Interesting sci-fi thriller with a timely viral backstory. The virus subplot itself is, if anything, less horrendously dramatic than we might expect after the last few months.
The story switches between pre-virus and post-virus (with the focus on the children and the ‘mothers’), but i have to admit that the interest levels in some sections waned - I was much more invested in the cause than the outcome-
At least for the first half of the book or so. There’s rather a lot of dense material relating to engineering of the virus, which I felt was unnecessary and could have been dealt with through a macguffin... but I’ve since realised that the author is a biochemist which rather explained the detail!

Anyway, that, a slightly weak ending notwithstanding, it’s a well-paced sci-fi thriller, enjoyable enough if not essential.

It is 2049 and a virus with no antidote has been released upon the world. As it progresses slowly around the world a team of American scientists struggle to find a solution. As realisation dawns that a solution won't be found for the virus, it is a race against time to save at least a few of the human race. A few years in the future we meet Kai and his robot "Mother".
There are a lot of apocalyptic books on the market and more likely in the coming months following Covid-19. This is definitely one of the better books of this genre. I have given it 4 stars but it is more of a 4.5 star book.
This is well constructed with a plot that does work and fits together reaching a satisfactory conclusion. Setting it just a short while in the future allows for some developments that are not available today & makes the whole concept of artificial mothers a little more likely.
I did find the number of characters, particularly the scientists, slightly confusing at times which is why this isn't quite a 5 star book. Perhaps it would have been helpful if I had created a cast list. However this had little bearing upon my enjoyment of the story as I did join the dots quite quickly after a few sentences.
This is quite a science based book with some quite technical descriptions. However there weren't too many to make it incomprehensible for the layman like me. I do feel that there needs to be a layer of scientific explanation in a book like this but some books take it a bit far leaving the reader floundering. This book got the level about right.
Although I did enjoy many of the characters I didn't get too emotionally involved with them. I did enjoy the emerging personalities of the children as they developed.
I liked the structure of this book. It begins with two distinct threads which are clearly dated. However, these two threads do join up and then the story is combined.
An excellent book that I very much enjoyed. I felt it was well written with good descriptions & the right level of science & believability. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for other books by this author.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

Through no fault of this book, it's subject matter is a little too close to current global circumstances, so for that reason it was difficult to read in places. Some lines could've been written today about the current pandemic

In this book, earth is suffering from the release of a flu-like pandemic. Rather that trying to save all of the people on earth, scientists are trying to come up with a way to create children who are born immune to the virus. These children will then be raised by mothers: robots designed for this exact purpose

I didn't end up loving this book unfortunately. I don't think it was due to the parallels with the current pandemic, though that didn't help. I didn't enjoy hearing from or care about any of the characters, which kind of matters in an apocalyptic story

I liked that we got multiple perspectives, especially seeing the scientific side and a child's perspective. I thought those povs contrasted well. The writing in this book reminded me a little of Blake Crouch, and I think if you like his writing you'd enjoy this book

Carole Stiver’s novel The Mother Code sits in a long literary tradition. The idea of robots, or artificial intelligences, growing and raising children has a long history in the science fiction. Some older examples include The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov (1950s), Earthsearch (originally a BBC radio drama) by James Follett (1970s) and Voyage from Yesteryear by James P Hogan (1980s). More recently, the Australian-made Netflix film I Am Mother explored this territory. But the concept goes back to an older literary tradition of children not raised by humans – from the myth of Romulus and Remus, raised by wolves through to stories like Tarzan or The Jungle Book. And in an age of children reared with devices powered by Siri or Cortana, it is possible that the reality is catching up to the fiction.
When The Mother Code opens, a group of “mothers” is flying to safety with their precious cargo. While following one of these, and her son Kai, the narrative also drops back in time to explore why the need for this drastic action. Unsurprisingly it is a slow-moving, man-made pandemic using a new technology that alters the DNA of the victims. While scientists search for a cure, they also turn to a plan B – creating embryos that will be immune and sentient robots to raise them. Nothing goes quite according to plan, and as the two stories come together things only get more dire for the children, leading to some tough moral questions and plenty of action.
Stivers does not make the most of her premise in The Mother Code. Much of the story is told rather than shown, the characters only really coming to life in the second half of the book but still manage to keep making bad, rapid decisions that tend to make the situation worse. The children are the type of precocious ten and eleven year olds that only tend to be found in novels. And much of the plot is driven by a series of highly unlikely coincidences
One of the joys of science fiction is its capacity to create a sandbox in which to test real world issues. As with other books and stories that tackle this issue there is a lot of food for thought underlying the action. Stivers takes full advantage of her premise to dig deeply into questions of what it means to be a parent and to raise a child, and to explore the bonds between parents and children. But also more complex questions such as how important is it for a child to have a belief system, and how an artificial intelligence could be flexible enough to support children to explore their boundaries and become independent. These questions in particular, drive the action in the last third of the book, creating a fascinating tension out of the moral quandaries that the characters find themselves in.

