After recently seeing this billed as the ‘next’ Handmaid’s Tale I knew this was a book I wanted to read as soon as possible.

This tells the story of Celeste who lives in a world where the future is foretold on women’s bodies. The unique moles and freckles of a woman are deemed to be similar to constellations in the sky which can be interpreted to show how her life will turn out. Within this dystopian universe men do not have this gift and as such rely upon the future being told upon the lives of women close to them. Around the age of puberty a girl becomes a woman when her markings change and her fate is set. But what happens when that future is something you want to prevent at all cost?

At this point I will include a CW: (This book contains Confinement, Drug use, Misogyny, Rape and Kidnapping).

The major theme within this book is topical for many of the conversations currently being held in our country right now. The objectivity of women, victim blaming, focusing upon the behaviour of women rather than the violence of men and as such it may be a difficult read for some at this time, please be kind to yourself.

In addition to the above vital social commentary of what it is to often be a woman in this world the book also left me puzzling my very existence. I loved the concept of fate and destiny... would you want to know how your life was going to turn out from the start? Would you prefer to have the knowledge of future so as to prepare but have no choice over what that might be?

This was an astounding debut and I throughly enjoyed reading it ✨💜✨

What a unique and multifaceted debut of a story. Set in a dystopian world where women’s futures are mapped out on their bodies, we follow Celeste and her brother who share the same birthday 2 years apart. He has been tracking her markings and learning how to interprete them all her life. Once she hits puberty, she becomes a “changeling” and her markings transform leading to a new future prediction and causing a rift between the siblings.

This book covers a myriad of topics in a very clever and in-depth manner. It raises the question of fate when you know the future. Do you just roll over and accept it or do you fight to change it? It also questions how people deal with grief when you know something terrible is going t9 happen. If for instance, you know your father is going to die from a car accident, do you make sure he never gets in a car again or keep him at home forever? Do you start mourning him even before he’s gone and do you tell him or hide it?

More importantly the book deals with a lot of issues women face today and how their voices and very beings can be marginalised. For instance when girls become Changelings, overnight they have this glow and luminescence that makes them super attractive and compelling to men. However they are told to be modest, cover up, not be seen talking to men alone, and not to go out at night. However when Changelings are abducted and abused, they are blamed for being “allowing” themselves to be taken and ostracised from society, with poor future job prospects. The men however are not punished or made to face any criminal justice. It draws a lot of parallels to how rape victims are treated now and the language that is used almost indicating men have no agency in their actions.

This book is heavy but beautiful. It also covers issue some like big brother government and privacy. It will make you think, and it will make you emotional as it speaks so well to womanhood, grief and rebirth. Very beautifully done. 4.5/5 stars.

I devoured this book, I lived it; it feels important.
Such an accomplished and flawless read, it doesn’t feel like a debut at all.

It is dystopian and in that comes discomfort but it’s real power is that it is our world turned only slightly on its axis.

Celeste comes from a place where girls have the future mapped on their bodies by way of a series of moles and freckles on their skin, but they possess no sense of agency, no control over their predictions or their lives.

Her brother Miles has the ability to read the markings and interpret them; an unusual gift amongst men and an interest that is viewed as subversive in this oppressive world. This is a story of their sibling relationship; it is complex, it is fragile, it is intense but critically it endures.

In a world where the patriarchy goes unchallenged and worse, crimes against women are blamed on the women, Laura Maylene Walter tells a story of family; the bond between siblings, the secrets we keep and the lies that are told to protect ourselves and those who we love the most.

Through the lens of a beautifully told coming of age story, she examines the idea of fate and predestination, scrutinises female agency, identity and the idea that biology is destiny.

There are a multitude of trigger warnings; rape, abduction, victim shaming - at times this is an extremely distressing read but at the same time it is one of hope and recognition of what can be achieved with understanding, intelligence and courage.

Body of Stars is unsettling but in the best of ways. I hope that this book receives the recognition that it deserves.

Thanks to Netgalley & Hodder Studio for granting me this ARC for an honest review and thank you to Laura Maylene Walter for writing an amazing book.

