Cyn has left her role as government enforcer and is trying to start a new life on mostly-ignored planet at the edge of civilization. Her cybneretics are malfunctioning, though, and it's through the kindness of another former government worker, Ness -- who used to be an engineer -- that she's able to "recover." Cyn chooses a new name, Meris, and adapts to rural life well, helping Ness take care of stray dogs and his two adopted daughters. Things get ugly, though, when some thugs of the local warlord pass through and recognize Ness. While Meris is able to help enough to ensure that they won't be bothered again, it's not without a cost.
There's a very strong theme in the story of choosing to be who you want to be, and not being restricted to any role you may have been thrust into previously. This is, in fact, expressly stated multiple times. Slightly more subtle, and as more of a corollary, is the notion that in choosing a new life for yourself, you can't simply run and/or hide from your past and that you must deal with it directly before you're able to move on. In Cyn's case in particular, her past life was quite violent, and so it takes additional violence to put an end to it. This is something she has to wrestle with throughout the story, as it's now a part of her past that she'd rather forget.
I haven't read Count -- and didn't even realize it was part of the same universe until I finished Cyn. Despite that, I had no problem whatsoever following along. In fact, I was initially surprised at how much time Moustafa spent setting the tone and mood of the piece. There's certainly plenty of action once Ness and Cyn are discovered, but I was impressed by how much Moustafa let the story breath before he got to that point.
There's some impressive art throughout the book as well. No big splashy full-page illustrations, but lots of pages crammed with powerful panels. Well, technically, there are two splash pages but wth so many other pages packed with storytelling, you almost forget about them by the time you finish the book! What stands out are, yes, the illustrations themselves are good, but the facial expressions and body language and scene blocking are all set expertly that even a "simple" panel conveys a ton of information.
The story wasn't especially complex, but it was entertaining and told really well. After finishing it, and realizing that it is a follow=up to Count, I immediately went ahead and ordered a copy of that. Cyn came out last month from Humanoids and retails for $19.99 US.
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