This book is best described as The Handmaid's Tale set in a dark sci-fi dystopia. It follows Nelah as she tries to past her trials to prove she is a worthy citizen. She is one the implanted ones, her husband can see days through her eyes, her thoughts are accessible to the authorities, she is watched because she has the potential to be a criminal. She must prove herself in order to exist in society and have a child. Things go wrong when her trials did not go as planned. Things spiral out of control and she is left in a circumstance where her very existence is on the line.
This book is riveting, and thoughtful. The plot moves at a steady pace, and you feel Nelah's pain and disassociation throughout the book. You see themes of power, corruption, sexism and greed throughout the book. I like that even though the story is futuristic, it still maintains ties to the African cultural myths.

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🇧🇼Womb City -Tlotlo Tsamaase

This is definitely not my normal genre of book, it's kind of futurist handmaids tale esque. From the outside Nelah has it all but she's stuck in a loveless marriage with a husband whose able to examine her every move through a microchip and has body switched into the body which previously created a crime. . After a drug fueled evening Nelah accidentally hits a women with her car, her and the man she's having an affair with then decide to bury the body. The ghost of said victim then starts to haunt Nelah and begins killing her loved ones off, which will culminate with the death of her unborn child. As they fight against this ghost they realise that the biggest enemy isn't the one killing their family in a gruesome way.

Although not my normal genre is really enjoyed this book. In a dystopian way it examined what it means to be a women in a man controlled world. I thought the concept of this book was really incredible and I would not have worked out the ending. However, I did feel some parts of the books were a bit repetitive. That could have been because it was an arc copy and the final version will have been edited to remove this. However because the concept was so good I don't feel it retracted from the book and I still loved it.

If you ever enjoyed watching The Matrix, Lovecraft Country, Memento, & Handmaid’s Tale before…Womb City is the book for you. This story takes you down a rabbit hole of adultery, intrigue, family secrets, with a dash or murder. I very rarely reread books once I’m finished with them but this is a story I will happily read again.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a review copy.
This book has a LOT going on. I would put it firmly in the sci fi horror category. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I felt like there was so much happening that I couldn't keep up. This could also be a me problem, as I was in the middle of moving to another state. I almost DNF'd a couple of times, but I'm so glad I stuck it out. This is a very important, empowering story. 4.25 stars

Thank You to NetGalley for the Arc
Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase, in which far-future women live and are controlled by chips implanted in them that monitor their every move. This novel is everything a patriarchal dystopia should be; an exploration of power and the way that gender shapes one's relationship with it. In this version of the world, the chips implanted in women are used to keep them "perfect." The protagonist Nelah finds herself torn between the life she has always known and the realization that the world around her is something much darker than she originally thought.

Personally, I loved this novel and thought it was a wonderfully in-depth look at modern womanhood and the realization that the system is built against you. Where I struggled was in the marketing of the novel as, like most patriarchal dystopias, it is marketed as a version of The Handmaid's Tale; however, Womb City is a story that stands on its own without the backbone of Margeret Atwood's novel.

I really enjoyed the start of this book. It led with a sci fi / dystopian setting with quite strong commentary on inequity, gender, and justice. It took me a little while to understand the context and worldbuilding but was super intrigued by it and was looking forward to learning more about how the system worked.

At about 40% it felt like the book really veered off into another genre, bringing in more paranormal elements than I was expecting. Despite this I enjoyed the book and found the whole premise really intriguing. Would make a great movie

I absolutely loved Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase!
I was so excited to read this book as it sounded amazing, and I'm a big fan of sci-fi horror books, and this one did not disappoint!
It ended up being an amazing and unique read!

The world building was a little difficult for a bit, but once I understood it, it was amazing!
I thought Nelah was a great main character, and I really loved the ending.

I definitely highly recommend this book!
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This review was made possible view an ARC through NetGalley.