3.5 stars for this dystopian feminist novel.

Celeste lives in a world much like ours in many ways. The difference is that women’s bodies are marked with their fates: all women, and only women, have patterns of freckles and moles on their bodies that mean something, showing whether they will marry, have children, suffer disease and so on. The meaning of the patterns may require skill in interpretation but they do mark out the future accurately, some in broad terms and some in devastatingly specific fore-tellings.

Added to this, the markings on girls change and become fixed, literally overnight, as they transition towards adulthood. For several weeks after their markings have fixed the girls/women are termed changelings: they are hyperaware, hypercharged, and magnetically alluring to everyone around them. The changeling period is a dangerous one, as sometimes changelings are abducted by men – in the novel, this appears to happen only to changelings and follows the same course of being held captive, drugged and raped for the duration of their changeling period before being released. The fact that they were taken is seen as a mark of shame for these girls and while the men go unpunished the girls face a future of restricted social, educational and career opportunities.

This summary gives an idea of the themes of the novel. There is interesting exploration of free will versus fate; rape culture; the varying extent to which different societies and governments ‘allow’ female autonomy; of how male violence underpins and enables male-centred society; of what it means to be a woman.

Laura Maylene Walter deserves praise for writing a strong debut tackling major issues, but I did struggle with other aspects of the novel. Perhaps I missed something with the Mountain School origin myth but for me this fell slightly flat. I was not gripped by the characters – although I would have been interested to find out more about Marie’s and Celeste’s mothers. I can’t decide what was the reason for including Miles: did he represent some kind of duality in Celeste’s character, as indicated by their shared birthday two years apart?; was he there to point out in reverse the folly of barring talent on the basis of sex (he was an innovative and talented interpreter of mole-patterns, despite this being seen as ‘a woman’s job’?); or was he there as Entitled Male: demanding work in one of the few careers from which his maleness disbarred him; using his strength as well as trickery to try to forcibly view Celeste’s markings?

Despite my criticisms, I recommend Body of Stars as a clear-sighted novel full of promise. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.

Before I start this review I want to make it clear that this book does have trigger warnings, especially about rape, drug use and sexual assault.

This was a incredibly heavy but thought-provoking book that I found impossible to put down. The idea that females are gifted with their future on their skin is such a unique and intriguing one. I found myself questioning whether I would like the idea of having my future laid out for me, knowing what my fate has in store for me. Would I like to know how many children I'm going to have? How many relationships I may have or what type of career I'm going to have?

However, I didn't realise how much more there was to this story. Body of Stars is about the lack of agency women have over their bodies, rape culture and victim blaming.

In Body of Stars we follow Celeste in this book as she comes up to her changling period, where her final marks will take place right before she becomes a woman and honestly this period terrified me. During this period young women are seen as more alluring and if alone are often abducted for weeks. These girls are then returned with no memory of what happened and are shunned in society, losing all standing they have in society and losing any successful career path they might have had. Instead of being seen as a victim they are treated as if they brought it upon themselves.

As I said before, this was a heavy story that whilst set in a dystopian world held a lot of truth to current day, where women are still fearful of becoming a victim and when they are they are seen as having deliberately putting themselves in a situation for it to happen. Body of Stars is a deep, provoking story of survival and one I will forever think about.

I really do recommend reading this as Walter has done an amazing job at tackling societal topics, especially for a debut novel. However I don't recommend it for those who are faint-hearted!

Body of Stars is set in a world like ours in seemingly every way except for the fact that every woman is born with markings (they look like freckles and moles) on her skin that predict future events of her life, and once she is around 16 she becomes a changeling, meaning that her “baby marks” change to reflect adult predictions. During this changeling period girls’ senses are hyperactive, and they take on a glow that makes them irresistible to men, which makes them vulnerable to kidnapping. Kidnapped girls will be kept by their abuser until their changeling period is over, most likely being drugged and assaulted, and having their markings copied out to be sold, before being left in the streets to be found by authorities or family. After this their futures are essentially over, as girls who are taken are not allowed to pursue higher education, and consequently find it hard to start a career.

