At times hauntingly beautiful and interesting, but overall I think there were too many plot points for me to really connect with the story, personally. Very interesting concept, would've liked more about womanhood and motherhood and I did get a glimpse of it.

I was so excited to read this but was a little disappointed in it and stopped reading it 100 pages in because I was really bored by it and nothing was really happening.
I wanted to get into sci-fi so this title interested me and the plot and characters were interesting, I just got so bored with it after a while and there was no real character building and within those 100 pages nothing really happened.

Arc received for honest review

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I really wanted to enjoy this book, but after literal MONTHS of trying to get through this, it's safe to say it's not for me. I tried to read through other spoilery reviews and still have no idea what's going on. Oh well.

this one took me a while to get through. the premise is intense and thought provoking and felt very fresh/new, but the execution wasn’t for me. i think some themes don’t have to be so explicitly discussed in order to keep the reader thinking about it.

Intense. Engaging and thought provoking. What a great way to explore a culture with a mixture of speculation. Many times infound myself asking questions that I was comfortable with, but that was okay. I deeply felt for some of the characters and was down in the trenches with them. After adapting to the writing style, i was able to deeply submerge myself into the story. I look forward to future books by this author.


#TLOTLOTSAMAASE #NETGALLEY. #WOMBCITY.

Thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for an ARC of this book. The narration of the audiobook is great.

"Womb City" is Tlotlo Tsamaase's debut novel, and it is my first time reading their work. The basic premise presents a dystopian world that (like every dystopia) presents itself as a utopia, but the oppressive structure that already (and has always) exists is heightened with a new suite of tools for a few to hold power over the many. Tsamaase’s novel pulls from many of the ideas that have been explored before in speculative fiction, but where this novel stands out is in its multidisciplinary approach, weaving together cyberpunk sci-fi with supernatural horrors. Tsamaase’s writing is rich and engaging in a way that just pulled me straight into this world in way that sets it up as a potential all time favorite. Sadly, this is Tsamaase’s first novel, and that shows in some key, if not detrimental, ways.

Set in a future where technology binds as much as it liberates, Tsamaase presents a world that is as wondrous as it is terrifying. Cyborg enhancements and body swapping are commonplace, allowing for prolonged lives and an escape from death. Crime is lower than it ever has been, but the cost is a hierarchical and authoritarian regime, characterized by a militarized state with strict surveillance, regulation of technology, and manipulation of biological processes. Individuals who do not conform become suspect, and this means gender roles are rigidly defined and policed. Altogether, the interplay of technology and society raises important questions about the ethics of scientific advancement and the price of utopia, with Womb City acting as a reflection of some of our highest hopes and the possible costs of seeing them come to fruition.

Naledi is our central character: a closely monitored cyborg who inhabits a body whose first host lost their right to have it when they committed some unknown crime. One of Naledi’s central motivations is to be a mother, but her past (or specifically her body’s past) sets her up with multiple obstacles, including regular minority report-esk check ins to ensure she is not criminally prone. A central thesis in this book is the question of bodily autonomy—an idea brought to new depths this society moves from one body to another. It also raises questions of identity, going so far as to challenge her own identity as a woman in subtle ways throughout the story.

On the surface, the structure of this world seems reasonable. Crime is at an all-time low, but what becomes increasingly clear is how the enforcement of these techniques is only so far as they can hold up and propagate existing inequalities. There are clear connections to over-policing and the prison industrial complex, among other ideas. It does not upend the current structure, one that focuses on punishment rather than ending the reasons people resort to crime (inequalities, poverty, etc., see Angela Davis’s Freedom is a Constant Struggle). It instead amplifies it.
This, coupled with the excellent writing and supernatural sci-fi horrors really makes this book stand out in all the best ways. I can honestly say, I get excited just writing this review for all that this book does and even the things it strives and fails to do. I applaud the ambition and can largely look past its failures because of how engrossed I was in the book.

The ultimate failure of Womb City is in how Tsamaase handles its themes. They are beyond heavy handed. Every idea this book is interested in exploring is explicitly discussed by exposition or in the thoughts of our protagonist. It is at its worst in the set up and conclusion of the novel, where the themes and story are being set up and resolved. In that sense, it isn’t an overarching problem, but it is a major one. Tsamaase simply does not have enough faith in their reader. In some sense, I can sympathize, but by spoon feeding, you fundamentally undercut the effectiveness of the narrative.

