Written by Adam Boostrom, this novel follows Athena Vosh in the year 2099 (a very near future indeed) 40+ years after a manufactured disease killed all of the men in the world. Let me tell you, listening to this book those dates were hard to keep straight because they were so close to our current time. Athena is accused of stealing the Lazereth Genome, the current only answer to possibly bringing men back to the world.
Interesting thing: gene edits that affect intelligence and looks. They also have the ability to adjust their body fat content at will. So, these women are constantly described as being insanely beautiful. Honestly, it reminded me a bit of The Uglies by Scott Westerfield. They also have Osha, their personal computer/aide.
I enjoy that Athena starts to have dreams of men, without realizing that she is, while her roommate is in love with her. Also, they went the route of changing Original Sin to Adam eating the fruit.
The level to which the AIs here are so interesting, and also nearly dramatic. They touch drama, just barely skirting it. But, the science in this is very over the top for 80ish years from now. Also, I really, really dislike the fact that the author went the route of changing religion to fit a female-only mindset. I understand why they went that way, but honestly I think that this viewpoint would have made more sense to take place HUNDREDS of years later, not two generations later.
Perhaps that is a bit of a naïve opinion to have.
Also, the ‘happiness’ profile. Gah. Please, no. I think that misses a lot of the human experience. And how shallow everyone is honestly boring and uninteresting. In this world, everything is for your own pleasure or for the visual pleasure of others.
I think the thing that confused me so much is how much religion played into this novel, that I wasn’t expecting, yet it didn’t get fulling involved into the waking-story until you are over half of the way through it.
Honestly, the promise of this book was a lot better than the book itself.
If you want a science-fiction book that tries to be art and are interested in a hunt for missing genomes, then give this book a shot.
I did receive a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.