By the description I have just given, I would say that this book is not for the fainthearted, and I have also seen it compared many times to The Handmaid’s Tale, as it is in the vein of oppressed women fighting to get their freedom. I found, though, that despite the harsh topics and the traumatic events that befall Celeste and other characters, that Body of Stars didn’t delight in the gruesomeness of oppression and assault; the facts were laid out clearly, and in a serious manner, but the focus of the book was very much the criticism of society and the way things can be improved. There are no graphic scenes. The hopelessness of the situation is highlighted, and then hope is slowly brought forth to both characters and readers as the story unfolds. It was a joy to read.

I also really enjoyed the world building – it was subtle because, as I said, the story is set in a world like ours in terms of history and technology, but there are differences in the politics and social structures that result from the fact that women are marked with the future. For example, before each chapter is an extract of the government mandated book Mapping the Future, in which girls are taught how to read their markings, how to deal with the changeling period, how to deal with the aftermath of being taken, and other information. There are also mentions of other countries and the ways in which women’s rights differ from place to place – in some places, for example, women who are marked as homemakers will be denied education, with the argument that they will not need it. Celeste also tells us that in the past women’s positions were affected much more by the markings on their skin, and that still today to work or study they must disclose their government file which holds all their markings.

I will not go into details of the plot, because as ever the joy is in the reading, but I will say that the overarching narrative, while it does hold some tension and mystery, is quite straightforward and at times predictable, and I don’t mean this in a negative way at all. The fact that all the events follow a fairly logical sequence means that the story can focus much more on what it’s trying to say in terms of its commentary on society, and its emboldening of women and the incredible potential that they hold for changing the world around them with their love and care. Overall, such an exquisitely written novel, in which fiction and reality blur and are mixed together with a touch of myth. I highly recommend it to anyone – I picked it up thinking it was more grounded in fantasy that it was, but loved it regardless, and any fan of literary fiction will find that this will easily slot into the classics of the genre.

Body of Stars is a very original dystopian novel, that takes place in a world where all women have their bodies marked as a map for their future life. I loved the drawings of the marks included in the story which made it even easier to visualize. We are presented to Celeste, a teenage girl who’s life is completely predicted in her marks, and her brother Miles. I kept wondering if those predictions of the future were a gift or a curse? To me it seems a little bit of both, since from the beginning the main character suffered trying to understand it.

In the story there is a book, Mapping the Future: An Interpretive Guide to Women and Girls, that shows the rules for these interpretations, but they are not always clear or complete. Both characters got their lives touched by it first as students, and later as working adults to learn more about these interpretations. The story has a harsh view of women's rights and duties. This book of rules dominates their lives, and while that men are kept in the dark since they don’t have marks nor they are allowed to it’s interpretations. A strict line is drawn between the lives of men and women, which had Celeste wanting more of their world, and had me rooting for her while reading.

A huge thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book!

Celeste Morton lives in a world which looks similar to ours in many ways, except now all girls are born with ‘markings’ (e.g freckles) which depict their futures. When they are young these markings remain open to interpretation, however when the girls hit puberty their markings change and become permanent. It is also around this time that girls transition into ‘changelings’ - a period of several weeks where they become radiant and irresistible to men. During this dangerous time, abductions and rapes are plentiful and no changeling should ever go out alone after dark. Whilst women who are abducted are quickly returned when their changeling period ends, their lives will never be the same.

Celeste has always been careful and cautious and has been excited to become a changeling - until she receives her adult markings and discover that they hold a tragic secret about her beloved brother, Miles’ future. She starts to make every effort to hide the truth from those around her, despite the fact that marking inspections are a routine fact of life, starting with a ceremonial inspection by a girl’s father. On top of this, Miles has long been fascinated by interpretation and is desperate to become the first male in a world where reading and interpreting markings is a woman’s role. He has always practiced his readings on Celeste, and has been beside himself with anticipation to inspect her adult markings- how can she hide them from him now?

