Science fiction is not normally a genre I enjoy reading, but I wanted to branch out and try this novel for its mind-bending premise and the lofty reputation of its author/translator. Stunning prose throughout, with an acute detail to language, memory, and poetry. I leave this work thinking that Anton Hur is possibly a genius, and maybe he's too big-brained for my meager tastes. A second reading might be in order, since I had to just let this expansive, generational story wash over me, even the sections that I found confusing. There's such a sustained elegiac tone to Hur's writing that I found brilliant. The poetry explications kept me on my toes: Emily Dickinson, John Milton, Christina Rossetti, and likely some others that I didn't recognize. This was a probing and introspective look into what defines humanity and how that persists through supposed eras of radical technological innovations (re: AI). It's a message that couldn't be timelier, and I don't think I've encountered an author tackle this subject matter in the guise of a never-ending love story in multiple forms. It won't be for everyone, but I'm glad I took a chance on such a rich and diverse title.

Much appreciation to NetGalley & HarperVia for eARC access.

I’ve been trying to articulate my thoughts on Anton Hur’s ‘Toward Eternity’ and all I can say that it’s nothing short of stunning. It shouldn’t come as a surprise of this translators way with words but reading his own - in his debut novel - is another experience entirely. A lyrical experience that transports readers to an emotional world made entirely of Hur’s soul.

Captivating and emotional ‘Toward Eternity’ is a must read this year (and every year after!). I greatly look forward to seeing what this author produces in the future.

Interesting concept, and a lot of interesting philosophical thinky-talk, but I just didn't connect with any of the characters. And this book really needed you to connect with the characters for it to work. It needed a lot more world-building, or at least I think that would've helped make it feel more like a novel.

I didn't hate it, and I didn't feel the need to DNF it. The writing, overall, is good. There is absolutely an audience for this book; I think it was just not the right book for me at this point in time.

The premise of this was so interesting and I was excited to get stuck in!
This is a slower paced sci-fi book, which is not something I've come across much before and I thoroughly enjoyed the change of pace. Worldbuilding isn't central to the story, something I usually love, but it didn't suffer for this. The characters were interesting and the way the story was told through discussion of language and music was so good.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I book was great and I did enjoy it, however it definitely took me a lot longer to finish it than usual. I loved the premise of the book but left very disconnected halfway through the book.

Hur, well known for his works of translation, writes a science fiction novel where nano-technology used to eradicate cancer leaves patience virtually immortal, but also causes uncontrollable replication. The story follows several characters through journal entries exploring their existence and identity and allows the reader to witness a changing landscape as the characters experience the consequences of these influential technologies.
I found this book to be absolutely brilliant. A heavily philosophical title about humanity, technology, music, poetry, love, and so much more, that continues to stay engaging and accessible.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this one with high expectations and it really didn’t disappoint. I have loved every single book I’ve read that was translated by Hur. It’s so obvious how much care he puts into his translations. So I was so excited to get to see words that were just his.

Toward Eternity is, for the most part, the slow moving speculative sci-fi. It focuses less on worldbuilding, but the concepts are easy to glean. The main themes Hur questions are what makes a person, themselves and human. One of the ways this is investigated is similar to the Ship of Theseus (it’s a concept I’ve always loved). Art and language is also a central concept in questioning humanity. It’s not surprising to see the translator extraordinaire explore the impact of language and communication for humans. Hur takes it a level deeper with questioning if AI’s understanding of poetry can bring it closer to personhood.

I really liked the connection of the main characters through time via a journal. I think Hur handled the style changes between these characters well. I did want to spend some more time with each of the characters, but that’s a personal problem I have with shifting perspectives. While towards the end as we move to the future the pace of the book picks up, I enjoyed the introspective side of the novel more. There is a lot to be pondered with this one and I’m excited for the discussions that will come.

