Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - The Marriage Act

Set in the future of the world from The One (which I really loved!), this one was a little bit of a miss for me. I still really enjoyed some of the thriller aspects, but this one is much more BLEAK y’all! I feel like The One was already pretty heavy in parts, but ultimately hopeful. There are very few characters to root for here, and at the center of the story is a cartoonish government conspiracy with one shadowy main figure. I just don’t think the world was as thought through, or maybe it reflects like tech-fear headlines that are outdated now.
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

Content Warnings

elviolet's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I loved John Marrs’s The One and The Passenger so was keen to pick up his new release The Marriage Act which is set in the same world. The British Government sees value in couples being married and offers incentives to people who have a Smart Marriage - basically one monitored by the government and where couples face forced interventions if surveillance detects any hint of trouble in the marriage. This is a fast paced thriller set in a scarily believable future. The short chapters with cliff hanger endings and multiple perspectives kept me turning the pages. The inclusion of newspaper articles , advertisements and the like added interest and believability. I liked the way this story highlighted and forced me to think about important current issues - things like government and business collusion and corruption, a divided society, privacy, social media, technology and more. A solid read but for me not as good as the previous two.

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