It quickly becomes apparent that society is not on the side of women, particularly those who are taken as changelings. Changelings are expected to take responsibility for avoiding abductions by men who cannot resist them in this time - to be taken indicates recklessness or a moral failing and will lead a woman to be unable to get a good job or go to university. It can also lead to dwindling marriage prospects as well as rifts between families due to the shock of such an event; ‘girls victimised in this way must acknowledge their complicity in failing to protect themselves’. Additionally they should ‘be patient whilst family members struggle with the new reality which has been thrust upon them. You owe it to them to confront their grievances’.

Body of Stars shines a dystopian spotlight on rape culture, bodily autonomy and victim blaming, as well as being an open letter to toxic masculinity. There was a lot in this which reminded me of The Grace Year, and I’ve also seen several comparisons to The Handmaid’s Tale which I can also understand. There were so many passages in this which made me squirm and often I found myself actively angry at the injustice and treatment that young women are expected to endure as a fact of life.

However, despite my appreciation of the hugely important topics of discussion, I still found myself not entirely connecting with any of the characters. I understood Miles’ frustration and fight to become an interpreter, but I hated how he became so obsessed he put his sister in danger. I also felt that much of the second half of the story seemed to focus on him, instead of Celeste which seemed a little odd. There were elements that seemed unnecessary to me, such as Miles’ budding addiction to a medicinal plant called Bloodflower - it seemed non essential to the plot and not developed enough to truly add anything to the story.

Celeste also came across as a little flat at times and it sometimes seemed as though this was more ‘tell, not show’ rather than the other way round (particularly during times such as Celeste’s time at the mountain school). Personally, I was also disappointed in the ending, which seemed abrupt and unsatisfying.

The writing of this sat somewhere between YA and adult dystopian for me - more developed and stylistic than I’ve found a lot of YA books to be, but still too simple and plain for a lot of adult or seasoned dystopian readers.

I have bounced between 3.5 and 4 stars for this as I did find myself wanting something a little more - but given the emotions this sparked in me at various points, a round 4 stars seems only fair! An impressive debut for sure.

Like all the other girls she knows, Celeste was born with a pattern of birthmarks setting out her future, and with it, the future of her family. At some point, those birthmarks will become fixed and Celeste will enter a short transition to adulthood. But this transition is a dangerous time. Can Celeste forge her own path, or is she bound to follow the road set out by her birthmarks? A unique, dystopian story, with relatable characters, Body of Stars is a must read for fans of A Handmaid’s Tale, Vox and The Power.

Firstly, I would like to thank Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC copy of this book.

“No future, dear reader, can break a woman on its own”

In the world of Laura Maylene Walter’s debut novel, all women and girls have a map of the future on their skin (in the form of freckles and birthmarks) and during puberty when girls get their permanent “markings” (which will predict their true futures- if they’ll marry/have children or even what career they’ll have), they experience the “changeling period”.

But this period of time, of being a changeling is dangerous- men are more drawn to them, some wish to possess them and those futures. So much so, In fact that changelings are a high commodity and are constantly in danger of abduction.

Celeste Morton is a girl on the cusp of her changeling period and her marks have very closely shown the future of her brother,miles ( a budding interpreter of markings) but as her new permanent markings develop, they show her a secret about Miles’ future she cannot reveal.

An exceptionally written and deeply thought provoking tale of resilience and survival.Walter masterfully explores the oppression and objectification of women, whilst expertly raising awareness of the stigma surrounding victims of rape and the societal prejudice that fuels victim blaming.

Although I enjoyed the novel immensely, it does deal with quite heavy (though relevant) social issues so, if you prefer fiction with a lighter tone you’ll probably not enjoy this one. However,I do recommend to fans of Margaret Atwood’s the Handmaid’s tale as it’s similar in theme and subject matter (women’s rights and consent) though the plot is definitely unique.

If you fancy some flowery misery porn that offers a vision of the world similar to The Handmaid's Tale, Vox, The Water Cure (ie women are oppressed) you might end up appreciating Body of Stars more than I was able. Purply prose aside I just did not buy into the whole in this future/reality women have freckles all over their bodies that predict their futures (from how many children they will have to their career). Seriously? Definitely not my cup of tea.