Wow, wow, wow. I was drawn in from the first page. The voice and prose really worked for me as did the cyberpunk and Queer elements. Tlotlo Tsamaase has a real talent for making you feel close to xer characters and world. The Motswana mythology elements were woven in naturally and really made Womb City feel specific and unique.

The twist really worked for me as did the ending, but I can see why it might read as conspiracy theory for some and be a turnoff. Everything felt like it was leading up to the big reveal and it tied in with the themes. Nelah's drive to become a mother and her pain from multiple miscarriages plus her affair with Jan all felt tangible and natural. Nelah is probably one of my favorite MCs so far this year and I ached for her more than once. I also loved the details of the bodyswapping worldbuilding in an Africanfuturism Botswana.

I'd recommend this to people who love cyberpunk and are open to themes around motherhood, infertility, abuse, and more. Womb City deals with a lot of uncomfortable themes but it never feels like it's for shock value; it feels purposeful and is there to make you consider what is being said. This is Tlotlo Tsamaase's adult debut novel and I'm beyond excited to see more from xem. The cyberpunk elements with the horror elements in a Queer Africanfuturism framework worked for me in ways I genuinely wasn't expecting.

DNF @ 6%, the earliest I have ever DNFed something. Unfortunately, I've been trying to get into this for ten days now, and have had to accept that it is just not for me.

As has been noted by other reviewers, Womb City makes use of many, many futuristic technologies (including, but not limited to, body-swapping and behaviour-monitoring microchips) to explore race, gender, corruption, and power, among other things. The result is discordant: it feels sort of like watching every episode of Black Mirror simultaneously, rather than engaging with a single, thoughtful, considered narrative that delves deeply into any one of these concepts.

I'd also like to note that, at this point in the book, my experience (including my dissatisfaction) is limited to its sci-fi elements - the horror has not yet been introduced. I would still like to thank NetGalley and Erewhon Books books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Take one part Minority Report, one part The Handmaid's Tale, and one part Altered Carbon, shake well and start a science fiction novel. When half baked, add a good ghost story and turn it into a horror novel. That's the best I can do to describe this amazing novel without giving anything away.

The premise of this book is SO interesting. I loved that it's a fantasy smashed into a scifi world. That being said, for at least the first 60% of the book I found myself continually having to reread entire passages because the heavy handed world building kept losing me. And when I say heavy, I mean HEAVY. There was so much going on that it felt almost convoluted at times. I felt like I was sludging through the first half and then being whiplashed and flying through the last half at hyperspeed.

That being said, Womb City was truly gripping. The action -packed last portion of the book was fun to read. I definitely reccomend if your jam is dystopian horror that throws an entire world on your head and doesn't allow you even a moment to grab your bearings. I would've rated it 4 stars but by the end the story just felt like TOO much.

This book started out so promising. The story was different and I could see a whole world unfurling in front of my eyes. But then the author tried to fill an entire book series on one book. It was just to many ideas and it simply became to hard to follow the different ideas presented. I would have loved for this to be a series rather than a single book. I feel like the author could have allowed the different plot points to breath and developed on their own.
It wasn't a bad book, the prose was right up my alley and as stated, the ideas were great. Just to condensed.
Thank you to netgalley and Kensington for this eArc

I can easily see this being a fan fav. The drama, the sci-fi, the love triangle was all perfectly done. I finished wanted more from the characters. Great job to the author.

3.5 stars

Nelah lives in Africa in a futuristic dystopian society where consciousness can be uploaded and transferred into other bodies. Naturally, this leads to a hierarchy where the rich are basically immortal and eternally young while the less fortunate live short and often miserable lives. Society is also very patriarchal and women are heavily monitored to ensure a domestic supply of infants (future bodies for the rich to use.) Nelah’s status is middle-class, and she gained her wealth from her successful architecture business. But due to various circumstances, her consciousness was placed into a former criminal’s body, which means she must have a microchip implanted to make sure she stays in line and doesn’t display signs of criminal tendencies. Her mind must be regularly reviewed by her husband and she must perfectly pass his and the government’s mandated reviews if she wants any chance at getting that microchip removed and her freedom back.
But after a nightly rendezvous with the wealthy man she’s having an affair with goes wrong, passing the exam is the least of her worries. With both the government and the spiritual world after her, surviving will be hard enough.
This was an interesting novel that sparks some thought about various topics, but I felt it could’ve benefited from more editing. There was a lot going on and it didn’t feel very cohesive. The supernatural element was suddenly introduced and took the story in a completely different direction, which was jarring.
If edited more, I think this would be a great, thought-provoking sci-fi novel.