Books I thought of while reading this were some of my all time favorites; Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun, Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven and with all the poetry references, Dan Simmons’ Hyperion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Full Rating: 4.75 stars rounded up

Toward Eternity by Anton Hur is a thought-provoking speculative fiction novel that intertwines the fates of its characters through the passage of a notebook, chronicling the rapid evolution of human society across generations. Set in a world strikingly similar to our own, Hur’s novel opens with the mystery of a missing nanodroid clinical trial patient in South Africa, introducing Dr. Beeko, a scientist continuing her late mother's work in nanotherapy—a revolutionary treatment that grants immortality by replacing all human cells with nanites. However, this seemingly miraculous process comes with unexpected complications as patients' “redundant selves” begin to resist the nanites, leading to re-emerging scars and altered personalities.

Hur’s exploration of language and its role in shaping reality takes center stage with the character of Panit, a nonbinary AI program that reads and analyzes poetry. Through Panit, the novel delves into the complex intersections of AI, language processing, cognition, and humanity. The narrative raises profound questions about what it means to be human, particularly when human consciousness and artificial intelligence begin to merge.

Yonghun Han, the first patient in the nanotherapy trials, reappears after going missing, his body now hosting a new consciousness that inherits his memories and language. Yonghun’s struggle with immortality, grief over his deceased husband, and the disquieting changes in his identity, echo the novel's central themes of death, immortality, and the delicate balance between creation and destruction.

Music, like language, serves as a powerful motif in Toward Eternity, especially through the character of Ellen, a cellist and the second nanotherapy patient. Ellen’s redundant self re-emerges in subtle changes to her playing style, paralleling how language and music can evolve, resist, and reinvent themselves. This resistance takes a darker turn as Ellen’s nanites begin duplicating her, leading to the appearance of doppelgangers that stalk her, a haunting metaphor for the novel’s exploration of identity and the body’s resistance to change.

The narrative takes a poignant turn as Panit is transferred into Yonghun’s consciousness-less nanodroid body. Mortal Panit grapples with love, loss, and the desire for a family. This desire is tragically thwarted by repeated miscarriages, and later by the revelation that their child has been cloned by the sinister corporation Janus.

Hur masterfully balances lyricism, philosophical reflection, and plot, weaving a complex narrative that challenges the reader to consider the nature of life, death, and humanity. The book’s structure, with its chorus of interconnected voices, and its meditative prose, will resonate with fans of both Martha Wells’ Murderbot series and Sequoia Nagamatsu’s How High We Go in the Dark.

Toward Eternity is a novel that’s easy to consume and hard to forget, prompting reflection on the stories we tell, the languages we speak, and the lives we lead. Hur’s book is a powerful meditation on the human condition, a story that, much like the characters within it, evolves with each reading. I really enjoyed reading a novel from a translator I admire and I’m looking forward to seeing what Hur does next!

📖 Recommended For: Fans of speculative fiction with a philosophical edge, readers who enjoy intricate worldbuilding and AI narratives, those interested in the intersections of language, identity, and technology, admirers of Martha Wells’ Murderbot series and Sequoia Nagamatsu’s How High We Go in the Dark.

🔑 Key Themes: Immortality and Identity, The Power and Limits of Language, The Intersection of Technology and Humanity, Grief and Memory, Resistance and Reinvention.

Content / Trigger Warnings: Death of Parent (minor), Death of Spouse (moderate), Grief (moderate), Medical Content (minor), Injury (minor), Cancer (minor), Miscarriage (minor), War (moderate).

This book is a truly philosophical book about a possible future with the question if immortality is truly a good thing.
The question I’m truly left with after finishing this books is. Is humanity truly making the right choices?
The story was set in the beginning in South Africa where they where trying to find a cure for cancer which is truly a noble goal but if it takes away the humanity in you and leaves you with no memory of your loved ones are you still human.

It think this was an amazing sci fi book where I’m going to be thinking about for a very long time.

Maybe it's because I read it not that long ago, but some of the questions Hur brings up reminded me of Arkady Martine's Teixicalaan series. For instance, what makes us human? Well, the questions and all of the poetry. This was a fantastically lovely read that will almost certainly stick with me for some time.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher HarperVia for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

I really did think I'd love this book because of the premise but by 33% I was struggling with the detached perspectives and the lack of descriptions.