I love a dystopian novel, so I was really excited to read this. It is an interesting concept and I was instantly drawn to the characters. Celeste and Miles have always been close but as Celeste approaches adulthood a rift starts to develop between them along with events that will change their lives forever.

BODY OF STARS is the debut novel by this author, and she dives into the world of women's rights, consent, male toxicity, you name it.

Essentially, women are born with one set of marks on their body that is mapped out by interpreters, but is also open to interpretation as they grow. This proves that fate can be altered, but only to an extent. There is a time when a girl becomes a woman when she is called a changeling. This is a dangerous time for a woman, as she becomes irresistible to men, and abductions are rife. However, if a woman IS taken, then the shame is all on her.

Celeste is one of these girls, and her brother, Miles, knew it would happen. This book dives into the relationship between this pair, and also the familial relationship within the boundaries of the markings. Whilst enjoying the story and seeing Celeste develop, she still remained a 'quiet' character to me. Miles is the other main character, but he spends most of his time complaining about how he doesn't have any marks, or making himself high.

I would have preferred a bit more character development in the supporting cast. The mother is fleshed out a bit more, but we know next to nothing about the father, except for where it is relevant to the current story. I would have liked to have known more about Marie's mother, Marie, and Louise. Cassie, I didn't like, so I'm really not bothered that she wasn't given much space.

I think this was a great debut novel, and I did enjoy it and have no hesitation in recommending it.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!

"Body of Stars" had an interesting premise that immediately drew me in. The idea of girls with marks on their bodies that predict their future is one I haven't read about before, so I was really intrigued. It is beautifully written, too, and Walter definitely knows how to build her own world, fill it with details and tidbits to make it come to life.

In the end, though, this book turned out to just not be for me. It talks about serious topics, which I usually enjoy in dystopian fiction, but it was all a little bit too on the nose for me. Some more subtlety would have helped in creating a more eerie, dark atmosphere that I think would have benefitted the story.
The protagonist, Celeste, never really managed to get me interested, and neither did her brother Miles. The side characters weren't really fleshed out either, although there is a lot of potential here (I especially liked Marie's mother), so I didn't really care about either of them at any point. Which, considering the fate of Miles is one big plot point of the story, means that I was never emotionally involved at all.
The pacing is very slow and nothing really seems to happen for a long time - most of the book reads more like an introduction to this world. There are constant allusions to Bad Things happening in the future, with Celeste mentioning that "this was the last time I'd ever see this person" or "at this time I didn't know how important this moment would be for my future self" (no direct quotes, of course) which should have built up suspense but never actually delivered., There are some time skips, too, that kind of gloss over important, maybe even crucial character development that I would actually have been interested to read - especially Celeste's time at the Mountain school, I wish the book dived more into her process of unlearning all these societal norms and rules instead of basically just saying "and during that time, she learned a lot".

The concept is a really interesting one and the writing is beautiful, but the story never really seems to flesh out its plot and characters and thus ended up being a rather shallow read.

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for this arc!

Body of Stars is a superb debut by Laura Maylene Walter. It will inevitably appeal to readers of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Grace Year, but Body of Stars is in a league all of its own and to compare is to suggest that there is an element of repetition and that is certainly not the case.

The author has succeeded in building an intricate world both similar and alien to our own. In this world women hold a “blueprint for their life mapped on their skin” in freckle-like marks. These maps remain the same until around their 16th birthday where they enter their ‘changeling’ period.

As a changeling the girls become irresistible to men and must be careful to protect themselves by dressing modestly and not going out on their own at night in case they are abducted by a man who cannot help himself.

Our protagonist, Celeste is about to enter this exciting and dangerous period of her life. She and her brother Miles have always been close and his wish to enter the female field of Interpretation has meant that her markings have never belonged to just her.

Then her adult markings come in she learns a devastating secret about Miles’ future, one she knows she must keep to herself. With Miles also keeping a secret from her will her future every really be known?

