This story could turn out to be amazing. I won’t know because I decided to DNF. I was intrigued, but found it moving too slow for my taste.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced eARC.

Black Buck was one of my favorite books from 2023. Mateo Askaripour has a fresh view of viewing the world, and I was so happy to see his feelings on paper.

However, as much as I loved Black Buck, i didn't love This Great Hemisphere as much. Not because it's not a good book, but because this genre just isn't my thing.
Sweetmint is on a manhunt to find her brother, accused of murder in this book set in the future, where people are delegated to citizenship - hers being a second class one.

The world he created is very similar to today's - wealth, class, privilege, race. However, I realize speculative fiction just isn't for me and i struggled through some of the scenes.

This Great Hemisphere by Mateo Askaripour is a sci-fi story that’s a lot different than the books I usually read. Reading this book took me back to how I felt when I loved and enjoyed reading dystopian stories in elementary/middle school. This book is set in the future in a world where a good amount of the population is literally invisible. An invisible (Sweetsmoke/Shanu) has been accused of murdering the Chief Executive Rhitel (the hemisphere’s leader) and his sister (Sweetmint/Candace) hasn’t seen him in years but is now working hard to find out the truth. Following along with all the twists and turns in this book was exciting, once it picked up, it had me on the edge of my seat until the last page. I’d love to see this on the big screen one day.

I really enjoyed Askaripour’s debut a few years ago so I was very eager to get my hands on this one - it is definitely quite a departure from Black Buck, set in a futuristic dystopian world where a breed of literally invisible people are integrated into society.

The synopsis leads you to believe there is a murder mystery aspect to the story, and while that is there it’s far from the focus of the story, so adjust expectations accordingly. It’s mostly about an invisible character Sweetmint, her apprenticeship, and the grappling with being literally invisible in this world and how they are treated as ‘less than’. It’s a stunningly written story although I admit I was confused at times as I’m not a big sci-fi reader in general, and felt like parts were overly long but it has a lot of interesting things to say and overall I would definitely recommend this one.

4.5/5 stars - A stunning foray into the realm of speculative/dystopian fiction.

Set centuries into the future in the year 2529, "This Great Hemisphere" focuses on young Sweetmint, a young woman with the official name of Candace. She's an Invisible in Forest 26 of the Northwestern Hemisphere, just one of many dealing with the repercussions following an environmental and societal upheaval that has split the world into hemispheres, where individuals are either in the minority, lower-class population known as "vizzers" or are part of the the D.P. (Dominant Population), or "dippies". However, Sweetmint has been given the opportunity of a lifetime: a chance to work with Croger Tenmase, a renowned inventor known as the Great Architect, and she eagerly accepts the internship. It's her first chance to enter the D.P. community, but one that gets threatened when a shocking event happens: Chief Executive Rhitel, the leader of the Northwestern Hemisphere, is murdered - and the lone suspect is her older brother who abandoned her three years ago.

In the events that follow, Sweetmint attempts to keep some semblance of normalcy despite the immediate suspicion she's placed under. The story jumps perspectives to a number of other individuals with key roles in the ensuing political tangle, including Local Manager II Stephan Jolis and Hemispheric Guard Director Curts, as they try to reassure their citizens that justice will be met. All the while, we find out more and more about what happened in the centuries in-between that have passed, the true identities of individuals, and what has truly unfolded over time.

This novel is such a jarring, thought-provoking work that handles the concepts of race and class in a way I've yet to encounter. Despite the complete transformation of the world, the new societal and political rules in place - it's clear that the concept of minority and majority populations, and those with versus those without continue to hold true over time, and there are strong criticisms on gender discrimination and politics as well. While the plot is driven forward by the events that follow the murder of the Chief Executive, it leaves room for the detailed world-building and we're able to learn more about each of the main characters in this novel; Sweetmint's character growth and development by the end of the story is impressively done.

I did struggle with the sheer number of characters and names that were part of the storyline however (especially tough as they frequently have more than one name) and the complexity of this future world, which not only had new rules and structures, but also new languages and terminology that took some time to understand. The first half or so of the novel was difficult to get through because of this, but once the plot picked up towards the second half it was difficult to put down.

Very much a recommended read when "This Great Hemisphere" is published in July!

