Joined in 2023 
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The lost people finding purpose in each other, the Japanese culture, the quantum science, a love story, tragedy, a glimpse into our potential future and enough substance to get you really thinking without being bogged down by weighty facts. Even her hands are covered by shiny, white gloves that run underneath the cuffs of her T-shirt all the way up to her elbows. In short, it is a fantastic mash-up of different genres and elements, and a story you won't soon forget with a cast of characters that will win over your heart long before that final page. He decides on a whim to pop into a café that offers ear cleaning for only 4900 yen and he decides it might ease his jet lag.
Our two protagonists are struggling to understand the big ‘why’ questions and as the author leads us in their journeys it makes for a beautiful and thought-provoking read. This book is full of rich worldbuilding focused on a future maybe not that far away from our current state. His writing has appeared in Fast Company, VICE, The Guardian, Litro Magazine, The Irish Times, Screen, Quartz and others. John is open where Neotnia can be guarded and as to the reasons for this…well, I wouldn't want to spoil the book.
Her second and third ones… well, I’ve hidden those (and aspects of my review relating to them) from immediate view, to avoid spoiling the story!
It's so nuanced that you can't really categorise where this would be shelved in a library but that's why I loved it! As Grothaus points out, this would not only allow countries to spy on one another more effectively, but it would engender intense paranoia, as people wouldn't know who they could trust among their neighbours and colleagues, and might report anyone they perceive as "a bit off" as suspected androids. Loved its unique styling, the memorable characters and the way in which the book, and the audio version, got under my skin. But these scenes and moments were always very brief and followed by scenes and moments where the story and the characters moved on.The scene then changes repeatedly between Ezra's audition, Ezra taking a selfie with two girls, a young boy showcasing some possible Ezra album cover ideas and two young boys dressing Ezra with a man bag. It's a very believable future, sketched in rather than info dumped, the pluses and minuses senses rather than declaimed.
As they start to navigate their relationship and their position in an ever-shifting, precarious world, each of them harbors a secret that they are desperate to keep from the other. Thoroughly enjoyed this speculative, sci-fi but not too sci-fi story set in a futuristic Tokyo, all about the possibilities of technology but equally about what it is to be a human.We are looking at a world where physical violence is virtually meaningless when it comes to global politics, and where cyber attacks, deep fakes and the planting of 'fake news' causes far more harm on a domestic scale than any cold be achieved by waging a more traditional war. It's set just a little bit in the future but not too far away to make it seem sci-fi (even though I love a sci-fi), and it has a love story running though it but I wouldn't say it was a romance. Lonely and not sure what to do with himself, one night John visits a café, where he meets former sumo wrestler Goeido - its owner - young waitress Neotnia, and her unique-looking dog, Inu.
There are some big questions that we really need to be wrestling with as our technological progress outstrips our ability to frame ethical boundaries. But it deserves so much more as this novel has blown my mind and already is my top read of this year! The man (who is an ex-sumo wrestler) is holding a dog, a Bichon Frise, with the strangest haircut ever, making its head appear spherical.
A wonderfully affecting love story with a major twist at its centre, a slow-motion quest with chivalric aspects. There’s a whole holocaust section there too, when the characters visit Hiroshima, that only clumsily shoehorns into the plot and feels out of place. I love the way every genre blend brings it more and more humanity and it breaks my heart just a little more.
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