This is a novel that cuts between the near future and the far future (far-ish, a generation or so later). In the near future, the American military has unleashed a biological flu-like weapon against insurgents in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, it has seeped into the ecosystem and its spread is unstoppable. It soon comes to threaten the human race. In the far future, a young boy Kai is “born” from an artificial womb, his only companion his robot mother, Rho-Z. The two stories intersect, the pandemic in the near future, and the scientists' desperate search to stop it; Kai and his mother Rho-Z’s pursuit of survival and search for others like him in the far future.

On the one hand, this is an incredibly prescient book, the world locked down as it is by Corvid-19. I must admit to not having realised that the title dealt with pandemic disease when I received a copy from Netgalley, so this is a story definitely of the moment. That said, this is both a plus and a minus. It’s a plus because the storyline is current, and while Covid-19 is a coronavirus, naturally occurring, and unlikely to wipe out humankind, it has heightened our fears of deadly pandemics and has brought concerns about biological warfare to the fore (there are conspiracy theories that Covid-19 was made in a Chinese lab, which are almost certainly false).

Unfortunately, The Mother Code fails by comparison on other levels, albeit through no fault of the author. For example, in this novel the American’s hide the pandemic from other nations and refuse to divulge the truth of the disease. We’ve seen with Covid-19 that when it comes to an existential threat, that even the Chinese, a one-party state and a secretive one at that, will share science. While the Chinese have not been totally honest, they have come in for huge criticism for this, yet in The Mother Code, the Americans are able to hide the truth of the pandemic with no problem at all. Of course, Covid-19 was not developed as a biological warfare agent and perhaps if it had, things would have been different. Even so, I can’t help but find the author’s portrayal lacking, though as I say, she wrote the novel before the current crisis so can’t be blamed for getting this wrong.

The far future elements about Kai and his mother robot Rho-Z are in many ways far more philosophical, tackling as they do questions about artificial intelligence and what it means to be human. This is interesting but speculative and while the author has clearly researched the topic (not surprising, as she's a scientist herself with a PH.d. in biology) I found myself struggling to connect with it. In part, I think that's because the author wished the story to be uplifting and positive, and yet I felt that the world she had created was more suited to a dystopian tale.

All that aside, The Mother Code is an interesting slice of sci-fi with a lot to say about the world. Apparently, movie rights have been snapped up by Stephen Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, so a film version might well be on our screens too.

Bio warfare goes wrong and dooms the world. Scrambling for an answer, a military group create immune fetuses and entrust them to robotic Mothers, programmed with the personality of the children's mothers. As these children mature, they have to deal with the remnants of our world as well as the beginning of theirs.

The first part of this novel moves back and forwards in time, between Kai, being raised by his Mother in the early 2060s, and the various military and scientific characters fighting the outbreak in the late 2040s and early 2050s. Once I got used to this it was an interesting way to read, but it did lend a certain inevitability to some things; we know that despite the search for an antidote, the Children are still going to be launched, and the early difficulties engineering Children who can survive will be overcome. However, it would be much less interesting to read in order and I can't say for sure I'd have stuck with it.

I also found the ending very abrupt; the final conflict is still being finished only a couple of pages from the end and there's basically no wrap up.

