find out something else that would change my perception of the world.

This is the only drawback of the series, sometimes it feels too much and you start developing a headache trying to cope with the onslaught of the information, otherwise it's action driven and rich multi faceted story, a rare mix of sci-fi and fantasy, which strongly reminded me of popular animated series Final Fantasy.

Recommended with reservations.
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