First of all thank you for approving my request!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The authors writing style had me hooked throughout this book.

I didn't want it to end, a book I really couldn't put down.

Another incredible John Marrs book.
Wow, did this book make me think.
I couldn’t believe how many twists and turns I encountered. I have several ‘mouth fell open moments’.
I can’t stop talking to people about this book and all the questions about life and virtual reality it raises!

I have just spent about three days in the metaverse with eleven contestants in a reality show raising a virtual child.With Britain being in economic crisis, few people can afford to raise a child, are virtual Children the answer? The public gets to vote in monthly challenges to see how the contestants cope with the pressures of parenthood, and ultimately vote for a winner, the prize being either to keep the virtual child that they have raised for nine months, or pressing the delete button on it, and have a prize fund to raise their own human child. Which contestants are deserving? Who will the public get behind? Is this even moral?...Read it!

I love John Marrs’ dystopian books and this is another brilliant book. ‘The One’ was the first I read and is probably my favourite but ‘The Family Experiment’ is another goodie. There were plenty of twists to make this a page turner and plenty of surprises.

This book follows several couples who sign up to participate in a TV show where they raise a virtual child from birth to 18 in a condensed 9-month period. The winner can choose to keep their virtual child or take the cash prize and put it towards having a real baby.

Fantastic book with great core characters. Recommend to friends for anyone who loves this genre of book!

I've read every book in John Marrs' dystopian universe and while I think no book will ever outshine 'The One', The Family Experiment comes a close second.

If you love Black Mirror then you NEED to add this to your radar.

It follows several couples who sign up to participate in a TV show where they raise a virtual child from birth to 18 in a condensed 9-month period. The winner can choose to keep their virtual child or take the cash prize and put it towards having a real baby.

I love books featuring reality TV and interesting social commentary. There are discussions around morality and whether AI humans deserve the same rights as live humans. Poverty is also a big theme and is the main reason many couples are unable to have live children.

There were a lot of twists and turns - some of which I saw coming and others that I didn't predict.

This can be read as a standalone, however, if you haven't read the previous books, some aspects of the world-building might feel a bit jarring. e.g. it references soulmate/DNA matches and self-driving cars.

The Family Experiment by John Marrs

Set in an overcrowded future in which having a child is not a right, there is an alternative. An AI child that exists only in an alternate reality, in which the ‘parent’ can virtually live, raising that child in real time. All for the price of a monthly subscription. To launch the service, Virtual Children creates a reality series in which ten couples raise a child from baby to adulthood within a condensed period of 9 months. If you’ve read any of the author’s preceding novels – and this novel is part of that universe – then you’ll know that this is not going to end well, not least for these virtual children who grow in self-awareness and self-knowledge. These children might not be real but they can hurt. They can also be turned off. How attached does one want to get? Is the prize worth it? A powerful and disturbing SF thriller from an author who des this very well indeed.

Definitely one of my top 10 books of the year - totally unique concept, fantastic writing, and plenty of twists and turns to keep you gripped. John Marrs is quickly becoming my go to for dystopian adult fiction and I can’t recommend this one highly enough

Book review 📚
The Family Experiment by John Marrs
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Let’s be honest. It isn’t a surprise to anyone when that a John Marrs book rates 5 stars. He is deserving of every 5 star he gets and this is no different. Impeccable. Flawless. Phenomenal. Is Marrs the new King?

It is truly impossible to pick up a Marrs book and then be able to put it down before finishing. I’m in this chokehold and the book just does not ease up! It has to be finished within one sitting otherwise I will just pull my hair out trying to figure it all out.

There are a variety of characters and each of them holding their own characteristics, that bring the story to life. Some are perceived as likeable and others, not so much. But they are all relevant to the story and makes that guessing game less predictable!

The ending itself was so satisfying. There are no ways to describe the relief(?) you feel when it is done. Knowing you was so far from figuring it out but also having the answers right in front of you.

Every aspect of this book was perfect.