Those issues aside, though, this is a thoroughly fascinating and very timely read. My limited understanding of this kind of science didn't find any problems with it, and I could follow what they were talking about without too much difficulty. The final conflict is intriguing, and while I could see both sides of the argument there was no question which side I and all the readers were meant to be on. I'd love to read a follow up to see what kind of society the Children build - there was a clear power struggle building and I'd like to know what became of it.

A creepily accurate and very timely book, I enjoyed it very much.

It's a good book, engrossing and fascinating. Unfortunately it's the wrong moment and I found hard to end it even if I think that the plot is well crafted, the world building fascinating and the character interesting.
It's not my cup of tea but I think I'd have loved it at the right moment.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

2049. A flu-like pandemic is about to wipe out the whole human population. The only hope lies in genetically engineered children: incubated, birthed and raised by the robots. Machines that, thanks to The Mother Code, are programmed with the birth mothers' unique personalities.

The story alternates between 2049 when the government employees are trying and failing to find a cure for the virus that wreaks havoc among the human population and 2060's when we're introduced to Kai, a 6-year-old raised by Rosie, his robotic mother.
I had such great expectations for this book and was so excited when I was approved for it, but as much as I'd like to love this book, I can't say that I do.
The book is built on a brilliant idea, but it goes awry pretty quickly and fails to deliver on the premise.
The story jumps between multiple characters and timelines, never really stopping for long enough to allow the reader to form any connection with the characters.
I also struggled with the scientific jargon that the story was packed with. I don't think that a layman reader like myself will appreciate it very much unless the book's general target is biochemists.
Overall, it was a good story that wasn't executed properly. I think it would be best suited on the screen, but as a novel, it was too messy.
However, I appreciate it is a debut, and I'm curious enough to reach for any future books from this author.

DNF at page 108.

I really wanted to like the book. I enjoy sci fi, dystopian themes and any concept that suggests a possibility to our ever changing world. The Mother Code’s premise hooked my interest, reminding me of the Netflix film I am Mother.

The idea of the book centred around an accidental man made epidemic caused by NANs, - particles that can infect the lungs and eventually, death. This led the scientists to develop a system called the Mother Code, where robots are created to raise a new generation of children.

With the current circumstances, maybe I had higher expectations than I would’ve without. I tend to read books without being overly critical, and enjoy a majority of the ones I’d decided to pick up, so it wasn’t hard to expect TMC to be one of them. But in the first 30 pages or so, it had felt more like reading a scientific manual rather than a growing plot. For someone who has a fair knowledge in the subject, the terminology still threw me off.

Originally I had planned to DNF a little earlier, but I decided to push another few chapters, wanting to give it a chance. I tried to overlook the constant switching back and forth, between the past (spanning a couple of years), and the present, where the Mother Code was already in motion. The pacing was a little slow for me; even at 100 pages, there’s not a clear path about where the book was heading, and I found myself struggling to keep reading, which almost never happens.

I found the synopsis interesting and reading this while the world is in its current situation was frankly freaky! However I found the technical parts of the story fairly tedious and I didn’t connect with any of the characters.

A bit of a sore spot for personal reasons as well as in the current situation (long story short, and not spoiler since it’s revealed in the first chapters: man-made bio-weapon targeting lung cells to make them immortal and proliferating, aka welcome lung cancer). But that’s just me, of course, and the story itself was a good read all along, even though I didn’t absolutely love it.

The premise of this novel hinges on the “illness” I mentioned, on the need to conceive human babies with modified genes who’ll be able to survive in this not-so-brave new world, and on that other need: the babies will need mothers, and those won’t be human women, since they’ll be pretty much, well, all dead soon. Quite a ghastly future, this. The story thus follows two timelines: one where Kai, one of these new children, travels with his mother Rho-Z; and one, a few years before that, where scientists desperately fight against time to engineer suitable embryos and robotic mothers.

I must say, I liked that second timeline: as frightening as it was, I enjoyed the technological and genetic basis on which it was built. Another aspect of the book I liked was that, all in all, it still deals with hope, with thoughts about what being human is and about parent/child relationships, and with a deep-seated desire to help the children survive. The world they’re in is not hostile the way it is in traditional post-apocalyptic stories—no bands of looting survivors is threatening them; but it is empty, desperately empty, and that means scavenging for dwindling resources while also being restricted in some ways by the “Mother Code” . For 10-year-old kids, that’s not so grand.

