Thank you netgalley for providing this arc in exchange for an honest reviews

Dnf/ did not finish.

I really didn’t like this writing style. Especially on the first page, the descriptions were crazy. I didn’t need that much, it felt very forced. It needed to be toned down. Otherwise, it just didn’t intrigue me. I didn’t love the way the characters were written, and the plot was a little meh.

I really loved the concept for this book. In a world where climate change is destroying the planet, what will people do to survive? I enjoyed the characters and getting to know each of them and their different points of view. And I liked all of the intertwining relationships between them. Overall a really interesting and thought provoking read!
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this!

In 2050, climate change is wreaking such havoc that the ultra-wealthy have retreated to space shuttles circling the Earth, a chosen portion of the population will take refuge in closed domes called “Inside(s)”, and the rest of the population is left to the ravages of hurricanes, tornadoes, and extreme heat. In this world, wealthy feminist billionaire Jacqueline Millender has secretly commandeered one of the “Inside” domes, turning it into an all-female world where she hopes to root out the ills of patriarchy by excluding men, surveilling and drugging the population to ensure maximum social harmony, and generally engaging in a covertly controlling social experiment. YOURS FOR THE TAKING follows Shelby, the transwoman chosen to be Jacqueline’s personal assistant; Ava, a young white woman grieving a breakup with a lover who was not chosen for the “Inside”; and Olympia, an ambitious and hardworking African American doctor who hopes to mitigate the worst aspects of Jacqueline’s experiment by becoming the medical director of the Inside.

Over approximately thirty years, Shelby, Ava, and Olympia deal with the loss of their earthside lives, grapple with loneliness and desire for genuine human connection in their socially engineered worlds, and become increasingly disturbed by their growing awareness of Jacqueline’s true beliefs and intentions. The novel is essentially a philosophical meditation, in fictional form, on the ethics and social implications of an idealistic attempt to deal with the ravages of climate change.

This grappling with politics is the both the novel’s strength and its weakness. On the one hand, the engagement with climate change and the utopian philosophy of Jacqueline’s Inside are interesting, the details about the Inside kept me reading, and the matter-of-fact centering of lesbian love works. On the other hand, rather than grappling with politics in a truly original, deeply considered way, the novel essential grafts contemporary Millenial/Gen Z progressive politics (race, gender identity, intersectionality, and critiques of capitalism) onto the world of 2050-2085 with thin fictional excuses for why the political landscape has barely changed.

It’s true that one of the projects of fiction is to grapple with the political and ethical challenges of our time (even in fantastic or futuristic settings). However, it is disappointing (and increasingly irritating) to see the political tenets of progressivism presented as “the truth” that the characters come to realize–rather than seeing political ideas interrogated and explored in complex, human contexts. Complexity was, perhaps, the author’s goal, but ultimately the lack of perspective beyond contemporary progressive truisms renders the novel little more than a fictionalized version of a political tract.

Cli fi enthusiasts who want to see a fictional rendering of contemporary progressive identity issues may appreciate this novel; readers who desire a complex, imaginative investigation of inequality and social issues (which I found in Allegra Hyde’s Eleutheria, Michelle Min Sterling’s Camp Zero, and NK Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy) will be disappointed.

What a gripping premise and thought-provoking execution. We follow multiple women connected in some way to the Inside Project, a protective city type deal created to protect the population from the inhospitable world being destroyed by climate change. But what happens when the creator of this project decides only women are allowed in?

This dives deep into themes of gender, queerness, identity, bodily autonomy, consent, motherhood, radical feminism, and power. There is never a moment where it isn’t challenging you to think about these themes and decide for yourself that what is happening is wrong.

I did struggle to connect in maybe the first 1/5, but once our characters went “Inside” I was hooked. Great debut!

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

"Yours for the Taking" is a feminist speculative fiction novel set in the near future, starting in 2050 with an impeding climate crisis looming ahead. In an attempt to save humanity, The Inside Project is underway to house those accepted into weather-safe, domed city structures in various parts around the world. While many books out there address this issue (especially recently), in "Yours for the Taking," Korn approaches the typical failsafe solution with a critical and timely question: What role is considered for the LGBTQIA people in a survivalist approach to humankind?

Korn's queer representation is fantastic, and the core of the story is a direct hit to the "save the humans" approach we've seen in the past. If the sole mission of survival is simply to take a select group, continue with the status quo, and focus on repopulating the earth, how does that set up the future to be anything different? But Korn's attack method goes beyond a simple and antiquated idea of feminist ideals.

