I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

THE COMPANIONS proved to be an interesting book to read during a pandemic.
The residents of California are under quarantine due to a extremely contagious virus.
Set in the unknown future it is possible for people to download their consciousness before they die. The rich stay with family members in various forms including a life like body. Other consciousness are acquired by the Metis company who in turn rents out these entities as Companions
The story begins with Lilac who is a companion to Dahlia a young teenager. Lilac’s consciousness is that of a young teenager who was the victim of a murder. Companions are command based driven but despite this programming Lilac feels a need to seek out the teen girl who was responsible for her death. Unheard of, Lilac manages to escape from the high rise apartments she was staying in with Dahlia and her mother.
The story is told by different characters which eventually leads the reader back to Lilac.
I liked the story. The characters were interesting including the Companions.
Some of the observations in the book about behaviours during a quarantine feel familiar now but probably would have felt much more fantastic a year or two ago. As with most story with a futuristic theme they usually prove to be thought provoking.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced ebook edition of THE COMPANIONS.

A novel whose premise is eerily appropriate for the present world situation; a mysterious virus that forces people into quarantine. I thought I would love it, but in a book where it seemed the virus would take centre stage, it was barely present in the story line. The characters lacked depth and their continual (and at times random) body switches proved confusing and lended to my inability to bond or show any interest in their outcome.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada and Gallery/Scout Press for providing a digital copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.

I always find these books the hardest to review, The Companions sounded so promising contagious virus, morally questionable company, and cybernetics what more could you ask for. Apparently, a lot more. The Companions was more literary then suspenseful than the synopsis suggested. The virus plays real no part in the plot. And the whole book spans over decades. There are multiple characters and body changes which for some can be confusing and takes a way your enjoyment of the story. I also would have liked Lilac (one of our many main character’s) to get her revenge on her murderer sooner as they themselves could be mistaken for death, where is the justice in that.
Overall, The Companions was a bit of a let down. Too many characters, slow paced and plot devices that needed to be explained more I think would have changed the story entirely.

“The Companions” started off strong, I loved the premise of this novel – where the dead can transfer their consciousness to a server then be uploaded to different models of ‘robots’ depending on how much money the person had. The robots are called companions; they were designed to keep the survivors of a deadly contagious virus entertained during quarantine. After the first few chapters, the plot was non-existent; I had no idea where Flynn was taking her readers, or what the motives of the characters were.

The narration in the novel was jumpy – it jumped from one character to the next every chapter with little to no continuity between each character. There were too many gaps in knowledge during this novel; nothing was explained very well to the reader. It felt like there were many short stories involving the world Flynn created rather than a cohesive novel following characters during their adventure.

I lost interest in the characters quickly, they were all underdeveloped and one dimensional. Flynn did not devote enough time to properly develop these characters. There were too many characters involved in this novel that I could barely keep track of them.

I am not a fan of this novel; I think there are too many problems within this novel for me to properly enjoy it. I felt as if I was missing something throughout the novel, like something was just out of my own consciousness and grasp to fully enjoy this novel.

The Companions unfortunately continues my NetGalley slump. Despite being provided this lovely free review eARC, I could not bring myself to finishing Katie M. Flynn’s story of a robot with the brain of a dead girl on a journey to self-actualization. I think I got about 15% of the way through before I realized … I don’t care.

There is no centre to this book. Lilac is ostensibly the main character, but for the 15% I read, I never felt connected to her. If we’re supposed to feel sorry for the companions and how they’ve been treated, fine, sure, ok I guess. I can do that. But feel invested in Lilac’s particular journey? Not really. The cover copy of this book makes it sound like some intense dystopian fiction where Lilac knows she’s a real girl but everyone else thinks she’s just a mindless drone running on some repurposed wetware. In reality, this story is just very dull.

The other characters are … ugh. The mother at the beginning is just a broad-strokes stereotype with very little going for her. Even Dahlia doesn’t seem to exist as much more than a foil for Lilac.

Could not get into it. Really don’t want to put myself through, if some other reviews are accurate, what is actually a very twisty-turny plot. So, to the DNF shelf you go!

The idea of recycling people into robot companions in a not so distant future is both unbelievable and natural at the same time. What a strange mix of dystopian sci-fi that I thought could really get behind.

With an intriguing premise, this had my full attention at the start, but the further I read, the more it lost me. In theory it was a striking structured story, flipping between time periods and changing between different character's perspectives in each chapter. But there were a lot – like, a TON – of different characters and timelines and storylines and ultimately it felt like things jumped around way too much and characters only slightly overlapped so you never spent much time in one place or with one character, at least not enough time to really start to know them or feel for them. Because of that the characters seemed kind of bland. I just didn't feel that extra something that would have brought more life into this. Frankly, i just didn't care.

