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gailcooksandreads's review
3.75
Graphic: Murder, Death, Dementia, and Suicide
Minor: Car accident
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
3.75
"In the end, it didn’t matter, because she couldn’t rewrite the past. She could only ensure she didn’t repeat her mistakes."
It's no secret that I consider John Marrs to be one of my favorite thriller authors, and I've read and loved the majority of his books. It's true that I tend to enjoy his dystopian/speculative thrillers most though... The Marriage Act is a stand-alone set in the same alternate near future as for example The One and The Passengers. I'm still not sure why I hadn't read it until now considering it was a most anticipated release last year... But since I was approved for the ARC of his newest story set in the same universe, I decided to play catch-up and read The Marriage Act first. It's true that each book can be read as a stand-alone, but there are some references to the previous books that you might not pick up otherwise. I have to say that this author is SO exceptional at creating extremely plausible and basically terrifying alternate futures... And this story is no different. The concept behind The Marriage Act is no less than brilliant, and its premise blew me away. Why not give it the full five stars then? This mostly had to do with the multiple POV structure slowing down the pace considerably, and the POV switches were too frequent as well. It took a little while to successfully keep all the characters apart, although I can't deny that the way the different POVs start connecting is very clever. What also put a minor damper on things was the fact that the majority of the characters are extremely unlikeable and flawed, and this made it hard to start rooting for them. The Marriage Act can get pretty dark and a lot of unpleasant secrets and trigger warning worthy topics are incorporated along the way... Some was used to show just how corrupt and terrifying this alternate future was, but still. There is no denying that the story as a whole will stay with me for quite some time though, and it's another successful speculative thriller that makes you wonder if things could really escalate to that level.
Graphic: Dementia, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Stalking, Ableism, Grief, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Murder, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Violence, and Rape
theinstabookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Some things didn't age well (i.e. mentions of Twitter, IGTV), but that's a very minor detail and not something that had any kind of effect on my reading experience. Also, I found the pace to slow a bit in the middle, but it did pick up. Marrs is an auto-buy author for me and I'm very excited for his two new thrillers coming out this year!
Favourite quote: "Don't do as you're told when you know something is morally wrong. Have the strength to stand up for what you believe in. Don't be afraid to confront your enemy or they will continue to rise in the most unexpected ways."
Moderate: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Suicide, Murder, Dementia, Death, and Grief
boop123's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Car accident, Dementia, Rape, Suicide, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Death of parent
emarrbee's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Murder and Suicide
Moderate: Violence, Toxic relationship, Classism, and Dementia
Minor: Blood, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse
xwritingstoriesx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Violence, Car accident, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Physical abuse, Death, Dementia, and Gaslighting
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
klr0's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide
Minor: Car accident, Dementia, and Alcohol
soobooksalot's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Thank you to Harper Collins Canada and Bookclubbish for my giveaway win copy of The Marriage Act!
It's the not-so-distant future. Marriage in Britain is greatly encouraged, and by formalizing through The Marriage Act, aka "Smart Marriage". Couples in such are privvy to benefits in the economy and service access.
But the Act also comes with serious consequences if the requirements aren't met. Relationships are continually monitored, and can be intercepted at the first hint of issue.
John Marrs has created a most detailed and fascinating dystopian thriller, told in alternating chapters among four couples in differing relationships.
The opening chapter is a shocking indication of what's to come.
Recommended, and enjoy!
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual assault, Grief, Gun violence, Death, Dementia, Murder, Sexual content, and Suicide
just_a_bibliophile's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
The Marriage Act is set in a world where marriage is so immensely encouraged by the government that couples who 'upgrade' to these 'smart marriages' receive benefits such as tax incentives, better healthcare, better neighbourhoods, and the list goes on. Upon signing up to this act, couples would also, essentially, give up their freedom of speech in having a device called the Audite (think the future of Amazon Alexas) monitoring their conversations to keep their marriage on track.
I really got invested in the story and the characters straight away, and it genuinely felt nightmarish. Parts of it were, undoubtedly, highly implausible and a little ridiculous, but I think for me I was too invested in it to bother with these overly ridiculous aspects. Even if the world felt a little too unbelievable at points, the situations that the characters were in felt 100% scarily real. From the toxicity of social media, to where we're heading with AI technology today, to the choices that people were forced to make, it genuinely felt like parts of the storyline could have been very much real.
My one tiny little complaint putting me off giving this the full 5 stars is just the fact that there was so many perspectives to keep up with. With the five different characters we had perspectives from, it was a little difficult to keep up with and remember who was who at the beginning. Also, I kind of wish the characters had some sort of link with each other instead of them all being completely separate from each other for the vast majority of the story.
Other than the little confusion at the start, I thought the characters' perspectives were really cleverly written. I liked how there were characters of all ages and genders and situations - it definitely made it a lot more intriguing to see how the act impacted all sorts of people. What was interesting to note was that none of the characters were particularly likeable per se - the majority of them were highly detestable - and yet the story worked really well with this.
While maybe not being the best for those who can't stand a slightly unrealistic story, I was absolutely hooked to it and would definitely recommend - I'm intrigued to read some of the author's other works.
Rating: 4.5 stars
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Dementia
Minor: Domestic abuse and Death of parent