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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
3.5 - The story kept me engaged, the idea of a femme-first world was interesting, and at times seemed like this could be a reality in our near future.
Pacing was good. I was able to read it fairly quickly with the shorter chapters and from multiple characters over 30-40 years.
We get to hear from Ana, Jacqueline, Orchid, Olympia and Shelby. The tough part about this structure made it challenging to build deep connections with any one of them. I wanted more.
There were themes of love, loss, power and survival throughout. I enjoyed it and would recommend. Please borrow it from my library if you are interested.
There is a sequel coming out later this year, I am curious how the stories will connect.
Pacing was good. I was able to read it fairly quickly with the shorter chapters and from multiple characters over 30-40 years.
We get to hear from Ana, Jacqueline, Orchid, Olympia and Shelby. The tough part about this structure made it challenging to build deep connections with any one of them. I wanted more.
There were themes of love, loss, power and survival throughout. I enjoyed it and would recommend. Please borrow it from my library if you are interested.
There is a sequel coming out later this year, I am curious how the stories will connect.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
The kind of story which would have benefited from more space to tell it. As things are, I felt that there were too many voices flattening into sameness. Reasons for why they viewed the world in certain ways were put across in an explainy kind of tone. Some of the core characters were not seen for long stretches of time which also made it hard to get a sense of them.
I do think it did a good job of envisioning a world remade by a rich cis white woman in a position of power into what she would imagine is fair.
I do think it did a good job of envisioning a world remade by a rich cis white woman in a position of power into what she would imagine is fair.
3.5/5 stars
Yours For The Taking. The Debut novel by Gabrielle Korn.
Yours For The Taking is a very interesting story that weaves themes of climate fiction, speculative fiction and dystopian fiction into one intriguing tale. The story takes place in the mid-late 21st century where the climate is rapidly deteriorating and sustaining human life on Earth as we know it is coming to an end. The governments and private industry concoct a plan to make “Insides” where a massive number of people can live in a controlled environment. North America’s Inside is located in present-day Manhattan. But of course the motives of a character in private industry has wild plans and that is what makes this novel so interesting.
People are picked to live in the North American Inside near the start of this story and we follow the main character through this journey. Ava goes in to the Inside as a 20-something and we follow her through into middle age. Her daughter also hits her early 20s by the end of this book and becomes a very important character in her own right. The story follows these women along with a few other characters in a highly-controlled environment that is the brainchild of a billionaire & women’s rights activist, Jacquelyn. On the surface, everything looks utopian and perfect. Matching outfits, gardens, great smelling air and safety from the trashed Earth. It’s VERY quickly revealed that all is not what it seems. I don’t want to give away a lot because it just gets really wild and interesting!
I found this book to be a very engaging read and I got through it pretty quickly. While it dealt with some very serious issues it was a very entertaining read. The characters and their relationships are well developed. The love stories, family ties and friendships really give us a sense of who these people are. The building of the villain, Jacquelyn, the wealthy-white-billionaire-woman’s rights advocate is pretty good because the reader is just given every reason to despise her. She thinks she has great intentions, but she is way off-base and so unethical. While this book didn’t have any good twist reveals, it was still captivating as you wanted to see where this all ended up. And of course, you want to see the billionaire tumble.
I recommend this book to fans of speculative fiction, dystopian fiction, women’s fiction, LGBTQIA+ relationships/issues and climate fiction.
Thank you Netgalley, Gabrielle Korn and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.
Yours For The Taking. The Debut novel by Gabrielle Korn.
Yours For The Taking is a very interesting story that weaves themes of climate fiction, speculative fiction and dystopian fiction into one intriguing tale. The story takes place in the mid-late 21st century where the climate is rapidly deteriorating and sustaining human life on Earth as we know it is coming to an end. The governments and private industry concoct a plan to make “Insides” where a massive number of people can live in a controlled environment. North America’s Inside is located in present-day Manhattan. But of course the motives of a character in private industry has wild plans and that is what makes this novel so interesting.
People are picked to live in the North American Inside near the start of this story and we follow the main character through this journey. Ava goes in to the Inside as a 20-something and we follow her through into middle age. Her daughter also hits her early 20s by the end of this book and becomes a very important character in her own right. The story follows these women along with a few other characters in a highly-controlled environment that is the brainchild of a billionaire & women’s rights activist, Jacquelyn. On the surface, everything looks utopian and perfect. Matching outfits, gardens, great smelling air and safety from the trashed Earth. It’s VERY quickly revealed that all is not what it seems. I don’t want to give away a lot because it just gets really wild and interesting!
I found this book to be a very engaging read and I got through it pretty quickly. While it dealt with some very serious issues it was a very entertaining read. The characters and their relationships are well developed. The love stories, family ties and friendships really give us a sense of who these people are. The building of the villain, Jacquelyn, the wealthy-white-billionaire-woman’s rights advocate is pretty good because the reader is just given every reason to despise her. She thinks she has great intentions, but she is way off-base and so unethical. While this book didn’t have any good twist reveals, it was still captivating as you wanted to see where this all ended up. And of course, you want to see the billionaire tumble.
I recommend this book to fans of speculative fiction, dystopian fiction, women’s fiction, LGBTQIA+ relationships/issues and climate fiction.
Thank you Netgalley, Gabrielle Korn and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.
This book surpassed my expectations! It’s like a wlw version of Docile (but way less intense). I love how the characters were all slightly intertwined and provided various perspectives! Would def recommend
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
truly this was so close to being a DNF. all the characters blended together and none were interesting or compelling. all the relationships in the book felt random?? and the time jumps were so insane like not Ava having postpartum depression in one paragraph and then her daughter being FIFTEEN in the next one. not the lesbian dystopia i was hoping for
I feel like this could have been an excellent concept if it had been approached differently. As it is, the facts of the story are too explicitly stated. Many of the greatest dystopian novels are more vague about the threats, biases, and lessons. Here, everything was told to us and nothing was fully examined or given room to breathe.
One moment that stuck with me as being unexamined is when Ava injures herself and can't work. Since the social contract on the Inside is premises on each person working to earn their food, shelter, life, she is pushed to carry a baby as her "job" instead. Of course we learn there are ulterior motives to that too. But there was no critical examination there about disability on the Inside. What would it mean if someone can't work, and can't carry a baby--what happens to them in this society? Obviously this is a eugenic society and apparently no one outwardly disabled was chosen to take part, but participants will become disabled or members of new generations will be born disabled. What then?
Despite this, it was still a worthwhile read for me, and definitely gave me food for thought.
One moment that stuck with me as being unexamined is when Ava injures herself and can't work. Since the social contract on the Inside is premises on each person working to earn their food, shelter, life, she is pushed to carry a baby as her "job" instead. Of course we learn there are ulterior motives to that too. But there was no critical examination there about disability on the Inside. What would it mean if someone can't work, and can't carry a baby--what happens to them in this society? Obviously this is a eugenic society and apparently no one outwardly disabled was chosen to take part, but participants will become disabled or members of new generations will be born disabled. What then?
Despite this, it was still a worthwhile read for me, and definitely gave me food for thought.