Many people found Tsamaase’s handling of the themes detrimental to the overall story, but I do not agree. Tsamaase is an extremely talented author who has constructed a fascinating and compelling narrative that stands out from everything that clearly inspired it. It may be heavy handed, but I think you are doing yourself a disservice if you skip it for that reason. Meanwhile, I will be eagerly waiting for Tsamaase’s next release, and hopefully they will have learned from their mistakes here.

This was so powerful and absolutely delicious! Really unique writing and sentence structure that had me transfixed and made me believe in the futuristic world the author created. I felt for and with the protagonist and was biting my nails come the ultimate showdown!

I don't know how I feel about this book. I always push myself to finish a book, but this one was difficult for me to do so. I got all the way to 40%, but I just wasn't connecting with the story line and characters.
The premise of the book was really promising and unique. I thought it was intriguing that souls get put into bodies and have a few lifespans, but the woman don't always get that luxury that men do. Some woman get put into bodies that have had a criminal past and get microchip and monitored to make sure no crime is committed in there new body. The husband in this book just got under my skin and that he was so entitled for everything and blames his problems on his wife. They're staying in a marriage for convenience.
The execution of the book just wasn't my cup of tea. I wasn't invested in the characters, some of the information was repeated time and time again, and I also was confused about some of the story and where the direction was going. I just kept losing interest and putting the book down. This being said I will not be rating the book because I didn't finish it. I might pick up this again in the future. I do look forward to reading another book by this author.
Thank you Netgalley and publisher for this early arc in exchange for an honest review.

I usually make it a point to finish the books I start, but I had to call it quits on this one at around 33%. To be honest, getting through it was a struggle, and I just couldn't find that connection with the characters that keeps me hooked and wanting more. The initial premise of a dystopian era where many of the inhabitants who are women are microchipped grabbed my attention and got me excited, but unfortunately, the way it was executed didn't quite live up to my expectations. The writing style felt a bit too cluttered for my taste, if that makes sense. I might give it another shot sometime in the future and update my review accordingly.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Books for this eARC #Wombcity #NetGalley

I don’t know what to think of this book.

The premise is really interesting and promising but I didn’t like the way it was executed.
I found it to be hard to follow the story sometimes, because the pacing just feels off at times.

The writing is very detailed, beautiful and done so well most of the time but it felt like it was overdone at times and I couldn’t get into the story because of that.

The dialogues often feels really unnatural, especially in the beginning when the world and how it works is explained to the reader during conversation. It feels like a lot of info dumping and bust still hard to grasp. Especially when other parts are way easier to understand but those are explained over and over again, which annoyed me so much.

It feels like the same thing is said again and again. The message is good but the delivery is really bad at times.

I really had to push through at times and found the ending to be extremely confusing and also way too fast.

This was one of my most anticipated SFF novel, and sadly I must say goodbye well before it ended. If it weren't for the writing, I might not have pushed through as far as I did. The actions of the main character is quite baffling and it gets harder and harder to reconcile with their choices. I am all for autonomy - bodily, emotionally and socially. The acts, however, work against these ideas.

I wonder if there are more revelations in the last quarter of the book, but for now, I must retire this one here.

Thanks to Erewhon Books and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

WOMB CITY imagines a dark and deadly future Botswana, rich with culture and true folklore, which begs the question: how far must one go to destroy the structures of inequality upon which a society was founded? How far must a mother go to save the life of her child?

I was immediately hooked after reading this short blurb and my excitement only grew upon reading the rest of the description for the novel. This story follows Nelah, a microchipped woman placed into the body of a criminal who worked her way to become a successful architect and soon to be mother, but whose world is turned upside down after a deadly accident after a drug fueled night.

The novel starts off rough. There is a lot of world building and character introductions but not a lot of plot going on for the first hundred pages or so. It's not until the accident that the story actually stars to quicken its pace and the plot really begins to come through. Then it gets really exciting and hard to put down as more and more plot twists arise. I would argue that at times the story starts to go in one direction but then quickly pivots to a different direction, sometimes not in a way that makes any sense. There was so much going on at once but it felt as if the story was going no where. I think this novel would have been better as a series or a collection of standalone novels set in the same universe. There is so much material and the world that they have created is horrifying but so interesting that I would have loved to read more about it.