I always enjoy John Marrs' books and so to be given the chance to review one I was over the moon! This one was amazing, Childless couples given the chance to raise their virtual children in the meta verse as a competition, then given the chance to keep them or be given a life changing amount of money to start their own family. Like every other John marry book, I could not put this down. Amazing from start to finish and I ll be thinking of this one for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this ARC. I have really enjoyed a lot of this author’s work so this book was a highly anticipated release. I was STOKED to receive an eARC copy!

When I say I couldn’t put this down I mean I literally couldn’t put it down. My eyes were glued to my kindle because I needed to know what would happen next. It reminded me of my experience reading The One for the first time which is one of my all time favourite thrillers. I love the dystopian twists featured in each thriller set in this world that John Marrs has created. Although it genuinely scares me at times because AI is becoming so prevalent in our society. You wonder how much of the book is how our future may actually look.

The characters were so interesting and while not all of them were particularly likeable they were unlikeable for interesting reasons. Their flaws were human and realistic. I was really rooting for some character’s success while rooting for other’s downfalls. That’s what I want when reading a thriller. I also want to be surprised by the twists and I certainly was. There were so many good ones that I did not see coming! The ending also felt satisfying. One thing I will say is it was very, VERY dark at times and there are some very dark subjects discussed so please check trigger warnings.

I definitely recommend this to thriller lovers, especially if you’re looking for something a little different and a creative spin on the reality TV trope that’s quite popular in books right now. I had a great time reading this! It was released on 9th May this year so bump it up on your TBRs!

John Marrs delivers another riveting speculative thriller with The Family Experiment. Set in a near-future world, this novel centers around Awakening Entertainment’s groundbreaking interactive show, where eleven childless British contestants compete to raise virtual children in the Metaverse over nine months.

The twist? The contestants’ virtual offspring will mature based on their parenting, and the winners can choose to either keep their virtual child or receive £250,000 to start a real family. As the contestants navigate the challenges of virtual parenting, their diverse backgrounds and personal stories enrich the narrative. Hudson, in particular, stands out as a compelling character.

Thought-provoking and occasionally chilling, The Family Experiment is an engrossing page-turner that keeps you hooked until the end.

3.5/5.

First off, I love John Marrs’ books, every single one of them. The Family Experiment doesn’t disappoint, it is a dark, disturbing vision of the future told from multiple pov.
I found it fascinating, very interesting and disturbing to read, very unsettling in places - I loved it!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy, apologies for my late review.

Amazing read
This whole concept and how it played out had me so hooked! Virtual children and a reality tv show - shockingly I can see how this could become reality. How John Marrs comes out with his ideas for hos speculative thrillers I don't know but am so happy he does. This is a rollercoaster ride and kept me reading many late night till the end. Well recommended and would be a great tv series too.

The latest addition to John Marrs' clever, speculative sci-fi world does not disappoint - it's right up there with the best of them. This author never fails to impress, with pacey writing and short chapters and stories which explore the dangers of technology but also an astute exploration of human relationships. And, as always, there's plenty to unpack with this one, from themes of family and fertility, to fame and social media, to AI.

As the population and economic crises soar, less people are starting families in a traditional sense. But, there's a new alternative on the scene - virtual children. Parents are able to join the 'metaverse' via a VR headset and experience raising a child of their own, from holding them as a baby to dealing with the difficult teenage years.

As if this wasn't dystopian enough, the company behind the virtual children creates a television show out of the concept. Various couples, or individuals, can enter the metaverse and raise a child, and viewers will watch live as they get to grips with parenthood, voting for their favourite. The winner gets to keep their virtual child or take a cash prize to start their own family.

The book introduces the reader to a wide range of contestants, and each chapter brings us a different point of view. It took a while to connect with the vast cast but - due to the cut-throat nature of reality TV - they're whittled down quickly and, as the controversy and drama took hold, I was hooked.

