I want to kiss the author. This is madness! How were they able to conceive this?!? I feel so proud that a book like this exists 😍

Haunting, and with a powerful punch. I cannot say it was a pleasant read or I enjoyed myself. It's been a long time since I read a dystopian novel this aware of its message, with a thought through and unconventional world building. The plot took some time to gain momentum and exit the slightly awkward exposition part, but once it did as a reader I was not able to relax for one second. It was complex and disturbing but in a raw way, and even when it became a bit over the top it never felt silly or funny. Must read for a feminist readers of disturbing fiction that hits a bit close to home.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

I enjoyed this African dystopian sci-fi.
It had darkness and tackled some important issues. Lovely world building, totally loved the vibe.

Grateful for the opportunity to dive into the ARC of this book, though it didn't quite captivate me enough to reach the final page.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

"Womb City" is wildly imaginative and a wonderful dystopian novel with a Botswana setting and mythology. I really enjoyed reading it, it was a rollercoaster of revelations and plot twists. It also strongly reminded me of the clearly feminist stance of novels like "The Handmaid's Tale" but with a good focus on intersectional themes like ethnicity, queer identities while also tackling eurocentristic privilege.

Having said that, I think the novel tried to do a bit too much and sometimes it would've been nice to process new information before this too is overturned again. It was also grotesquely violent and while I did like the supernatural take, the ending did not quite convince me, I was left part confused and part unsatisfied as to how the situation will now improve. While the book tackles issues like being trans or non-binary, the relationships in the book were mostly conventional and hetero. I also did not really like the relationship of our protagonist and Jan, it felt quite superficial, more like a party, drink & drugs affair and nothing substantial. I think, until the very end, both world building and magic system parts left me confused, which is why this is not a 5 star rating. But I really enjoyed this one. Can't wait to read more from the author.

4.5 stars

this was not for me. i requested it because the premise reminded me a lot of altered carbon, but this book was remaining solely focused on nelah and not really expanding the story into any sort of narrative arc. there are so many sci-fi elements and themes at play here that the story didn't feel like it was focusing, which made it hard to connect. i also didn't think that nelah's interpersonal relationships were well developed either - i simply didn't care enough about her marriage to care about the stakes of her having an affair.

i did want to like this book, and there is definitely an element of personal dislike here, but i also think that the worldbuilding and the narrative have issues that made me just not want to pick this book up.

DNF @ 60%

I'm both surprised and devastated not to have liked this title. I really thought I would; everything about it sounds right up my alley. And while there was a lot I liked--the worldbuilding was fascinating (if its delivery often convoluted and repetitive), the questions it posed even more so--unfortunately, I just couldn't connect. I nearly dropped it at about 25% but persevered, hoping it would pick up after the accident described in the blurb--which it did!--but ultimately it reached a point where I was picking it up out of obligation rather than a desire to keep reading, and the 'time left in book' on my kindle filled me with dread.

I think it's a combination of 'it's not you, it's me' and the book having some actual flaws that could have been ironed out. The prose and dialogue style didn't work for me, but I know they were one of the draws for people who enjoyed the book; this is a preference issue. However, I do think the book was seriously under-edited. As I've mentioned, the complex worldbuilding was delivered in ways which were confusing, convoluted and also over-expository, and there were times where information was delivered in the same way (sometimes with near identical phrasing) multiple times at different points in the book. There were big blocks of exposition that really needed trimming down; in the first act particularly, but even later on.

I find it hard to say whether I recommend this title or not. I couldn't get into it, but I do think for the right reader it would be a great read, with a lot to recommend it. If the premise sound interesting I'd say to give the first few chapters a try; I think it'll be obvious quickly whether it's for you or not.

Thank you regardless to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was tight and pacy, and I enjoyed the detailed world-building and the tense action as it worked itself into a thriller after a slow start. Great package of ideas on criminality and bodily autonomy, and reads like an episode of Black Mirror.

"Womb City" by Tlotlo Tsamaase, thrusts you into a dystopian world that challenges notions of power, oppression, and bodily autonomy. Nelah is a woman who appears to have a life of fame, wealth, and the anticipation of a long-awaited daughter growing up in a government lab. However, beneath the veneer of perfection lies a loveless marriage in which her every move is monitored by a microchip implanted by her policeman husband. A harrowing and unexpected turn of events begins with a drug-fueled evening that culminates in a mysterious car accident. Desperation drives Nelah to commit a desperate crime, burying the body and hoping to keep one last secret hidden from the world.