This was the first time I had ever read anything written by Tlotlo Tsamaase and I was completely blown away by the writing. It was beautiful and poetic and they really captured the struggles of gender and social inequality in society. The characters were great and really helped to further along the themes of inequality. I was a little annoyed at Nelah's character for all of the back and forth that she goes through during the novel. I wanted to go into the book and smack her around a little. But Moremi's character made up for all of that. She kept the story going and I think I would have liked the story to be told from her perspective as well. It would have made it more interesting in my opinion.

Overall I definitely recommend this novel if you are a fan of Get Out or the Handmaid's Tale. It combines aspects of both with a touch of Cabin in the Woods, making for a truly dark and wild ride. I cannot wait to read more by this author.

I genuinely have a hard time reviewing this book, as it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. However, I did not particularly have a great time with it. The premise of the book was amazing but I think the author tried to do too much with the plot, and it ended up suffering overall as a result of this. I wish certain aspects of this world were focused on and further developed so that the story itself could have been more fleshed out. There were way too many competing elements here, and this often led to contradicting already established ideas, I am not even sure about the genre classification of this novel -- it started out being heavily science fiction and then diverted into mystery, then what I can only describe as horror? The ending also served to only further confuse the motive of the story and the message the author was trying to convey. I guess I would have loved for there to be more focus on the science fiction elements of the story, as those were the most intriguing parts. Generally, a difficult book to get through and I only managed to finish it because it was a buddy read.

There is a lot to love in this book. I feel like Tsamaase had some inspiration from Butler and even from Jordan Peele. Unfortunately the story was just a little too convoluted at times and the pacing just didn't work.

Described as The Handmaid’s Tale meets Get Out, Womb City is a beautifully written Africanfuturistic horror, and, despite its flaws, an early contender for one of my favourite reads of the year.

Womb City is a little slow going at first, often falling into the trap of telling rather than showing. Heavy on exposition at times, the dialogue occasionally feels a little stilted, and prone to over-explanation. There’s also a hefty amount of repetition, especially when it comes to exploring the culture and exploitation of body-hopping (essentially, you’re able to live out multiple lifespans by moving from body to body), and the treatment of women in this not-so-distant future.

It’s strange in a way, because Tsamaase’s world-building and characterisations are solid, and as a result we really don’t need all that repetition and excess to understand who Nelah is, or to get a sense of the world she occupies. The work has already been done, and quite beautifully too.

That’s not to say this isn’t a fantastic read, and the second half of Womb City is a wild sci-fi horror ride, brimming with action and social commentary in equal measure. Packed with exciting chases, huge reveals, and some wonderfully gory details, it barrels along at a very merry pace. And though the plot twists and connections do eventually come a little too thick and fast, Womb City earns its dramatic climax - even if it feels a tad abrupt.

At its core, Womb City is, quite frankly, brilliant. And, slimmed down a little, this book could have been astonishing. Tsamaase is almost working too hard, and while the writing remains lyrical and engaging, you truly can have too much of a good thing.

3.5 stars rounded up! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC! Some spoilers abound, but none that would ruin the story.

Y'all. This wasn't exactly my first entry into the Sci-Fi genre, but I feel like I should have started smaller than this. Was it a good book? Sure. Did I understand more than half of what I read? Not really.

Tsamaase is such a great world builder and I felt like I was there for most of the novel. I'm also understanding that I am a cis white woman trying to review a book not made for me in mind.

The Real Goods:
I truly truly truly could not have guessed where the story was going next. I almost gave up about 60% in, but decided to finish just to get to the end and I was pleasantly surprised at how many twists and turns Xe churned out in the last like 15%. I've been reading so many novels where you can see the twist coming a mile away, this one was so fresh and new in that way.

Pros:
I like the idea of agency and how the body has agency and the mind/soul has agency and they're together but also completely separate things. Like. Is a person a person because of their body or because of their soul? And if it's so easy to trade one or the other, what does it mean to be Just A Person?
Is the person more like the original because it's their body or is it more like the microchipped consciousness within that body because they're the one controlling the functions? And if the body has had multiple chips, does that mean it's a Ship of Theseus situation?
Nelah was such a great character and I loved getting to know her. She's smart, strong, and truly wishes she could be a mother, even if it's just because that's what she's supposed to do as a woman in this society.