Womb City was a fascinatingly original story with such an interesting technological and governance system that sparks the imagination. Nelah is a compelling character facing such relatable struggles and dilemmas, and it was an exhilarating (albeit harrowing) ride to follow her on her journey throughout the book.

I found the concept interesting here, but the worldbuilding felt a little overwhelming and heavy-handed to me.

Womb City is an incredible dystopian novel that has so many twists and turns. Once you have adjusted to the new situations that the main character experiences, the reader yet again is brought to that feeling of suspense and uncomfortably. After reading countless books throughout the years, it becomes easy to figure out the plot or ending, however with Womb City, everything is unpredictable. Very refreshing and boldly written.

"ɪɴ ᴏᴜʀ ᴄɪᴛʏ, ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ ʟɪᴠᴇꜱ ꜰᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ. ʙᴜᴛ ᴍᴜʀᴅᴇʀ ʜᴀɴɢꜱ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀɪʀ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴍɪꜱᴛ."

• This is a very unique plot, unlike any other that I have read before. This is a sci-fi, futuristic dystopian horror novel set in Botswana. In this world the consciousness can be floated between different bodies but there are rules and women are less valued & more likely to be tagged as criminals.

• Do check the content warnings before diving in. This book was thought provoking and made me question a lot of things. It was definitely immersive but I felt there was a lot going on consequently. I kept getting lost and the storyline dragged in between.

• I'm sure it was meant to be written like that, with the world building and the character developments but I only started enjoying it when it was around 30% left.

I did enjoy the ending but I feel it could have been more concise.

There were things I loved about this book, and other things that didn’t work for me. First of all, I think readers of thrillers will really like this book. As someone who prefers sci-fi and horror, I don’t think I was exactly the right audience. But, I did like many of the characters, I loved the feminism and ableism discussions, and I loved how things started all tying together in the last 20% of the book.

Among things that didn’t work for me was, firstly, the exposition that made the book seem like it would be a dystopian sci-fi novel. The sci-fi setting, themes, and tropes were all described in a telling rather than showing way, and were also unnecessarily complicated and confusing. I think this story could have been even more effective with the lifespan, consciousness-jumping, and wombcubator elements totally taken out, so a reader could focus on the microchipping, surveillance issues, murder trials, and supernatural elements without getting muddled and confused or slowing down the pace to try to explain. Ultimately for me, there was too much going on in the book to keep track of, especially in the first half, and it took me a while to discern which elements of the plot were most important. I think other great ideas, like the lifespan and consciousness jumping, could have been used in another very interesting story with different plot and issues.

Secondly, there were parts where the pace was clunky because characters would pause in the middle of a very tense scene to reflect on their feelings or on the past. I don’t think this was needed - some of the exposition, again, only complicated things rather than clarified, and the characters’ values and feelings were clear through their actions without the need for these reflective moments.

Ultimately I would recommend this book to thriller lovers, as the style reminded me of popular thriller books like Woman in the Window, Girl on the Train, and the Silent Patient. I also am eager to read other work by this author even though this particular book didn’t quite work for me.

seriously i'm surprised this book hasn't been talked about more. It feels so important to the Sci-fi Genere and the world in general. this book for me is right up there w A handmaiden tale, 1984 and anything Phillip K Dick. This is book is Legendary good. Tsamaase emerges you in. world that doesn't feel too far off from our own, aside from the body swapping and wild science. It is thought provoking and and a powerful statement on misogyny, sexism, racism and control in any form.