My rating: ⭐⭐/5
Genre: Science-Fiction/Literary/Thriller
Release Date: August 6th, 2024
Pages: 272
Synopsis:
“In a city addled by climate change and populated by intelligent robots called “hums,” May loses her job to artificial intelligence. In a desperate bid to resolve her family’s debt and secure their future for another few months, she becomes a guinea pig in an experiment that alters her face so it cannot be recognized by surveillance.
Seeking some reprieve from her recent hardships and from her family’s addiction to their devices, she splurges on passes that allow them three nights’ respite inside the Botanical Garden: a rare green refuge where forests, streams, and animals flourish. But her insistence that her son, daughter, and husband leave their devices at home proves far more fraught than she anticipated, and the lush beauty of the Botanical Garden is not the balm she hoped it would be. When her children come under threat, May is forced to put her trust in a hum of uncertain motives as she works to restore the life of her family.”
Review:
Oh man, what a disappointment for me.
I don’t know why I had hyped this one up so much in my head but it didn’t live up to my expectations at all.
I mean, a literary sci-fi horror sounds like perfection, but this one fell flat on all three accounts.
I expected some sort of profoundness or existential thinking, but the literary mark didn’t hit.
The dystopian and hi-tech aspects were lack-luster.
And it was more boring than thrilling.
It really wasn’t great for me.
The main character was two dimensional. The children were obnoxious and for no reason given way too much weird dialogue that didn’t make sense nor make me care about them.
Even as short as it was, it was a struggle to finish this one.
Huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an early copy of this amazing story! I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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