this was an ambitious, timely, unique little book with a lot of very interesting discussion around the concepts of humanity and how technology shapes our world. the first half was quite good with a unique premise and profound passages. the world and characters weren't completely fleshed out but there was fantastic contrast between creation and destruction/death, control and uncertainty, playing god and feeling helpless. and there's a really nice crossover between frankenstein and blade runner (edmond in the rain screamed "tears in the rain" at me and it was beautiful). at about the 50-60% mark it lost me and itself; there was not enough clarity and direction. i understand its supposed to be a confusing portrayal of "what is reality" but it was quite disjointed and i couldn't determine what i was supposed to care about during the shift. i felt overall there was a big focus on disorienting the reader (to parallel the characters experiences) which is fine but edmond was SO interesting, i would've happily read about the impact of his existence over the power-hungry warwick. i saw what the ending was trying to do but it was unfortunately unsatisfying instead of encouraging. overall, lots of promise (especially for a debut!!!) and again some very very profound sections, but it would've worked better for me if there was a more streamlined central plot.

the struggles of religion and coming of age in the deep south is always a recipe for immediate enjoyment for me. which is funny as i am neither from the south or religious. something about it... i can't quite put it into words. staying true to this, i immediately loved the central themes in this book. it's mysterious and pretty quickly makes you sympathetic to the girls; nora especially, abigail was a bit more flat. i enjoyed the confessional style writing (perhaps would've enjoyed it even more if abigail was portrayed as being a bit more tortured by the events) but i had trouble with the whiplash timeline flipping. it was cohesive enough that i could follow the threads to understand how the past played into the future but it wasn't as smooth as i was hoping. the salem witch treatment at the end felt a bit sudden and a touch out of place but emotionally i thought it was quite fitting. being a novella, it's tough to get in depth with the characters and plot but it was enough to build the ambience and get the message across. definitely a lot of promise.