The Inside in New York is funded and headed by a women's rights advocate, Jacqueline Millender. Her billionaire status comes from both family money and because of her own pursuits in a too-late-to-the-game solution called Refillables, a direct answer to address the damage inflicted on the planet with our overflowing landfills and plastic-laden oceans. Additionally, she penned a self-help book about female empowerment, elevating her to icon status. Under her leadership, Millender lays out a plan where the future is just female.

As of 2023, we find ourselves in what appears to be the fourth wave of feminism. The struggle seems endless, and Millender's creation of a city exclusively for women mirrors this ongoing battle. This concept, which might seem inevitable to some, especially considering the misunderstandings by angry men during the second wave, actually stems from outdated notions of feminism, equality, and inclusivity. Millender's influence is pervasive throughout the city, yet doubts arise among key figures: her assistant, the lead medical adviser, and a resident named Shelby, Olympia, and Ava, respectively. Their growing concerns and suspicions follow a story that subverts the typical expectations of a communal, survivalist narrative, turning it completely on its head.

Korn has tackled cisgender corporate feminism fully head on, and the concepts seen in "Yours for the Taking" are what we've all been waiting on, but this was held back and overshadowed by an issue I had with the book and its voice, pacing, and character development.

"Yours for the Taking" lands in the realm of adult fiction, but it's mired in a disappointing simplicity. The huge conflicts that bubble up are swiftly smoothed over with solutions too simple to be satisfying. The characters, who should realistically evolve over three decades, seem frozen in time, their growth stunted and their dialogue clipped by stilted language. And to add another layer of frustration, the writing almost exclusively resides in the realm of telling, not showing. Also, the narrative is shadowed by a peculiar point of view, flitting in and out, seemingly torn between a future perspective and an omniscient narrator's indecision about where to plant its feet in the timeline.

Also, if we take a step back from the story for a moment, Korn's take on addressing the larger issue seems to be a humans-only approach. Though it certainly would've overwhelmed the novel, it was disappointing to have this much focus on the coming-soon effects of climate change and not address the flora or fauna.

Korn's "Yours for the Taking" grapples with contemporary themes, boldly questioning the role of LGBTQIA individuals in humanity's survival and challenging the norms of cisgender corporate feminism. Despite this, the book falls short of its potential for a deep and excavative exploration of humanity, lacking the nuance I really expected from such a rich premise. While the pacing is on point, the predominance of a 'tell, not show' approach detracts from the depth and complexity that could have been a much stronger and more impactful narrative. The characters, stagnant across time, and a narrative voice wavering between different perspectives, add layers of frustration. Nonetheless, Korn's novel is a step in the right direction, stirring necessary conversations and reflection.

Yours for the Taking by Gabrielle Korn is an excellent concept that falls short on execution for me. I am loving climate future fiction and I love the imagining of the future world here. The book explores the future by considering class (billionaires!), power, and agency. I loved it conceptually and story wise I really enjoyed some of the ideas and solutions. Where the book fell short for me was in the characters, writing, and believability. I wish we had gone so much deeper in the development of the characters, world, and science because it fell so short on emotion and connection for me. It read as a YA book.

Overall, I raced through this and really did enjoy it overall but also experienced specific gaps. It was refreshing and exciting to explore the future through the eyes of women.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC - Yours for the Taking is out 12/5/23!

Fans of climate change-related dystopia, rejoice! Gabrielle Korn has figured out how we can survive. You just need to be smart, fertile, and a woman.
I enjoyed this take on cli-fi from an all-female perspective. Yes, some of the science is a little "unsound", but it IS fiction. Korn has built a solid world with interesting characters and even more interesting ethical dilemmas. There's a lot going on in these 336 pages. and while I would have loved more detail into some aspects, the editing kept everything moving along so there are no parts that drag.
I was also impressed with the ending. Does this mean there could be a continuation? If not, I still think it worked quite well.
#NetGalley

“Yours for the Taking” doesn’t quite fit comfortably into either sci-fi or realistic fiction, but somewhere in between. Yes, it takes place in a dystopian future, but one that’s so close in both time and realism that it doesn’t quite feel right to call it futuristic or dystopian. It’s already happening.
The story follows two different generations of women preparing for the end of the world. Jacqueline Millender, an unbelievably wealthy millennial girl boss, is one of the people in charge of creating city-sized structures to protect people from climate disasters called Inside. When she takes over the New York City Inside, she decides to set up a bold experiment: only women will be allowed in. However, her brand of feminism doesn’t play so well with her younger and more aware employees. What follows is a story of love in spite of adversity, atrocities committed for the sake of supposed progress. This book is very compelling, well-paced, will well-crafted characters and an incisive look into the future of female empowerment. It’s also very bleak (not completely hopeless, but bleak). I definitely enjoyed it and found it interesting, so pick it up when it comes out on December 5th if it sounds like something you’re interested in!