Yet, the truth refuses to stay buried, as the ghost of her victim emerges from the grave. The vengeful spirit relentlessly hunts down those dear to Nelah, thrusting her into a race against time. To protect her remaining loved ones, she must unravel the political conspiracy her victim was on the verge of exposing, risking everything in the process. Set in a futuristic surveillance state where bodies are a government-issued resource, "Womb City" offers a twisty and nail-biting narrative that delves into themes of power, monstrosity, and the control of women's bodies. The story explores how patriarchy manipulates women into becoming unwitting collaborators in their oppression.

The author employs sickeningly evocative prose to interrogate the lengths to which a woman must go to dismantle a corrupt system. With cultural sensibility drawn from Botswana, Tsamaase delivers a searing intelligence and a timely commentary on the battle for autonomy in a world rife with surveillance and manipulation.

It is a haunting and thought-provoking dystopian thriller that captivates readers from the very first page. The author skillfully constructs a world where the boundaries of power and control are pushed to their limits, and the consequences of rebellion are chillingly real.

Nelah is a complex character, who is both relatable and deeply sympathetic. Her journey from a life of surveillance and submission to a desperate struggle for survival is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. Tsamaase's portrayal of Nelah's emotional turmoil and her determination to protect her loved ones is both heartrending and inspiring.

The novel's dystopian setting is rendered with vivid and unsettling detail, immersing readers in a world where every move is monitored, and the value of a woman's body is reduced to a resource to be controlled. The pacing is expertly executed, with tension building steadily as Nelah races against time to uncover the truth. The themes explored are both relevant and thought-provoking, touching on issues of patriarchy, oppression, and resistance. Tsamaase's evocative prose and cultural perspective add depth and authenticity to the narrative.

For readers who appreciate dystopian fiction with a strong social commentary, "Womb City" is a must-read. It's a devastatingly timely debut that challenges the status quo and leaves readers pondering the lengths one must go to bring about change in a world where power is ruthlessly maintained.

In the time and place of Womb City, women are locked up, outpacing men at a rate. They are also subject to daily reviews by their husbands of everything they do and say- unable to have any secrets, made to be the "perfect" woman, something that, in the end, I am sure, most can never live up to. Men can choose to have their consciousness put into a woman’s body, if it is their choice (or if one thinks that kind of thing is even a choice), but they are then subject to their thoughts, everything they do, to be seen and used against them.

Then there is the yearly review which is how the main character of Womb City, Nelah, how her world finally crumbles. Because while Nelah has done everything she can to be perfect, especially after being in a body used twice before her, the first owner having been a convicted criminal, with a bionic arm that no one will tell her about (why it was lost from the previous owner), it is her future crimes that get her into trouble. And all this happens right as Nelah and her husband have obtained an artificial womb and their baby is to be born in several months. But, without Nelah’s freedom, who will pay for the rental of the artificial womb for her child? And if her husband won’t or can’t, will her child lose the perfect body she has been given only to be subject to a body that, like her own, has many things wrong with it and is judged harshly for it by the establishment? Have her consciousness ejected and subjected to something lesser because of parents who couldn't give her what she is due? Her own body?

Womb City is definitely a book set apart from others, an exciting and compelling read, set in future Botswana- where privacy is forgotten, forbidden for women, and bodies are interchangeable, but only for the wealthy. Womb City leaves readers with many questions and helps them find answers, as the book proceeds. Also, it deals with the issues of putting the cart before the horse when Nelah is deemed criminal because of a crime she would commit in the future, well, how can anyone say what a person might or might not do? Especially after it is made known to them that they could commit a future offense?

Womb City had a lot going on, I found it a mixture of many genres. As a sff reader, it ticked off all my expectations but I cannot rate a 5 because the start was a bit slow. My interest developed after I was 80% into the book.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the earc !

This was a hell of a ride. Take the panopticon and give it a turbo shot of mandated microchip implants in every citizen, a cyberpunk body swapping ability, babies that can be gestated in artificial wombs, a religious government, an obsession with punishment and discipline and keeping people in line; shake it together with the existing hellscape of existing as a woman, and then just for fun throw a dash of acid in with everything so that you’re not entirely sure what’s going on, and add a final touch of vengeance and rage, and you have this novel. There are times that you may feel that what’s going on is a bit over the top, but honestly, there will be times where you’re yelling along with Moremi and Nelah and hoping you get to grind Eli into dust. It’s surreal and disarming and you wonder who all is going to make it to the end. I’m definitely interested in more from Ms. Tsamaaae, and hope we get more!

i hate to say it and i wish i didn't have to, but i was bored!

the premise was good and you'd think being able to transfer your consciousness to another body would make for an exciting novel, but it explored the idea in such a mediocre and banal way. i wanted things to go more political, perhaps a little psychological, and more.. just More. i wanted more. the murder thing and running around bored me to tears. the microchip and the politics of her body were interesting at first but it got so repetitive that i got sick of it. i wanted it to say something more, i wanted it to add something new to the discourse, especially with this novel's concept, but it just did not go that way.

it reminded me a lot of the Netflix series Altered Carbon (which i like) and i just wish this book plagiarized the political conflicts and the practical implications of the show. however, the novel put more importance on the body rather than on the mind. this fact, cemented early on, made most of the main character's decisions odd. i don't want to say much because i don't want to spoil but shit just did not make sense at some point. i just kept reading because i had to review this.

