This book was a bit confusing but did make more sense towards the end. A lot of the book was spent on the world building, which was interesting in itself, but did make for a very slow pace. The commentary on policing women was sadly too realistic and plausible. Overall, interesting concept but could have been edited down a bit. Recommended for readers who enjoy futuristic books or detailed world building. Readers who like a straightforward narrative will want to pass on this one.

Horror, Thriller, Dystopian, African- Futurism. Get ready for a wild ride.
The last 100 pages of this book were bombshell after bombshell that I didn't see coming!
Author has very political views about feminism, patriarchy, and femicide.
Loved the new Igbo words I learned that were scattered throughout this book.
Meet Nelah, her police husband Eli, Jan and Moremi.
This is like an African inspired version of 1984 and Minority Report combined. Great concept!

2/5✨
BIPOC author. Afrofuturism.

First, thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I want to start by saying I DNF’d this at 11%.

Womb City follows Nelah, a woman with a great job, a baby on the way, and a husband who monitors her every move via microchip.

I really wanted to like this one. I think the premise is great and had so much potential. There were several cool sci-fi elements like microchips, recycled bodies, etc. I also think some of the themes explored like body agency were intriguing. However, the writing just really didn’t work for me. It was difficult to get into and every time I picked it up, I just had a hard time trying to read it. Other than that, I can’t think of anything I particularly disliked, except maybe the sluggish pacing, but this just wasn’t for me.

Although this book wasn’t for me, I do think this has its audience. If you like afrofuturism, unique and innovative sci-fi elements (like the aforementioned microchips and recycled bodies), and/or horror <check trigger warnings>, be sure to give this a try.

I sadly could not finish this book and dnfed. I had high hopes for this book, especially since I love a debut but was disappointed. While the story had some pros, overall it seemed to take too much from previous media with any adaption to make it feel new or original. I could not get passed the FMC. While I understand the inherent misogyny in the society I was confused by the choices of the FMC and why she was unable to leave her husband.

I have future hope for this author and will be looking out for their next book.

a pretty good debut! the pacing was a bit off and I found myself struggling to get through all the world building but I'm excited to see what this author does in the future.

I had to DNF this book. The writing was beautiful and is what kept me writing, but the author spends so much time world-building that I got bored so quickly. I skipped multiple pages and the author was still world-building with barely any story. I also strongly dislike the world that they live in and I barely felt like breathing every time she was around her husband. I think that was the point, but OMG, I was so bored.

I really really tried with this book, the premise is good like I thought I would eat it up but the actual performance of it didn’t quite catch me.
DNF-ing at 15%.

Womb City is an Afrofuturist horror following Nelah, a woman living in high surveillance and technologically advanced Botswana. In this age, peoples' consciousness can outlive their bodies, "hopping" from one body to another. Nelah, whose body previously was occupied by a person who committed crimes, must constantly prove herself "pure" and crime-free through daily tests, a microchip that tracks her every movement, and a yearly review that predicts any "future crimes" she may commit as well. Despite this, Nelah has carved a life for herself -- she and her husband are going to finally have a daughter, her architecture firm is award-winning... Except, she's far from happy. When one drug-induced night of debauchery ends in horror, Nelah must figure out how to save her loved ones - all while grappling with the scream buried deep within her as she navigates a deeply misogynistic society.

Tsamaase is definitely a writer to watch. This Botswana is intense, and the logic behind its surveillance status doesn't seem far from where we are now. However, Nelah's personality and motivations constantly shift and make it very difficult to root for her or understand her actions. This, alongside the length of the novel, make the story tiring to follow after a while. Nelah will do x, then there will be a lamenting of misogyny and police state, then Nelah will completely move on from x.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this debut novel.

This book was okay. At first I was very confused, then less confused, then more confused again, to be somewhat understanding of the book as a whole. The concept of this novel was so very intriguing and I loved reading about how Nelah’s microchip controlled her life. However, the plot became tedious, and certain aspects became repetitive. This book is very bloody, but that didn’t bother me. Overall, I enjoyed learning about Matsieng’s footsteps in Botswana (I had never heard of this before this book, very cool!) and how the author weaved the story of creation into xer book.

3 stars!
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First of all thank you to NetGalley, Tlotlo Tsamaase and Kensington Books for the e-book arc in exchange for an honest review!
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I really loved the world building and the entire premise of this book but it did fall short for me in a few ways.
The book felt really long and certain scenes were just too long and made me start to lose interest, which in turn made the reading process super long. I genuinely feel like if this book was shorter it would have been paced a lot better. The overall story was good, i just think it needed to be cut back.

