Nowadays, entertainment is pulling us at every which direction for our attention. We have movies on the big screen and small screen, network TV shows, cable and streaming TV shows, podcasts, audiobooks, standard books, Kindle novels, comics, and tons of other forms of entertainment. If it’s possible to have some form of storytelling entertainment on a device, it’s on there. This has made every aspect of the entertainment industry just that much more interesting, including the writing industry.

I’ll admit, the publishing world is a bit slow to adapt in many circumstances — with Big 5 publishers still pricing incredibly high price points for digital goods. But that’s not to say innovation isn’t happening from some other companies. Enter Serial Box, a relatively new subscription service that could be called the HBO of publishing.

So what do I mean by that? Well, Serial Box is home to many different series that are written in a “TV format.” Each week, we get a new “episode” that takes roughly the same amount of time to read as it does for us to consume an hourlong episode of TV. But if reading isn’t your thing, they also have audio editions that can be read in conjunction with the written work. It’s a cool idea, and in order to follow a series, you need to pay roughly $1.59 per week, per series (or $18 for a whole season). This may sound like a lot, but it’s a good amount of content.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF!

But are the stories any good? Well, of course, I can’t speak for all the series, as I have limited exposure to them, but in the months to come, we’ll be covering weekly series with spoiler-free reviews so you can decide whether or not they’re worth your hard-earned money.

The first Serial Box original series we’re following is Ninth Step Station, a police procedural set in a futuristic, postwar Tokyo, Japan.

Here’s the official synopsis for Ninth Step Station:

A local cop. A US Peacekeeper. A Divided Tokyo.

Years of disaster and conflict have left Tokyo split between great powers.

In the city of drone-enforced borders, body-mod black markets, and desperate resistance movements, US peacekeeper Emma Higashi is assigned to partner with Tokyo Metropolitan Police Detective Miyako Koreda.

Together, they must race to solve a series of murders that test their relationship and threaten to overturn the balance of global power. And amid the chaos, they each need to decide what they are willing to do for peace.

Episodes are released each Wednesday. This past Wednesday, the first episode, “The Faceless Body,” (written by Malka Older) hit the service. It introduced the world, our two leading characters, and the very first case they solve together. The case in question involved a stabbing in a large crowd and the faceless body that resulted.

I listened to this episode using the audio function of the site, and I have to say, it was pretty solid. As an Android user, it admittedly would have been nicer with an app, but it’s definitely usable if you’re using the site on your phone. It’s not ideal, but it’s not unpleasant either. As far as the actual quality of the audio production, there was nothing to complain about. Not only was the story beautifully narrated by Emily Woo Zeller, but the audiobook itself was packed full of ambient noise and sound effects that really helped immerse me in the world — not the sounds weren’t so pervasive that they distracted me from the experience.

The story itself was mostly a joy. It reads a bit like a hard-boiled detective novel, switching between the perspectives of our two leads Emma and Miyako, who are both very distinguishable as characters without feeling two-dimensional. The prose is clean and primal and really allowed me to quickly latch onto the reality of this new world.

In this first episode, we are introduced first to Miyako, a jaded, hardened cop working in a postwar Tokyo, which is divided between the U.S. and China. What I really enjoyed is that while she was cold, she wasn’t completely devoid of warmth, and it allowed her to rise above the cliché ice woman cop. On the other end, we have Emma, who is the more wet-behind-the-ears partner. She isn’t a cop, per sé, as she is partnered with Miyako to investigate the season-long mystery, but in terms of the plot, that’s effectively her role, and she works well. She brings much-needed levity to the story and also serves as our eyes into this new world, allowing the writer to thread in exposition without things feeling too explain-y.

If I had one complaint about this first chapter thus far, it’s the episode-long mystery around the “faceless man.” All in all, it was a bit too simplistic. The mystery seemed pretty extensive, but once it was all unraveled, we were left with something that really only went a single layer. This was likely since the author worked to help build the characters and the world, and while this was definitely the right move to make, as a mystery lover, I would have been happier to see things get just a tad more convoluted and mysterious.

All in all, this is a great start. If you’re a police procedural fan and are looking for something new to dip your toe into, you could do much worse than Ninth Step Station on Serial Box. It had me riveted from its cold open to its ominous closing scene.

GRADE: A-

+ Beautifully-written

+ Likable characters

+ Interesting world

+ Amazing narrator

– Initial mystery is a bit of a dud

To check out the series for yourself, go ahead and CLICK HERE!

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