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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
auscaz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Murder, Pedophilia, and Rape
cierajb97's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Murder and Suicide
chrleee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Murder, Rape, Death, and Suicide
joleneistryingtoread'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, and Violence
booksandcoffeewithlexi'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? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
"The Marriage Act" takes place in a near future world in which you can elect to upgrade your marriage to a Smart Marriage. Doing this means that you and your spouse will be monitored 24/7, but you do gain access to all the best housing, hospitals, and more. This story follows four different couples who are having their own struggles, and questioning if the government should really be this involved in their personal lives.
I thought this was a really interesting concept, and highlighted technology that is not too far off from existing. In a world where our devices are already always listening, it seems pretty plausible that Alexa could just as easily listen to our interactions and provide feedback on how to improve our relationships.
The couple in particular that really struck a chord with me was Arthur and his wife. Devastatingly, Arthur's wife passed away, but he did not want to notify the government of that because he did not want them to take her body away. They had a long and happy marriage, but because they were in a Smart Marriage, Arthur made some poor decisions that put a target on his back. In order to not lose everything, the entire life he worked so hard to build, he had to find a new wife quickly, which seems absolutely bonkers. This is a prime example as to why the government should not be involved in people's personal lives.
There was a subplot about deep fakes in this story that I think is very timely and everyone should take the time to become more aware of. It is so easy to be fooled by what you see online, and AI is advancing at such a rapid pace that you really never know if something is truly authentic.
I really enjoyed this book, and I am looking forward to reading more from John Marrs in the future.
Graphic: Death, Blood, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Domestic abuse
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
nerdyprettythings's review against another edition
3.5
Also, it’s a super conservative future world where staying married is cynically the goal because it’s best for the economy - but then people say things like “body shaming is a thought crime.” So whose totalitarian future are we in? These sort of random “oh that’s illegal now” felt anachronistic.
Definitely check the TWs on this one, basically all the bad stuff happens and a lot of things are described graphically
Graphic: Murder, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Suicide, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, and Violence
amandasupak'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? No
4.0
Named characters: 91 (Phew, this is a ton of characters because you follow several main character's plot lines. Pay close attention to the names and you will be able to make some connections in the plot before they are officially revealed!)
Overall, this was a fun read. His style of writing is to follow several different stories, written in short chapters, and swap between them all. It keeps the tension high and the momentum up. All of them have secrets that are slowly revealed in this very near-future dystopian world where you can upgrade your marriage to get lots of tax breaks but you will be spied on by AI to make sure you are getting along. If you start to have fights/issues the government will start to monitor you more, send a human counselor to interview you, and then if everything is not resolved force you to divorce. A lot of the plot is creepy like a black mirror episode, and some of it is rather implausible. In either case, it's very binge-able!
Trigger warning, there is a lot of murder in this book. And most of the time it's fairly graphic too.
Graphic: Murder