I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
As soon as I read about the premise of this novel, I was excited for it. Here is a sci-fi novel that is set in the near future and isn’t something post-apocalyptic. Instead it shows how people and society has changed due to technological advances in one particular field: birthing.
In a London not too far into the future, Millie Dack is resolute in her decision to be a single parent. Across town, her best friend Toni Munroe discovers a devastating medical diagnosis. As Millie and Toni try to embrace and adjust to this new change in their lives, they experience the aftershocks of human progress as new ways of making babies emerge. When infertility is no longer an issue, and each sex can create a child all on their own, what does it mean to be a parent, a child, a family?
I was expecting something spectacular. This book did not develop. I actually found the technological aspects to be really cool but that was the only positive thing about this novel. Based on the premise, I was expecting a very character-driven story that explores complex relationships and emotions between the different people involved in this story as they go from one generation to another. However, that did not happen. It felt like I was reading an interesting textbook rather than a fiction story. None of the characters were expressive enough and there was no emotional connection for me. I didn’t feel anything for anyone in the book and I couldn’t believe in the relationships that were established in the novel, either. In that sense, this novel made me really upset. I wanted it to be so interesting and different and there was so much potential for that to happen. Instead, I got a dry book with no feelings or emotion, except for a huge wave of disappointment from my end. In the end, this was not a good novel for me.
Happy reading ~