I would have liked to have heard a little more from the AI and understand how much they really felt emotions. There's been a few books in recent years which have provided more narrative from the AI's point of view. For the majority of this story, they present themselves well as humans, but we don't really get to explore the question of how deep their emotions run. There's one point when one of the young AIs learns what she is, and becomes upset that she'll never get to see the 'real world', but this is one scene and isn't really explored again in any detail.

However, we do get to see a lot of how they were developed and modelled on real people, how they can impact humans and how the humans try to control and mandate them. It is fascinating and entertaining - everything I'd expect from this author.

I really liked the idea of this book and have read and loved other John Marrs books.

I’m not sure why I’ve struggled with this one. I think it may be the number of characters and it feels slow which made it hard for me to get into. I definitely seem to be in the minority here so am sure the book will do well.

Many thanks to #NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

I don’t know what goes on inside John Marrs’ head, but no one could ever accuse him of lacking imagination. Wild, but scarily real and frighteningly plausible, his ideas combine to produce speculative fiction that’s among the finest of the genre.

The Family Experiment is Marrs’ third book set in an AI-driven world and follows on from The One and The Marriage Act. This latest, a spectacular piece of writing that combines a revenge trope with a near-future setting, can be read as a standalone, but for the full world-building experience, I highly recommend reading these other two first.

Here, AI has sufficiently advanced to be able to create virtual children for people who either can’t, or can’t afford to, raise children in the real world. Parents can engage with their custom-designed “offspring” in a metaverse using a VR headset.

To launch the initiative, its creators have set up a reality TV show, featuring 9 couples and a single father, who will compete for the prize of either keeping their “MetaChild” or taking a cash sum.

What follows is one thrilling ride, Marrs deploying a clever pincer movement to trap us in the unfolding storyline. On the one flank, we’re drawn into this imagined future, as the contestants are filmed adjusting to new parenthood in the metaverse, with all the AI tools available to them. On the other, in the real world, we get glimpses into the contestants’ pasts, their relationships, and the dark secrets they’ve kept hidden from their partners.

It’s an absorbing, exhilerating read. A page-turner par excellence. I was well and truly hooked but at the same time convinced that the end game was not about last family standing.

And I was right! In typical form, Marrs had a doozie of a sucker punch up his sleeve. And when it hit, it hit hard, seamlessly dovetailing with the mysterious events of twelve years ago referred to earlier in the book to deliver a sensational ending.

Add this to your TBR NOW!

John Marrs has a unique way of writing some of the most engaging, mind messing books. This book is full of twist in the futuristic world, were childless couples go on a gameshow to become parents of meta children. This is a face paced read for a mastermind storyteller

Wow, another brilliant read from John Marrs. Set in a futuristic world, 10 contestants compete in the ultimate game show - 'The Family Experiment'. The world population is ever growing, towns and cities becoming more overcrowded and the growing cost of people being able to afford to have a child and raise them, becoming a parent in this new world seems impossible - but there maybe a solution. In the Metaverse, virtual children exist. However, before this is launched, these 5 couples go head to head to try and win the ultimate prize. Although on the way to the final of the gameshow, in typical John Marrs style, there are huge twists, brilliant revelations and fantastic characters that totally pull you in. The pace of the book was fast, with huge twists from the start and they continued until the last page of the book. would recommend to anyone who enjoys speculative fiction. totally un-put-downable!

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Another cleverly plotted, chilling speculative thriller from John Marrs.

Told from several timelines, the reader is gradually fed pieces of the story to try to put together.

I found there were a lot of characters and names to get to grips with (10 couples and their meta children to start with), although they were all realistically portrayed, whether they were AI or human.

The idea of having a meta child makes for really interesting reading. That, along with references to events from John’s other speculative books, make for quite an uncomfortable view on human nature and where life could possibly go in the future. It paints a scarily realistic view!

However, as with all of John Marrs books, don’t think you have it worked out, the twisting plot and unexpected revelations throughout mean nothing is as simple as it appears. Reality TV and human beings really suck!

I think what makes this such a successful read is, that it runs so closely to reality which is hugely unnerving.