Wow John marrs does it again!

Devoured this so quickly as I just needed to know what happened next!!

WoW ............. What did I read?

The Family Experiment by John Marrs was one of the best books I have read and it's not a book I would usually read. But I just love the way this author writes.
This latest book is crazy, dark, and so scary! Is our future becoming like this? Runnn!!!

Reality TV, and now AI which scares the life out of me!!! is becoming very popular and a way of life especially for younger generation.

The world's population is soaring quickly and creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. In the UK, they are at breaking point has arrived. With a growing number of people can no longer afford to start families, let alone raise them.

However, for those who are desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. Just for a small monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the met-averse and a VR headset.

WoW......Scary thought There must be a catch!!!

But, to launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality TV show called The Substitute, This will follow ten couples as they raise a AI Child from birth to the age of eighteen but in a condensed nine-month time period. Everywhere you turn there will be eyes on you - everyone Is watching you and commenting on you 24/7! There's No room for errors or slip ups!!!

The Grand Prize:

Is the right to keep their virtual child, or swap it for the money to bring up a biological child of their own......

What would you do?

Would you do this? and What would you do to have a baby?

But there has to be more to this?

Each of the contestants is hiding a dark secret and, they can not slip up! the whole world is watching them, there's nowhere to hide!

WoW, this book is so good once I started to read it I found it hard to put down........I wonder what this world will be like in 50 years time? or even sooner..............AI IS HERE! and its not going anywhere!......Its just going to Grow and get bigger! Scary Stuff.

Big Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for my ARC.

This was a very interesting read. I love this authors style of writing for sure. I feel like his work is so unique and makes you really think what if.

The family experiment is based on the idea that you can raise a child in the Metaverse and is a new TV show with contestants wanting a chance to have a family but are unable to do so for reasons such as the cost of living being so high. There is viewer interaction and after 9 months they will select a winner who can either keep their VR child or get winnings to enable them to have a child in the real world. I like the idea of there being a thin line between virtual reality and real life. I didn't particularly like many of the characters in the book and it all seemed quite bleak without any real happy endings. There is a big sci fi element that I think just wasn't really for me unfortunately although saying that it was an interesting and different concept to read.

3.5 stars.

No one writes twists like John Marrs! This was another very good speculative fiction books but I was a little confused in places lol.

She wasn't a likeable character but I would love more of Issy's story and background.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Another utterly fabulous spec-fic from John Marrs - this is oh so clever!

SYNOPSIS:

In a future with overpopulation and economic strain, having a real child is a luxury. A company offers a solution: virtual children raised in the metaverse over a condensed nine months. Ten couples compete on a reality show to raise a virtual child to adulthood. The prize? Keeping the virtual child or a chance to have a real one. This dark story explores the ethics of parenthood, technology, and the lengths people will go to have a family.

MY THOUGHTS:

- This book, like The Marriage Act before it, reads like an episode of Black Mirror - chillingly dark.

- Not only is it an awesome premise it's intelligently executed, and the plot is so cleverly devised and written.

- The story follows each of the contestants through the utterly bonkers reality TV show and the plot twists just keep on coming.

- Each chapter is the POV (point of view) of the different characters and although there were a lot I did not get lost - which is easy for me!

- Marr's character development is so captivating, you sit gripped watching each of their lives in the Metaverse and reality unfold.

- This book is mind-blowing as whilst reading about the absurdity of the reality TV show and AI you are all too aware that this isn't that unrealistic!

- Marr's manages to terrify me with what COULD happen in the not-too-distant future in yet another utterly gripping, immersive page-turner.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

The Family Experiment by John Marrs is an absolute gem of a book. It's such a great example of speculative thriller. Intense, intelligent, thought-provoking, it will make you question how you view AI and its impact on people and their lives.
The writing, the story telling are absolutely brilliant. The concept of Metaverse is so unique. The story itself have so many twists that will have you completely hooked and reading till you finished.
I love how the story is told, with its multiple points of view, switching between different characters, their individual stories and voices strong and well developed.
The Family Experiment is absolutely exceptional. One of those books that I know will stay with me for a very long time. Highly recommended.

I love love love John Marrs. His books are always amazing. I am so grateful to have read this book early.

The way it was written about AI was very good and made me think about the future.
The storyline was gripping and I was shocked by the ending. Felt a lot of emotions while reading the book, Sad, happines and fearful.