I have been waiting to see what was next from Mateo Askaripour after reading the fast-paced and wildly entertaining novel "Black Buck" in 2021. This Great Hemisphere is a total departure and shows the range of this young author.
Set in the future, This Great Hemisphere is an illustration of the societal ills and the lust for power by (non-invisibles) the "dominant" class and those who are considered the marginalized class (invisibles). The main character Sweetmint is born an invisible, and strives to make all of the right decisions with her education and career, by getting into an apprenticeship with a non-invisible and notable inventor in the Northwestern Hemisphere.
Sweetmint's focus is pulled away when she learns the brother she believed to be deceased is not only alive but is also accused of killing an important figure.
I do not read much speculative fiction, so this was very different for me. However, I still like Askaripor's writing so I was able to finish the book.

A wonderful read- Askaripour delivers on a dystopian narrative which depicts a near-future reeling from environmental collapse coinciding with a technological reset as well. What results is an Apartheid society in which the dominant "pinks" have created a psuedo-theocratic regime structured to subjugate the invisibles.
The murder of the hemisphere's chief executive drives the mystery of the story, while larger questions of identity, allegiances, and bringing truth to power transcend the narrative. It's page-turner with an irresistable central character in Sweetmint. Well worth the read.

This book made me understand what people mean by “crackling prose.” It zips right along. It’s almost cinematic. The scenes tumble forward one after another. I’m not exactly the right audience for it in that I wished for more depth and nuance but that is not this book.

Thank you, NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for this advanced readers copy. Black Buck was fantastic so when I heard this author had another book coming out, I knew I had to read it. This book is just as good. It took me a minute to understand the concept and world building setup but then it pulled me right in and I couldn’t put it down. There are invisibles and non-invisibles and invisibles are second class citizens. Invisibles must paint themselves to be seen. Sweet-mint is the main character and is searching for her brother. Herein lies her question as she searches for her brother through the book- is her brother dead? Alive? Good? Evil? I’m not going to tell you. It’s so good. You have to read it to find out. And now I need to read it a second time to see what clues I missed.

Askaripour has written an extremely propulsive novel. I had no idea what was going to happen and how things would end up -- my jaw dropped in real life at several points because I did not anticipate the reveal. I was so interested in the world that he built too, which I found to be very original. At times, it reminded of Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and Ted Chiang's works. I would've loved to have seen a map or a chart of the political hierarchy (maybe something that will be included in the final copy?).
What kept me from giving the book five stars was feeling that the allegories and real-world comparisons were a bit heavy-handed at times, and feeling that the pace could have been slightly slower as to allow the reader to really explore this world.

Over a hundred years from now in a world divided by forests, power, and conflict between the Dominant People (dippies) and invisibles (literally people with see through bodies, blood and bone, who are made visible with paint, contact lenses and tooth covering so that the dominant people know where they are). The invisibles are kept "in their place" by a society that needs them to act as servants, a workforce and subservient members of a blatantly unequal society. Sound familiar?

No really there are some similarities between the Hemisphere world and our own. The blatant racism may be more like the way things were during Jim Crow era America and the early 1900s where racism was just another day but in the Hemisphere people are not what they seem. Yes, there are men hiding their "relationships" with invisible women, as many men used to hide sexual abuse of Black women in America's past. Savior complex is prevalent with some dippies as they assure invisibles that they are allies. But the evolution of the hemisphere moving toward "the Great Re-Set" seems like a giant steep backward.

Incredibly strong characters populate the Hemisphere and the writing is intense and amazing. This Great Hemisphere is thought provoking, powerful and intelligent. I will be thinking about this book for a long time and talking about it with others too.

I absolutely loved Black Buck so I was excited to see Mateo Askaripour was releasing a new novel. One thing I loved about this futuristic book was how original it was. It didnt feel like anything else I’ve read before which was refreshing. The book was inventive and definitely lived up to if not exceeded his previous novel.

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour was one of my favorite reads in the past few years. It was creative and inventive, like his new book The Great Hemisphere. Full disclosure: I do not gravitate towards books set far in the future, but I admire the work Mateo put into creating a world that was both different and yet similar to our world today. One of my favorite lines is, "The future forever echoes the past, growing distant from its source, but never without it." Race plays a pivotal role in the story that unfolds in the Hemisphere but takes on an exciting form that I did not see coming. This book is significantly different from anything I've read, which held my attention, but at times, the language, character names, and situations became distracting. Overall, this book will find an audience who can appreciate the book's inventive nature.