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." ~ Lord Acton

This phrase came to mind so many times while reading this book! Jacqueline Millender. a future feminist, is being asked to help fund the creation of an "Inside," a contained city to help civilization survive all the horrible things they've done to the planet. In exchange, she wants to be in charge. Similar to the frog in the pot of water as it starts to warm up, her ideas and implementation can be justified at the beginning. But as time goes on, the frog's water heats up and her eventual goals become apparent. But is it too late? That is the bare bones plot of the book; however, as seen through the eyes of several different views within the world created, this is almost more of a character study. Perhaps one of characters under a stress we haven't seen before? I don't think I am getting my point across well, but I loved this story and would pick up the book to read even when I knew I could only get in a couple pages. I loved the characters and I loved the mystery of what was going on and where the book was leading. Definitely one to consider even if you aren't in to science fiction, fantasy, or even LGBTQIA+ because it is just that well written of a story!

Power is poison when it goes uncheck regardless who holds it. Since white men are given more opportunity to exercise power, it is more frequent to see one of them making headlines after abusing their power years over years. But let's not forget them women can be no different than their male counterparts. While we are vocal in demanding for more power for women, we should be equal in monitoring how that power is used.

Jacqueline Millender was no different than a white man. While promising a world where people can be equal under her command in the underground world that was created against the climate stricken world above, she was actually forming a dictatorship. Like all dictatorships before hers, this one was bound to fall because people eventually fed up, people want some sense of control over their own lives.

While I believe we will need to live underground or in space in couple of decades due to climate beating us for all the things we did to it, I hope that it will be not the be the dystopia described on these pages. If we are going to have no sunshine or once in a while cool breeze, we might as well have no dictator looming over us.

A critical take-down of corporate feminism, Yours for the Taking shows how people allow greed and power to twist ideals to serve their own ends.

There are parts of this book that make you uncomfortable, and that’s the point. Characters, because they are in a tight spot, go along with ideas or plans because they feel they have no choice or decide that this choice isn’t as bad as some of the others. The novel does a great job of showing how intelligent, well-meaning people can get swept up in something and soon realize they are in over their heads but aren’t sure or aren’t comfortable trying to fix it. In this regard, the book is able to convey its point quite clearly, and it’s no mystery what it’s trying to say.

Yet, the novel spends more time on its purpose than its story at times. Despite the Inside holding half a million people, we only see about six of them. In this regard, it feels smaller than it would be, perhaps so we don’t start thinking about the bigger picture regarding the structure and micro-civilization itself. In that regard, if you’re reading this thinking it’s like Wool (the Silo series) or that it’s a cli-fi apocalypse book with the world ending and etcetera, it’s not really that at all. We only get glimpses of the earth's collapse and the aftermath. The Inside aspect is not meant to be taken literally, I believe, because if so, then it’s missing a whole lot in terms of believability. How are these structures built to maintain things like Bluetooth, electricity, toilet paper, over the years? How and why would people work there? How do they protect against viruses? How are things transported up and down from a space station when there seem to be no people to produce and produce fuel? How are microprocessors and microchips maintained? Where do they find replacements for certain things integral to the plot of the story? Where did all the outside people go?

In this way, it’s barely a sci-fi and more just a dystopian fiction. I wouldn’t even call this post-apocalyptic, as it has almost none of the tropes. This isn’t a bad thing, though, if you were looking for something with more of a message (or aren't a nerd for bunkers like I am).

I did like the characters, though they felt a bit underdeveloped. There are a few who have POVs that didn’t contribute to the overall story - like Orchid. Ava and Olympia, while their motives are clear, both feel like different people from the start of the novel to the end, and we’re often told a lot about a person rather than shown it.

This isn’t to say I didn't enjoy the story. I was curious about the plot and found it was easy to read and quite compelling. I was also on board with the message about false pretenses and people coopting causes they don’t believe in to sell products. The novel also broaches themes of choice, reproductive justice, parenthood, power, and climate change. There’s a lot going on in this average-sized novel, and it’s definitely not boring.

Overall, if you’re interested in the themes and are curious about the premise (and want a book with a healthy dose of LGBTQ+ rep!) it’s definitely worth reading. I enjoyed it. I'll definitely be checking out more by this author!

Woof, what a ride. I am so thankful to Macmillan Audio, Gabrielle Korn, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for granting me advanced audio access to this dystopian sapphic chaos before it's projected to hit shelves on December 5, 2023. Yours for the Taking isn't too far off from what I expect to happen once we hit 2080 and beyond.

