Last year, Hammajang Luck was one of my favorite reads, so I was delighted when I saw that there was a book 2 and it was out now and the audio was available through my library. The audiobook becoming available in time for the 2026 Trans Rights Readathon felt like kismet. The Obake Code is largely a standalone, though I do think everyone should read Hammajang Luck because it is excellent.
Jolene Kim did a lot as narrator. She had different voices for Malia’s inside thoughts, her periods of becoming overwhelmed by the ghostnet, returned to the speaking voice she had given Malia in Hammajang Luck, and gave a variety of characters distinct voices. It was impressive.
Malia’s alter ego, The Obake, is a renowned hacker. After Angel and Edie’s heist, she “retired” from hacking. But three years later she is bored and lonely. She’s been going to a fight club and subtly (she thinks) fixing the fights. The club is run by a criminal organization called The Brotherhood, and the two sisters who have taken it over are brutal. Malia is caught fixing the fights and the sisters give her a choice – take down a politician or be painfully murdered. She pulls together a crew to steal career ending information, but the tie between the politician and the man who put experimental technology in her brain as a child complicates the heist.
It’s a fantastic read. I would also pay money to see this as an anime. The flyer races and chases, Kepler Space Station as a setting, and the ghostnet would make amazing visuals.
The Trans Rights Readathon is two weeks a year to “Read, support, review, and uplift books written by and/or featuring trans, genderqueer, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, and 2Spirit authors and characters.” This year, though not directly connected with Trans Rights Readathon, I donated to Trans Pipeline. I will, as I always do, continue to read books by trans and nonbinary authors and donate and otherwise support trans rights organizations. Trans rights are human rights, and failing to support them is an agreement to the erosion of everyone’s rights.