Read if you like;
-Dystopian Thriller
-Reality TV
-Artificial intelligence
-Tamagotchi babies

I’ve not read a John Marrs book before…. I know right, in shocked too. I’ve not read many dystopian books, from the ones that I have read I would say this is by far the best!

You can read this as a stand-alone but some of his others book are referenced in the book. This didn’t hinder my reading experience but I will definitely go back and read them.

The UK is experiencing a cost of living crisis and the way John portrayed this in the book couldn’t be more relatable to struggles that families are facing every day.

I raced through the short chapters, each one ending on a twist or a shocker! Told in multiple POVs from each contestant on the show. You get a real insight into their lives and why they ended the experiment and the secrets they may have!

The chapters are broken up with snippets from online forums, social medial of people discussing and news articles. I loved this aspect of the books, as it really kept you drawn in and made it realistic reading publics views.

Hands down if this was adapted into a tv series or film I would watch!

Truly a fascinating read, leaving you with many moral questions. Makes you think of the possibility of AI and what it would be like in the future!

Happy Publication Day !!! 🥰😍🥰

The world is overpopulated and families can no longer afford to have children and for some even keep the children they already have but a new reality TV show which inside the metaverse families can have a virtual child and if they win the competition then they get tho choose if they want to keep the child or delete the child from the metaverse in exchange for a cash prize to afford a real world baby.

Oh my this was AMAZING 🤩 John Marrs has done it again. This was an amazing rollercoaster of twists and turns and as each POV unfolds my jaw was on the floor with some of the twists. I literally could not put this book down. Highly recommended. GO AND BUY THIS RIGHT NOW !! (Do check the list of speculative thrillers as I do think reading them in order is a good idea as there are some mentions from other books PLUS THEY ARE ALL AMAZING ! )

Thank you to Netgalley, Pan MacMillan and John Marrs for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a super gripping and twisty thriller set in a futuristic metaverse , which is also set in the same world as the one and the marriage act (but you don’t need to have read them all to read this one! It follows contestants invited to participate in a competition to raise their own virtual reality baby think “the ultimate tamagotchi baby” It follows the contestants throughout the whole growing up stages of the kid & they have to do challenges that the audience give them & ultimately the winner also gets chosen by the audience and they are given an ultimatum on whether they want to keep their virtual baby they have raised and got to love and care for or👀 be given 1
Million pounds & the means to get a real life baby but having to get rid of the virtual baby they have bonded with😱 its a super gripping story and you get fully emersed in the book & you feel like you are participating in the show too! I had so much fun reading, John Marrs never misses!

WOW!

If I had a hat, I think it would have been blown clean off.

Well John Marrs has only gone and done it again hasn't he. What a fantastic unputdownable book.

Having read the majority of John Marrs previous books (liking some much more than others) I had a sense of the author and how he rolls.

This book is set in the same world as some of his other books (although nothing will be spoiled if you read this one first, you'll get a greater understanding of the world the characters are living in - at the very least read though maybe read The Passengers).

The book starts explosive and carries on throughout, there is never a chance to get bored. However Marrs still manages to find space to make the characters believable with a solid back story.

There are a few characters to get to know, which at first seems difficult, but you quickly become accustomed to them and their story.

This story stay with you for years to come.....

Thank you so much to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for an ARC. This review is entirely my own.

Suspenseful dystopic immersive TV plot.

I've enjoyed Marrs before, with the same frenetic pace and quick-paced move between characters/storylines, almost like a Running Man TV show for people with no attention span.

He here employs the same technique. This time I spent half the book trying to remember who everyone was, what their backstory was, and getting a little annoyed that every chapter ended on a cliffhanger.

It all made sense eventually. The plot is horrific really - a number of potential parents in the world Marrs has used before have put themselves forward to 'star' in an 24-hour-a-day Ed-TV-esque show, where each will be given a 'baby' to raise to 18 over the course of 9 months, not a real one - they are digital, and they will interact with them in a digitally created world. And the real world will be watching, and voting. On a planet where having babies is not easy or cheap, the winner of The Family Experiment might be able to afford a real child, even if it means switching their digital surrogate off.

And so we meet several couples (and one 'single dad'), each smiling for the cameras but each, we soon learn, with hidden motivations and histories they'd rather keep hidden.

On the fast track through childhoods, we watch the audience favouring one then another family, we see more of the terribly close yet 'not our' world, and try to determine what is going to happen in the finale of the Family Experiment...