There is so much to discuss in Body of Stars so I will start by saying that yes this is another dystopian book about women who have been stripped of their autonomy by both the men in their life and by society in general. However, it is also unlike any book of its kind.

It is thought provoking and complicated read and is an open critique of the cultural and institutional bias existing around victims of rape.

I have seen some reviews complaining about the level of involvement of Miles in her story but that is missing the point somewhat. Surely it serves to further illustrate the lack of agency she has over her own body when her father and brother both violate her need for privacy due to a belief that they have a right to see her markings.

Also, without wishing to place any spoilers in the review I will just note that whilst Miles does play some small part in it, any change comes solely from Celeste and the work she carries out.

The opening passage was fantastic and drew me in immediately:

“From the time of my birth my brother Miles read me like a map, tracing my patterns of freckles and birthmarks to see my future and to learn something of his own. In those early years, my body was as much his as it was mine. To share meant letting him lift the base of my tank top or sweater so he could search my skin for a hint of what was to come.”

This passage really packed a punch and made me feel uncomfortable. I knew I would love the book from this moment on.

These markings on the body exist only on women and girls although there are some urban legends of men who choose to tattoo markings onto their skin and woman who try to mutilate their bodies to hide their markings.

The markings are interpreted using a book called Mapping The Future: An Interpretive Guide to Women and Girls. Young girls can also chose to go to the Interpretive District for readings although this also includes fraudsters who claim to read the future by using tarot cards, tea leaves or crystal balls. It is generally considered to be an unsafe area though due to the high number of girls who go missing in the area after dark.

In school the girls have to submit to yearly readings of their markings by a government employee unless they sign a form to say they object but this can affect future employment and educational opportunities.

Just as those girls who were abducted during their changeling period and then returned to their families would have limited opportunities going forward.

“It was a certain kind of girl who let herself get caught by men: the rebellious kind, the flirty kind, the kind who flaunted her future. I had grown up believing that. We all had.”

In this book there is a victim shaming around the victims of abduction which clearly mirrors the victim shaming which exists for rape victims in our society.

“The story was an old one. The best we could do was warn changelings not to go out alone at night, to stay within the safety of a group, to dress chastely during those dangerous few weeks. Girls were considered women as soon as they changed, so we were expected to shoulder that responsibility to put forth the effort to protect ourselves.”

The implication being that anything that befell them would be their fault and not that of the men involved.

I often felt deep rage whilst reading this book and that is a clear sign that this was an excellent book because I cared so deeply about the fate of the protagonist.

I could rant on and on about how excellent this book is but I am afraid I would inadvertently give away a spoiler so I will end with one of my favourite quotes from the book and a reminded that Body of Stars is one to watch out for.

“More than anything, I wished those girls to have the ability to command their own lives, no matter what was marked on their skin. I wanted them to be liberated, and unafraid, and brimming with potential and possibility. But that wasn’t how the world worked for girls and women. Instead, we were made vulnerable through no fault of our own and held liable for the crimes committed against us.

We were born already broken.”

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5***

Body of Stars is a dystopian world where girls and women are marked by moles. These moles predict their futures. Women are treated awfully. They may know their futures but they belong to everyone - their families, their communities, the government etc. It's a really interesting concept and perhaps should make us think about how we currently treat women's bodies. If you have moles that say you'll be a house wife you won't be educated because 'there's no point'. If you want children but your moles say you'll have none then you won't have any. Your marking are literally your entire life. What would you do knowing everything that will happen to you and knowing nothing that you do can change it?

This story covers hard topics, particularly sexual assault. This theme is a large part of the story so if you are likely to be triggered by it then don't read this book. I found myself infuriated by the way women were treated and felt the characters needed a bit more of a back bone. It would've been better if there was more outrage and fight in the characters. The main character is okay but I didn't really find myself sold on her as a character. I wasn't invested in her story.

The writing at places can be quite simple. Things are repeated numerous times (I assume so you know it's a significant thing) when there is no need for it. I had to keep checking to see if I had pressed 'next page' or not. The writing would probably be more suited for a more immature audience.