If you want to diversify your reading and like sci-fi, this is the book for you. I loved the commentary of the book and the discussions that it started.

This felt like a lot of convoluted ideas in one....

Tsamaase got a bit too repetitive with the mother/daughter theme(s) and there were parts where I had no idea what was happening. It was a very worthwhile read and I hope others read it but it could have been a bit more coherent.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the e-arc!

*2.5 stars

The premise of womb city is really good - nelah lives in a futuristic version of botswana, in a microchipped body that is on it's third 'host'. Technology has made it possible for people's consciousness to body-hop, but just as in our current society, this brings along a lot of inequality. Women's bodies are not treated the same as men. This becomes extra clear when nelah accidentally kills someone in a drug-fueled accident, and must do her best to prevent the revenge-driven ghost from hurting her loved ones - and from having her consciousness locked away forever for the crime.

There are some really good passages about (gender) inequality in the book, but unfortunately, the writing of womb city didn't grasp me as much as the premise did. If I'm honest - I was quite simply a little bored and confused. The book starts out with a lot of world building - maybe even too much world building, as all the rules and regulations and different types of body swapping, and the lifespans, and the microchips, and the wait lists, and the illegal body selling really started to confuse me at some point. The first half of the book also feels quite repetitive, and not a lot happens plot-wise. In the end, I skipped quite a lot until 'the accident', which is where several reviews stated the book would pick up.

This is not a bad book: tsamaase has an excellent way with words. The accident scene and nelah's subsequent spiral are a prime example of that, and the story definitely picks up after that. But it still feels a little bit like it goes in circles: like it continues to come back to the same conversations, the same points. The unravelling of all the mystery and corruption was also a little too complex and confusing for my liking.

All in all, I didn't hate this, but unfortunately also definitely didn't love it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Erewhon Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book had such a strong premise and I was so excited to read more Afrofuturism, especially because it felt like it shared a connection with Handmaid’s Tale. But the set-up was just too long. I didn’t mind the very political/gender politics of it - that IS what made me request the ARC in the first place - but every really powerful moment/quote felt like it was repeated twice. By the time it got to the car crash mentioned in the blurb, I was st rating to really see the repetition and was wondering when the book would really start to take off. There was some really, really interesting and thought-provoking passages about what it means to be male or female in a society where body hopping is de rigeur, even as very heteronormativity and gender essentialism is so rampant in the society.

"Womb City" by Tlotlo Tsamaase delves into a haunting yet compelling narrative where bodies serve as government-issued resources and surveillance reigns supreme.

As Nelha, the main character, puts it aptly, "We are born in dead bodies that make it easier to bury them, revoke them, and claim ones that will give us a better future."Nelah, the protagonist, navigates a dystopian world where she undergoes body-hopping to conceive a child, facing the relentless scrutiny of a surveillance state and grappling with the ramifications of her actions. Tsamaase weaves a chilling tale that deeply probes into motherhood, autonomy, and societal control.

Initially, I was captivated by the book's exploration of reproductive rights, interpersonal power dynamics, and a futuristic society with heightened restrictions on women's freedoms. Nelah's plight resonated as she fought against the invasive surveillance imposed upon her body. The narrative unfolds like a gripping spectacle, drawing readers into a web of intrigue and moral dilemmas. However, as the story progressed, it became increasingly convoluted, with several subplots vying for attention. Despite its ambitious scope, the proliferation of narrative threads detracted from the book's overall impact, leaving me longing for a more streamlined focus.

"Womb City" prompts readers to ponder profound questions about state surveillance, familial bonds, and the intersection of race and identity in a technologically advanced yet morally bankrupt society. While the novel's premise is undeniably compelling, its execution falters under the weight of excessive plotlines. Nonetheless, Tsamaase's debut offers a thought-provoking journey into a world where humanity's boundaries are tested, urging us to confront the consequences of unchecked power and the sacrifices made in the pursuit of freedom.

Rating: 3.25 Stars. It Won't be the last Tsamaase book I read.

Living in a technologically advanced future Botswana, Nelah has a great job, but her consciousness has been placed in the body of a criminal. She has no memory of her two past lives or of her body's previous residents. But because of her body's criminal past, her memories and actions are recorded and monitored by her husband and government. She long for a child, but being unable to carry, they are trying an external womb. As she rages under the societal constraints on her body, her singular focus is how to protect her growing child and the lengths she is willing to do so.