Where I didn’t love the novel was in terms of characters. They’re good in general—they have motivations and background stories of their own—yet for some reason, I didn’t feel a connection with them, or not enough to make me really love them. The children didn’t feel like they were “children” enough, and the world of the adults was a little too… distant?

Conclusion: Interesting story and an overall interesting read, even though I didn’t connect much with the characters.

The Mother Code was a challenging read for me. Stivers is a Silicon Valley biochemist and, I have to say, this book feels like it was written by a Silicon Valley biochemist. Which I know will be a huge plus for many readers. But, unfortunately, some of the jargon went straight over my head and a couple of times I did pause and wonder if I should continue. Still, I'm glad I did.

From the blurb, I thought this was a book about artificial intelligence and robots, and it sounded almost identical to the movie I Am Mother, but that is only part of the book and it actually has little in common with the movie. It's actually also about a manmade pandemic-- an experiment in biological warfare gone wrong --and so obviously it hit a lot closer to home than I was expecting. It really is the most disquieting feeling to read about the collapse of society due to a pandemic while you're sat in quarantine.

The Mother Code alternates between the "past", starting in 2049, in which several government employees attempt to find a cure for the leaked virus whilst also keeping it secret from the public, and the 2060s, in which a young boy called Kai is raised by his robot mother, Rho-Z. Eventually the past catches up with the present and we see how the robots came to be. But now Kai and other children like him are being told it's time to destroy the only mothers they have ever known.

In the "past" chapters, the book captures the panicked race to find a cure/solution and protect humanity. A small team of esteemed scientists and doctors work around the clock to find an answer to the problem. Though the panic tapped into a fear that is all too real right now, I never really felt a close connection to James, Rose, Rick and Sara. And I really couldn't summon any interest when the author introduced some lukewarm romantic subplots. Similarly, the kids all felt a bit like YA stereotypes - the leader, the spunky tomboy, the introvert - and not like fully fleshed-out humans.

But what this book lacks in characterization it makes up for in philosophical questions. What I loved most about the book are the questions it raises about mothers, motherhood and the mother/child bond. Rho-Z might be a machine, but to Kai she is his mother, his protector, and for a long time his only companion. This is not a bond that should be taken lightly.

DNF. I got 20% through this before I quit. I almost never quit books, the last time was in 2017. I hate to, because lots of books take some time to get into, or just surprise you mid way through. Maybe I should have stuck with The Mother Code, but I just wasn’t loving it.

Here’s why:

It reads like a science fiction book by someone who hasn’t read a lot of recent science fiction. There’s so many generic tropes thrown around in the first few pages (a man summoned to the White House, tough military personnel who need to get the job done, a genetically engineered virus gone wrong) but there’s no fresh take on these well-worn ideas. We know from the beginning of the book that the world as we know it ends, but we’re not given enough character detail to care about the people and the world. There’s just page after page of scientific jargon. I’m sure it’s accurate, given the author's background, but I got bored very quickly.

I’m sure there are people that will love this, but it was not for me.

The Mother Code came highly recommended, and I was looking forward to reading it. Really interesting premise, but to be honest, it was way too similar to events taking place in the world at the moment. Definitely a case of right book, wrong time. I would have happily enjoyed this one had we not been in the midst of a pandemic, but I just couldn’t get into it.

3.5 stars

Well, I can certainly see why Amblin have bought the film rights to this book.
You can't get much more authentic than virus-based sci-fi written by a biochemist, and this book definitely read like a film script to me, so of course Spielberg couldn't pass on it!
The ideas in The Mother Code are perfect fodder for book groups- What is it to be human? When and where should our relationships with machines be limited?
The Mother Code poses classic questions about humanity and how we view artificial intelligence but in various new ways. I definitely enjoyed the concepts in this book- the mother-bots and their codes in particular are very interesting.
I will admit I had a hard time reading the first half of this. The outbreak of the IC-NAN virus is scarily similar to our own struggle with Covid-19 and if I'd known about it beforehand I might not have requested this and instead waited until a little while after its publication to pick it up. Thankfully the focus in the second half was mostly on the children and their relationships with the mothers in the post-virus future, which is what I was expecting from the synopsis. I enjoyed the latter half more than the former for that reason and because it fleshed things out a bit more.
I will definitely be checking out the film adaption of this and will watch for more of Carole Stivers' work in the future.