This reminded me of so many TV shows and books, but Marrs definitely has his own world here, I do like that he uses the same setting for multiple books, and even references them for fans.

Lots to uncover here, a fast-moving and fully-realised world that you really, really hope doesn't come to pass.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

John Marrs delivers speculative fiction at its finest with 'The Family Experiment' - a dark, original, and brilliantly crafted narrative that had me hooked from the very first page. Marrs seamlessly intertwines elements of reality TV, AI, and a chillingly plausible future, creating a story that is both thought-provoking and utterly captivating. In this intriguing tale, 11 contestants are thrust into a reality TV show where they must nurture an AI child with the chance to either keep it or exchange it for the means to raise a biological child. However, each contestant harbors a dark secret, and with the world watching, there's nowhere to hide. What sets this book apart is Marrs' skillful incorporation of present-day issues, cleverly twisting them to fit within a speculative future. The result is a world that feels disturbingly plausible, leaving readers both exhilarated and unnerved. I found myself eagerly turning the pages, eager to explore more of the intricacies of this compelling world. 'The Family Experiment' is a gripping read that leaves a lasting impact. Marrs has crafted a masterful story that lingers long after the final page.

Thanks to NetGalley I have yet again read a 5 star read by John Marrs. Once you start one of his books it's really hard to put it down, you just have to keep going. Highly recommend this book

John Marrs is one of my auto readers, I love his writing style and The Family Experiment was no exception, I really enjoyed this book, I thought the premise was extremely fascinating and it really had me questioning my reality as it felt so realistic. Although I did enjoy the multiple POV’s I did find some of the characters unlikeable which lead me to skim reading their chapters. I thought the ending was fantastic!

3.5 STARS ⭐️
———————
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for the opportunity to review this book.

Thank you for early read NetGalley!
I was completely captivated by this book if you are a fan of The One by John then you will love this!!

Eleven contestants enter a reality tv show to nurture an AI child with the option of swapping it for the money to have a biological child if there own, each and every contestant is hiding a dark secret and with this being world wide none of them are safe from there demons. Loved the world building the characters it was just truely brilliant! I think this could be nabbed for an adaptation on tv it was that bloody good!

“the ultimate tamagotchi”

Marrs has only gone and done it again…

Set in the near future where the cost of living has made children unviable for many, ‘MetaBabies’ can be raised in the virtual world (for a monthly fee!). To launch the controversial venture, six couples are taking part in a new reality tv show, raising babies to adults in 9 months. The winner will get the chance to keep their meta child or receive enough money to raise one in the real world.

Incredible twists, mixed media storytelling, multiple POVs and just speculative enough that you can easily imagine it happening soon! I loved the discourse about the rights of beings in the ‘metaverse’ - is it murder if you kill a virtual person?

It’s set in the same world as all of Marr’s speculative thrillers. I would recommend reading ‘The One’ first - there are some minor spoilers if you’re looking out for them!

When there was a scene with a suitcase in the attic I nearly lost my mind after reading Keep It In The Family last month! 🫨

I might just give up reading anything else and focus on reading John’s backlist for the rest of the year 🤣 10/10

thank you Pan Macmillian / NetGalley for gifting me an ARC
#TheFamilyExperiment

OH MY GIDDY AUNT.
Just when I thought Mr Marrs couldn't get any better,
John writes another humdinger of a novel!

What if you could 'try before you conceive'?
That's the whole concept of the family experiment. Only it comes with a monetary prize if you win.
Eleven "parents " enter a brand new reality television show to parent and nurture a AI baby of their choosing.
Once the show and experience begins you will soon realise that not everyone is as they seem.
Lies, betrayal, deceit and dark secret's, await the reader.

Mr Marrs has an uncanny way of predicting the future in his books, which is slightly unnerving and brilliant at the same time.
Brilliantly written characters, some you will love, some you will take a disliking to but they is one thing you will never predict and that's the mind blowing ending!

An absolutely absorbing novel which kept my interest throughout.

The premise of being able to have a virtual child in a metaverse as cost of living is so high is something beyond my comprehensive and then to enter a competition to try and win such a child or the money to pay for IVF makes a story which is full of surprises and revelations.

John Marrs manages to portray characters who are well rounded, not always likable, but believable and relatable. His descriptive abilities brings the story to life and draws you in. I really recommend this novel.

Thank you to John Marrs and Netgalley for my ARC copy of this novel