This was okay. The pacing felt weird and it took a long time for the action to pick up and for me to get interested. I wanted to like this more than I did because the premise and world hold a lot of promise. There was a lot of world building that could've been tightened up because there were a lot of moving parts that didn't necessarily all come together cleanly. I was surprised when this took such a big turn into the folklore realm and quite a bit of ghost/monster and body horror. The story is pretty bleak and horrifying. And I couldn't decide if it was gratuitous or just a reflection of our bleak world. Overall, the reveal at the end, while not surprising, was satisfying.

Thank you to RB Media and netgalley for the advanced copy of the book!

After spending nearly three months of my time getting only 10% through this book and dreading picking it up every time, I must respectfully say that I can’t in good conscience recommend this one. Womb City is an absolutely grueling reading experience, and my best guess is that this comes down to the combination of this book being Tlotlo Tsamaase’s first full-length novel, as well as Tsamaase’s previous writing experience leaning heavily in the direction of poetry.

To be more specific, I have very conflicting feelings about the book: on one hand, pretty much everything about it was cool and imaginative. On the other, pretty much everything about it was impossible to get into. For me, this world was overwritten in all the wrong places.

While I was craving more scene-setting and imagery, the author kept going back and reiterating/diving even deeper into the complex concepts they had already presented; this to the point where certain things became so convoluted it made my head hurt. I stopped understanding the body swapping by about 8% despite feeling clear on the concept to begin with—the author just kept piling on more and more details and rules and regulations until it was impossible to understand why or how any society would develop to this level of inefficiency and overcomplexity. Somebody who loves this author really needs to tell her when to stop adding to the soup and buckle down on working with what she’s got already on the page; this doesn’t read like something an editor has even glanced at from twenty yards.

While I enjoyed the setting of futuristic Botswana, the author didn’t really do much with it, and I felt like you could have claimed this was set in any major city worldwide with fairly minimal changes. I wanted to feel like I was there, but the prose almost acted to intentionally lock me out despite most of the novel feeling like a draft of the world-building. It was a really weird feeling that I’m actually struggling to articulate while writing this review.

To put it in as few words as possible; too much. This book is trying to do entirely too much, and as such, none of it ends up fully realized. There’s so much interesting discussion to be had here, but rather than having it between the lines, there’s endless surface-level discussion of the themes between the characters/the inner narration of the protagonist. None of the prose really attempts to dig into any of it, only to have the characters let you know what to think. The multitude of themes introduced all end up working against each other and competing for the space on the page—significant retooling of the concepts and themes could have easily chopped a hundred pages off this book and kept the exploration of them from being so incredibly surface-level.

All that being said, I want to be clear that this is in no way me attempting to bash the author. Actually, quite the opposite—her writing is beautiful (if a little purple, but I personally don’t mind that), and I wanted so desperately to love it that I think I was let down that much harder. Especially for a first novel, I was impressed with the prose and the ability to integrate this lyrical, poetic feeling into the style of a novel, and that’s one of the good things that comes from a background of mostly poetry! Her voice is distinct and fascinating. I also loved everything about the concept and truly believe we need more feminist fiction like this out in the world, speaking from various perspectives both current and speculative on issues like the ones this novel presents: flawed characters, motherhood, bodily autonomy, the differences in all these things based on race, gender, personal identity, etc.

In short, the things this book has to say are important, I just wish they were better said.

DNF FOR NOW at 70%
Not was i expecting but i like this creepy horror where folks can pay to extend their lifespans by having their consciousness moved into a new body. Which seems like a dope idea however the misogynoir, classism, colorism, and power hungry people make this a miserable dystopian world to live in. I will be returning but I needed a break from these characters.

This book was not for me, which is frustrating as it had a lot going for it. The premise was unique and it's evident that Tsamaase put a great deal of thought into it. It is also evident, though, that it is xir first novel.

Tsamaase's biggest struggle here was pacing. The same concepts might be explained over and over again, or there might be a several-page break in the action for the characters to explain through dialogue what's going on (telling instead of showing). Because of the nature of the world built, it was at times difficult to figure out what was real and wasn't, and even with time stamps, could be confusing what was happening when. I think xe just tried to do too much and the book lacked cohesion as a result. Repetition and and a lack of clarity made it difficult to get through at times.

I loved the setting, the concept of microchipped individuals, the corrupt government (this is not a spoiler, we're in a dystopia, folks), and especially Moremi's backstory, and I would have liked to see more of that side of Tsmaase's dystopia.

This was a very interesting concept which I believe had great potential but I didn’t enjoy the execution. I felt the book was trying to do too much at times and would’ve been better served if the focus had remained on the initial concept rather than bringing in additional elements all the way to the end of the book. I finished the whole book because I did want to know where the story was going but unfortunately it wasn’t for me.