All in all this is an interesting idea for a teenage audience. If you are an adult dystopian/fantasy reader then I don't think this book will be for you.

Body of Stars follows Celeste a young girl awaiting her passage into adulthood.
All girls are born with markings upon their body that sets out their future path and their family's. Every girl is born with her own markings to predict the future but once they move into adulthood their markings change and a new set of predications confirm their fate. During their transition into womanhood the 'changeling period' they become irresistible to men, which puts them in danger of abduction and having to suffer through a trauma that will effect them for the rest of their life's.

Celesete's brother is a skilled interpreter of markings and becomes obsessed with wanting to read Celeste's adult markings. Celeste after doing her own reading discovers a devastating fate, a secret she tries to keep from her family. A secret that causes tragedy by keeping. Imagine knowing what the future holds and being unable to stop it.

There's some serious topics covered throughout such as abduction, rape, victim blaming, while the predators get away with everything and there's no real commitment to ever see justice. It's just accepted that men will do terrible things to Changeling Girls. Some of the topics were uncomfortable to read, there's one particular scene between father and daughter that had me cringing, I'm not sure that added to the story at all.

When I read the blurb for this one I was instantly intrigued. Unfourtenly I think it just wasn't for me. While I enjoyed the concept and the writing, it was cleverly done, I just found it too slow paced. I was contemplating giving up around 40% in but then it picked up for a while and then slowed back down so I had to really power through to the end, which left me unsatisfied. I'm a big character reader and for me the characters in this just felt a little flat. I wasn't invested in anyone to really care enough about what was going on.

This is a 2 star for me, I didn't hate this, but It was just to slow paced and I think in the end the story just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley & Hodder & Stoughton for a advanced copy of this.

I finished this book a few days ago and have spent some time thinking about it before I review it.

I'm not sure it's an official genre, but apparently this is considered feminist dystopia. Obviously I read the description and thought I would really like this book, much like I liked The Handmaid's Tale and The Power.

This book,, however, felt flat to me. The allegory for rape culture felt flimsy and not well thought out - it felt like it relied on magical realism to make it's point, and not just as a replacement for religion. The juxtaposition was jarring, and it didn't sit well for me.

The characters felt one dimensional , even though they shouldn't have - we see several facets of the characters of Celeste's friends, for example. The focus on the brother, while I understand important for the story, was annoying.

Overall, this was a book that made me angry because I did not like the way it was written or how the topics were broached rather than because it was telling me something important. I didn't like the storyline, I didn't connect with any of the characters and the ending felt unfinished. If this was the author's intention, then I suppose she attained it, but it was an irritating read for me.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book, I'm glad I did. I award 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 which I think is generous.

This is a very original and highly interesting novel. The idea that markings on female bodies can predict the future is intriguing, and is used to open out discussions regarding the surveillance, appropriation and exploitation of women in culture. The setting of the novel is intriguing, since it seems to take place in a familiar version of America, but one that bears more similarities to the 1950s than the 21stC - there are no mobile phones or advanced computer technology, for example. Within this slightly archaic context, feminism as we know it doesn't seem to have happened - indeed, how could it, given that the future is immutable, written as it is on women's bodies?

The novel is well written, and its world-building is solid. I did, however, slightly struggle with the idea of a set future, particularly in relation to one of the main characters whose fate is determined early on. And I was frustrated that the Mountain School, which is one of the novel's most important sites - and one in which many of the rules pertaining to this version of the world were transgressed - wasn't fleshed out more. I'd have liked to have known more about that place.

Nevertheless, I'd not hesitate to recommend this book, which could lead to interesting debates about female embodiment, and who has access to female bodies (and thus the right to 'read' them) in culture.

I enjoyed this book, but not a patch on The Handmaids tale. It seemed very slow, but I stuck with it as the premise is intriguing. However, even though we know the predictions regarding Miles, it doesn't actually take us that far before the book ends. Very disappointing ending to be honest. Possible ended that way to leave way for a sequel, I don't know.