In this narrative, there's an uber-rich billionaire who created "Inside," an ultra-exclusive way of life, cut away from the harsh pandemics and striking climate crises pillaging life as people know it on Earth. Only the richest and most excelling can get in, leaving the rest to perish on a dying planet.

What's more, the only ones allowed in are women, cis, trans, and non-binary identifying women, no men at all. The billionaire in charge, Jacqueline, wants to eradicate the misgivings and foul behaviors of men, so off goes the spaceship of women and their uteruses to procreate a new life free of disease and testosterone.

While in theory, this sounds like a sweet deal, problems develop in the end that is unfixable as they evolve into a cult-like mentality where nobody can leave, and favorites are placed above others in this transactional community focused on health and wellness... yeah, it sounds like a cult to me.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. This was an absolutely OUTSTANDING novel. Truly a unique dystopian that felt highly realistic, and even more terrifying because of that. This was my first read from Ms. Korn, but this will certainly not be my last one! A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

4.5! I genuinely enjoyed this book so much. This story was unputdownable and truly captivating. I had never read a book that was like this. I have not read a good dystopian novel in so long and I feel that this one will stand for a long time. I came here immediately after reading so I am going to have to sit on my review even longer but I want everyone who can read this book to read this book. I did not know a book about climate change could be done so well! 
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC!

Title: Yours For The Taking
Publication date: dec 4 2023

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the Ebook copy of this ARC.

I am loving a good dystopian story these days so I ate this up. In this book, due to climate change and a deterioration of the quality of life on Earth, Insides have been built throughout the world. Citizens apply to live Inside and those who are chosen get a life in a city sized “Inside” which I can best describe as a manufactured earth with fresh air. Those who are not selected must do their best to survive on an earth that is becoming uninhabitable. On the Inside located in Brooklyn, a feminist billionaire is calling the shots. She has funded this project with the condition that she is in control. As those living and working on the Inside learn about the realities of the world that they are helping to create they begin to questions the ethics of Jacqueline, the billionaire in charge. But what can they do?

I really enjoyed this book, in part because I can see the terrifying reality of what happens when those with the most money make the decisions that affect everyone. This book takes place over many years and it was interesting to watch the character development and growth. And, as always it’s a terrifying reminder of the way we are going with climate change and the state of our planet. If you enjoy a sci-fi dystopian story, this book is for you.

Yours For the Taking is a captivating story told at a breakneck speed. Gabrielle Korn’s debut work of fiction spans 30 years and features the perspectives of 8 characters from 3 generations as they navigate a planet rendered uninhabitable by climate change.

As a reader new to the speculative fiction genre, I found the scope of Korn’s story and the pacing necessary to tell it in under 350 pages absolutely staggering. The pacing sacrifices slice-of-life narrative details and closer explorations of the characters’ inner worlds in favor of truly capturing the magnitude of how much can change over a short time during our very real climate crisis.

For the most part, I’m grateful this novel took the shape it did. Though I’m captivated by the characters and the world Korn created, I respect that I didn’t NEED 1,000+ pages with them to get her point… though I certainly wouldn’t have minded it.

Put another way: ten years ago, the story in this novel could have been a YA sensation told across 4 novels and (of course) 5 movies. But, ten years ago we never could have dreamed of such an urgent, nuanced exploration of climate justice, told through a queer, feminist, and anti-capitalist lens — and that’s a pretty nice trade-off. 4*.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing this e-arc.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for my gifted copy.

A book about climate change, it sounds so interesting, but yet so boring. Not this book!!! I absolutely loved this one, I couldn't flip the pages fast enough. Went out of my comfort zone to read this one, and I'm so glad I did!

This was a really original take on the cli-fi sub-genre looking at how society reacts to the climate crisis. It raised some interesting questions and imagined a set of solutions (and actors) that prompted considerable reflection. It's a take down of girlboss feminism and climate change denial. The book isn't subtle in its critique, but subtlety is overrated--this book says it all with its full chest.

This book is best enjoyed without overthinking every detail of plausibility in the world it builds. Suspend disbelief and you'll enjoy stepping into the characters' shoes, imagining the life and decisions they're facing.

It’s the year 2050 and not everyone gets into the Inside Project; you have to apply to have a shot at surviving the climate-ravaged places across the planet. When Ava gets in and her girlfriend doesn’t, she has a mixture of emotions and experiences that leave her questioning her decisions and reckoning with the world she’s always known. Tackling themes of feminism, capitalism, queerness, race and gender, this is a remarkably frightening, enlightening and unflinching take on dystopian literature.

Yours for the Taking was a fascinating look at what could happen when our world’s climate collapses and the rich help build shelters. I enjoyed the take on feminism and examining what could happen if one person is in charge of everything. Highly recommend!