An absolutely brilliant, fabulous and exceptional read !!
I read the book while the world is gripped on a global pandemic with many people infected and dying and although a different scenario (I hope !!) it sure made for some much to close for comfort reading but hell its fantastic story.
“What does it mean to be a mother” well this book tells us in such a different way and with so much empathy and love I was transfixed I loved it so much . It’s impossible to describe the story without spoiling it so I’m not going to even try , it’s book that should just be read with no prior knowledge and I assure you it really won’t disappoint.
Loved everything about it, can’t find anything I didn’t like and wow has Carole Stivers got a fountain of knowledge and oh boy can she write !!
So I hear the book has been commissioned by Spielberg for a a film and that’s going to be one hell of a blockbuster I’m sure. So for me this will a top favourite read of this year and so of course it’s highly recommended as you can see I bloody loved it !!
My thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The timing of this book is eerie. I started reading this as the Coronavirus started to explode into a worldwide epidemic which makes fiction a little too close to reality. As a result, while futuristic, the chain of events was thought provoking. Against expert advice, the US test a manufactured virus against some terrorists in the Afgan desert. It was supposed to be a controlled environment but the virus mutates and spirals out of control. It happens too rapidly for an antidote and it becomes apparent that the human race is at risk. A top secret technology project is accelerated - the project is to create a robot that can incubate and raise a human child whose DNA has been structured to withstand the virus. This will be the answer to humanities survival.
An extremely interesting read, that does well to give its readers technical insight into a life-threatening virus and how it can spread. The story is stunning and moves at a good pace, with much thought given to how people/government react under high stress situations. I loved the creativity involved in creating this futuristic world where robots become the new mothers and how the technology around that could work, I appreciated all the little details around how this could work and implications to a maturing child. But mostly I felt humbled by how fragile the human race is and how easily and quickly all our towers of power and existence can spiral out of control.

Title: The Mother Code
Author: Carole Stivers
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Release date: May 5, 2020
Rating: 5/5

What does it mean to be a mother? What does it mean to be human?
I didn't expect a science fiction novel to be such a roller-coaster of emotions. The entire concept of this book is genius and possibly a little too probable to make for comfortable reading. Not a sci-fi fan? You will be after you read this.
My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

STOP THE PRESS! I've just read my book of the year! Bold I know but that's how strongly I feel about The Mother Code. I have a heart of stone but The Mother Code managed to wring a few tears out of me; the story at the heart of the science is absolutely beautiful.

An act of bio terrorism releases a deadly disease into the world, throw in some genetic mutation and you're left with a horrifying post apocalyptic vision of our future. To balance out these terrifying events we have the creation of The Mother Code and the robotic mothers that have this embedded in them. These machines are responsible for incubating, birthing and raising their genetically modified charge, each one is unique and every mother has a different personality and teachings.

The story is told over two timelines, pre Mother Code launch and years later as the children come of age and begin to group together. But as children grow their Mothers transform too—in ways that were never predicted. The government survivors decide that the Mothers must be destroyed. One of these children, Kai, must make a choice. Will he break the bond he shares with Rho-Z? Or will he fight to save the only parent he has ever known?

The Mother Code explores what exactly makes us human and certainly made me question what I would do.

Five stars and I'll be telling everyone I know to read this book!

A very believable sci-fi scenario of our near future, particularly an act of bio terrorism from the US wiping out most of humankind. At first I wasn’t sure what I felt about the jumping timelines, but all that made sense once the two timelines caught up. The idea of the robotic Mothers was intriguing, as was the tech used — advanced machine learning systems leading to unprecedented outcomes. The only other place I stumbled was the latter third of the book — the locations were confusing and I didn’t quite get what the problem was or how exactly it was surmounted.

Despite all that, it was an engrossing read.

(Review copy from NetGalley)