I also have to say, I'm not opposed to a little sexual exploration a book, but this was weirdly overflowing with sexual content. A natural act that would befit any story or world, but there was just a lot of talk about male anatomy and people coupling in forests - or anywhere, really - to the point where I felt I had to comment. I'm not saying it was bad or out of place, it was just... unexpected, I guess?

Despite being a relatively short read, this took forever to get through and felt like one really long, drawn out story that glitched and skipped over the parts that wove everything together, making the pieces that were left feel jagged and fragmented. It was a fight to get through the last half and to be honest, I didn't fight very hard.

Loved the idea of the book and the setting. However, it got a little confusing at first to keep up with all the different characters and the smaller stories. It came together at the end, but I took a few breaks (put the book down) and then picked it up later to finish it because of the confusion. Overall, interesting idea of companions. I wouldn't be surprised if this is something us as a human race end up doing.

This is another book where I’m gonna preface this review by saying it’s not for everyone. But that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved searching through the different narratives for the strings that connected them all together, and I loved the unintended consequences from Lilac searching for answers.

The changing voice between the narratives was brilliant, and I thought the motivations and priorities of the characters were done expertly. There wasn’t a single character that I didn’t know what they wanted and how they intended to get it. I loved how the world-building was so set in the background, and instead the emotions and needs of the characters were brought forward. It really made for an immersive read, and booooy oh boy was I invested in those characters.

Overall, I thought this book did a brilliant job of weaving together seemingly unrelated points of view to tell a compelling and thought-provoking story. The premise, combined with the very human story at the core worked perfectly to create a book that had me sitting there after reading (in one go I might add!) and just thinking about it and going holy shit.

Anyway, I’d recommend this to anyone who likes realistic, near-future sci fi, but tends towards weird and character-driven narratives.

(This review will go live at the included link on February 18, 2020)

This was a really cool concept! Very Black Mirror. I liked that you got to see Lilac through other people's POV, though it did become confusing at times, I was eager to find out how x person would affect Lilac on her journey.
I was disappointed with the ending, it seemed anticlimactic compared to the adventures that happened in the rest of the book.
Still a good read!

Lilac was a teenage girl, until she was murdered and her consciousness was uploaded into the body of a Companion. In the quarantined apartment blocks of California, Companions keep isolated individuals entertained with stories of their lives and, well, <i>companionship</i>. But when Lilac realises that she can disobey her programming and escape, she sets off to find the woman who killed her - and ends up finding much more.

The first chapter of <i>The Companions</i> has a slightly awkward style, and I found myself wondering if certain elements were intentional. The narrator at this point, Lilac, is a sixteen-year-old girl whose memories have been used to give personality to an inhuman-looking machine, the cheapest kind of Companion the Metis corporation has to offer. I noticed a lack of contractions, and as my spouse and I have been watching through the <i>Star Trek</i> movies it made me think about how Data, the android, isn't supposed to use contractions. Certain elements of the novel as I continued seemed to support this interpretation - I realised some 15% from the end that without my noticing I felt like the style had improved immensely, by which I mean I found it more accessible. As the narrators change, as the characters change, the feel of the writing changes. On the one hand, this shows skill; on the other, with eight narrators, there's a good chance that the reader won't like some of them. I wasn't particularly thrilled with two of them.

I'm ambivalent about the shifting perspectives provided by the eight narrators. As I didn't like two of them, it gave the novel an uneven feel - I could be really enjoying it, and then have to slog through a chapter narrated by a character I didn't find interesting. But the multiple narrators give a much wider view of the world in which these Companions exist, their different purposes and the different ways in which people treat them. Certain themes of the novel - the role of Metis, the shady company behind the companions - are revealed through characters that have limited interaction with the other narrators; others require the multiple perspectives of different Companions, different humans. Furthermore, returning to a character after some time with another gives us more of a perspective on how they have changed over time. Essentially: the multi-character perspective is thematically central to the novel, and thus my disinterest of two narrators detracted less from my experience of the novel than the multiple perspectives added to it.

<i>The Companions</i> is a thematically rich novel, with characters I mostly found interesting and a story I found compelling. Certainly a novel I expect to enjoy mulling over for some time.

I was very intrigued by the concept - the human consciousness is uploaded into machines, after death, to turn them into companions. The story is engaging but loses its way with too many characters. It’s an interesting, innovative concept, with the story starting off with a companion setting out on a journey to seek answers surrounding her death but it soon unravels as it criss-crosses with different humans and companions.