What a fantastic read! Tlotlo Tsamaase has created an incredible dystopia here, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. It does take a little while to get going, but once it does, it's hard to put it down. I thought it was a wonderful and fresh take on misogynist society, where criminal behaviour can be detected and controlled with microchips, where babies are grown in artificial wombs away from their parents, and where consciousness can be transferred through bodyhopping as a way to live forever. But these privileges come at a cost and the lines of race, class, and gender are drawn to preserve the status quo for a select few. A very thoughtful and incisive look at the future that asks what it means to be a woman when your motherhood is no longer part of your physical body.

Tsamaase is, as far as I know, a new sci-fi voice, and one who I suspect will continue to write insightful and imaginative fiction as their career progresses. Looking forward to reading more!

I could not finish this one. It started off strong, but it needs better editing. There is a lot of repeating information and some inconsistencies. And, there are too many story lines, just too much going on.

This book is science fiction AND fantasy AND horror AND thriller AND....a lot. The book delivers a dystopian future where humans have discovered immortality by implanting their minds into different bodies, babies are grown outside the body in water wombs, and people are microchipped and monitored on a whole new level of e-carceration. The ideas that built this book were fascinating and thought-provoking. However, somewhere after the halfway mark, this story took so many wild turns that I had lingering whiplash. I almost did not have the mental energy to finish it. After taking some time to think about the story before writing my review, my opinion is that the author attempted to squeeze too much into a single book and the growth of the story may have benefited from being split up into multiple books. There are just too many concepts introduced and too much worldbuilding, where the finale felt like a chaotic sprint that was out of focus and anticlimactic. There is just too much shrouded in mystery through much of the book, and when it all comes to light in the end, it feels rushed. I can almost guarantee that if you read this, whatever you try to predict will happen will be wrong!

I received an advanced ebook by requesting a copy on NetGalley. Thank you to the publisher and author for allowing me this opportunity to read this whirlwind of a book!

This novel is phenom! The academic prowess the literature possesses holds you captive with the turn of each page. The depth and layers to the characters represents itself to a fully developed plot that in fact would facilitate a collegiate academic discourse to evaluate the intricacies of crafted societal collapses that one so myopically challenged, believe it to be norms! If you are looking for a novel that weaves the many different fabrics of genre and lends itself to a cinematic aesthetic such as LoveCraft Country, Matrix , Memento, Handmaid's Tale, this novel is one you should pre order ASAP!!!!!
Well done Tlotlo Tsamaase!! Well Done!!!

Womb City is a wild ride from beginning to end! This is a scifi horror book that also has some mystery and fantasy elements in it. In the blurb the books gets compared to The Handmaid's Tale and Get Out. I also want to add Black Mirror and Minority Report to that list. Especially towards the end I really felt like I was in Black Mirror episode (I love that show! It is one of the only ones I binge immediately when a new season comes out.).

I really enjoyed this book and it was a fast read that I couldn't put down. The beginning was a bit slow, but the world was interesting so I still wanted to keep reading. The thing that brought this book down to a 3.5 stars for me was that I felt like it wanted to do too much and wanted to tackle too many themes. Sometimes the writing style was also a bit jarring and I was confused about what was happening in the scene.

But all in all, a strong debut novel from an author I will definitely read more from in the future!

(If you want to read this book be aware that it is pretty dark. A list of trigger warnings is included in the book.)

Really interesting premise and world-building, but some of the characters fell quite flat for me. I consistently found Nelah to be an unlikable protagonist, with behaviors that were inconsistent with her professed motivations. The scene where she attempts to steal?? a baby was confusing and felt out of left field. She is a woman who is monitored and under surveillance 24/7 and is very aware of this, so it made her seem incredibly stupid? Not sure what the intent was there, but it didn't work for me. Because the setting and sci-fi/horror tone was intriguing, I tried to look past it and enjoy those elements. I'd definitely be interested in reading more Tlotlo Tsamaase in the future.