Wow! This one definitely sucked me in. I love it when speculative fiction explores a premise that seems to promise so many benefits—for example, overcoming our perceived shortcomings and limitations—but ends up demonstrating that the sacrifices made in the process actually de-humanize us rather than elevating us to a higher way of living.

The premise behind this story is that science has developed to a point where there are now Orders of genetically engineered people whose sole purpose in life is to research ways of improving human life (anti-aging, vaccines, etc). Once a week, these people undergo “streaming” within their own Order, meaning that their brains are connected via cable and all of their thoughts, knowledge, experiences, and emotions are downloaded into each other’s brains. In other words, nothing can be kept private. Even worse, it messes up any sense of individual self. But if it’s all for a greater good, a little sacrifice is worth it, isn’t it?

Aside from the premise itself, both the characterisation and the writing in this novel were fantastic, particularly considering C.F.E. Black is a debut author. The characters were complex and well thought out in terms of how their lifestyle would impact their interactions and emotional responses, and both the first-person present-tense POV and the overall writing style created exactly the right tone for the story.

If I were to be really nitpicky, the one thing I could say is that, once all was revealed at the end, I found myself feeling as though the big picture just didn’t quite hang straight. You know when a picture is more or less straight, but just off by a few millimetres? Like that. Instead of the reveals being “A-ha!” they felt a little bit more like, “Hmmm… Let me think about that for a minute.” For the most part, I think a little more foreshadowing would have made the difference, but I think there were also one or two elements of the world-building that could have been a little tighter.

But as I said, that’s a really nitpicky point to make, because this story really did have me hooked from cover to cover. I look forward to seeing more from this author!