Cons:
I feel like there was such an emphasis on surveillance on women, so why was it so easy for Nelah to just switch the chip recording on and off in the beginning. Wouldn't that raise some kind of notice to her husband who checks her chip on a daily basis? After reading to the end, I do see some of the reasoning for this, but it still is strange.
Thought I loved Nelah as a character, I truly wish she could have had some time to be with other women. Almost every interaction with a woman was either her mother, Moremi, or Jan's wife for a brief moment. It's so frustrating and I get why that's the case and the ending kind of explained it...but god.

Real Bads:
There is so much repetition in the novel that it got frustrating. The parts about body hopping to be able to emigrate was repeated at least three times, and one of them being in a very clunky conversation between the two main characters.
The book reads a lot like three really great short stories mashed together in a way that almost makes sense. By themselves, wonderful amazing 10/10 sci-fi. Put together? It's so jarring to go through 3-4 genres in a single book.

I don't know where to even start with this book. It was wild! It was a sci-fi, horror, dystophia that covered so many issues elitism, sexism, racism, infertility, societal issues, cultural beliefs, and many more that I can't even think of at the moment. I feel many people might not vibe with everything the story offers, but I was hooked! I think it would make a great TV series to fully disect the book.

This is a science-fiction/horror/dystopian novel about a future world where your consciousness can be transferred to new bodies. People are able to live multiple lifetimes in different bodies, but if you live in the body of a criminal you are closely monitored to prevent future crimes. This novel reminded me of an episode of Black Mirror combined with the movie Cabin in the Woods. I enjoyed the creativity of the futuristic world, the ability of people to "body-hop", and the moral implication of this new technology. However, I felt that the book was not well paced and the themes were only touched upon superficially. Some heavy topics were discussed without elaboration (infertility, human trafficking, government surveillance, economic class). In addition, this novel was marketed as a science-fiction story. However, the science-fiction element seemed to be only in the background. The book read more like a ghost story/paranormal thriller and really picked up pace after ~60%. The beginning of the book was challenging to get through due to the long exposition that was delivered mainly through character monologues. Due to this, the dialogue felt unnatural, the characters underdeveloped, and the future world not fully described. It was an amazing premise, but lacked the proper execution required for such heavy topics and complex world-building.

3.75 ⭐️

Set in futuristic Botswana, humanity discovered a way to live forever: body-hoping. We follow Nelah, a highly accomplished architect at the pinnacle of her career and respectable in their field; However, despite her success, she grapples with the consequences of being micro-chipped and under constant surveillance because of a crime the previous soul that inhibited her body. She, along with many other women (never men), are constantly monitored by an AI remotely, while also undergoing daily "reviews" with her husband meticulously scrutinizing her feed to ensure she hasn't committed any crimes.

This book was best when it grabbed with the social issues that is presented in a world where people can live forever if their government thinks their soul deserves to live on, and even then some people's souls aren't "reincarnated" right away because they aren't a priority. These bodies that sould are reincarnated into aren't vacant bodies, people tend to sell their bodies, hoping that in their next lifespan they are more financially secure, or some are forced into less "desirable" bodies to make their bodies avaliable for more "deserving" souls. I feel like all the interesting commentary took a back seat when the murder-mystery was introduced. As the book introduced more paranomal aspects, it became more telling then showing in regards to, well, everything. I feel like a second POV (specifically the murder victims) could've helped strengthen the novel and make it flow more naturally instead of having that bizarre section towards the end. I also think that the pacing towards the end was a bit abysmal

Overall, it's still a very interesting book that makes you question and grabbed with ideas you might never thought of!!


[I was provided an e-arc on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review]

Whoa, this book was a wild ride. It includes both flying cars and ghosts! A sci-fi thriller with twists and turns, I was never sure what was going to happen next. It covers topics such as transhumanism, patriarchy, folklore... In my opinion it seemed to drag a bit about a third of the way through but after pushing through that it was an action-packed whirlwind. I am glad I read it and won't forget it anytime soon.

I received an ARC from Kensington books. Thanks!