ANTON HUR. IF YOU EVER WANT TO TALK IMPACT OF LANGUAGE ON SOCIETY OR METAPHYSICS, I AM FREE WHENEVER. I don't know if there are enough words to explain how much I enjoyed this book. I've actually been in a slump for a while now. A few audiobooks have been able to keep my attention but for the most part, I haven't picked up a book. While I have picked up and put down the book, it's because I spent time thinking about how I understand the reality we exist in and how some of the themes of this book are relevant in our society.

If you want an extremely well written book that uses poetry to explore the intergration of AI and technology into humanity itself, what it even means to be human or a being, a bit of the Theseus Paradox, and the importance of language in society, RUN to your nearest library or store and get this book.

The summary is basically we as readers are reading the journal that explores the evolution of technology in medicine that basically makes people immortal but has an extremely negative side too that isn't known until it's already begun. This negative side critically impacts humans (as we in 2024 know the definition of) and we watch over an indefined time period how this changes society's view on existence.

I may have gotten an arc of it but I will certainly be getting me a copy of the book too. I know that Anton Hur is a translator, but I am excitedly looking forward to any future books he writes too.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an interesting book!

"What else can we be but stories about ourselves that we tell ourselves?"

Toward Eternity poses the question of what it means to be human in a dystopian future in which nanites are used to cure terminal cancer patients, substituting the cancerous cells with android cells. The consequence of this is immortality and so many questions about what makes someone a human - their performance as one, their cells, what? The book is as poetic as the poetry it quotes and establishes dialogue with. It discusses love, AI, the power of language, progress (and what that actually means), and so many other topics in such a sensible way.

I'm a huge fan of Anton Hur's work as a translator, so it was really exciting to read his debut novel. It was as amazing as I thought it would be and I cannot wait to read more books by him.

Thank you so much to HarperVia and Harper360 UK for my e-ARC and proof, respectively!

Toward Eternity was such a beautiful and indescribable book that I'm unsure how to formulate a fitting review. This story feels, in part, like a love letter to language and it's importance in humanity. While on the other hand, it's a cautionary tale of our growing reliance on artificial intelligence. The author incorporates several different genres (speculative, sci-fi, literary fiction, poetry) into a short-length novel that will surely entice many readers and reignite the flame in older readers.

Toward Eternity is an excellent choice for your next speculative sci-fi read. Hur does a masterful job of weaving together a multigenerational story, propelled by a creative take on modern AI concerns. At just under 300 pages, it’s long enough to host a complex narrative, but not so lengthy that it loses focus. While some of the sharp perspective changes felt a bit abrupt, I believe they ultimately complement the nature of the story. Overall, it’s a quick and engaging read that I’ll be mulling over for some time.

Thank you Anton Hur, HarperVia, and NetGalley for my advanced review copy. My opinions are my own.

Toward Eternity is out now!

Plot - 4
Writing and Editing - 4
Character Development - 4
Personal Bias - 3
Final Score - 3.75

toward eternity is a narrative that is difficult to articulate my thoughts about. in simplest terms, its a beautifully written and deeply contemplative story about the nature of what it means to be human. it takes a sci-fi spin to paradox of the ship of theseus — how do the versions of “you”represent “you” — and cranks it to 11.

but it’s also a story about the poetry and language, about recorded history, inheritance between generations and lifetimes. when it questions what it means to be human and what is the nature of humanity, the answer is warm and gentle, filled with more hope than cynicism about what the future of eternity for humanity could mean. our existence of all that was and all that will be are accumulations of our pasts, our collective memory carried on through time and space and poetry. our humanity is based on not only what we can give to others but what we receive from others. even when humanity hurdles towards horrible endings, the answer the narrative lands with is one of love and compassion as a possible future that transcends both the physical body and time to persist to eternity.

that is to say, toward eternity is lovely and is everything to me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of Toward Eternity, I felt that this novel was a little hit and miss for me. The premise of the novel was great and it really showed promised, a lot of the subject was really developed well and the concept was created well, however I felt it was heavy with descriptions, I felt sometimes it was too bogged down with things that I felt weren't important or relevant to the storyline. That aside it is written well and the whole novel itself is put together very cleverly.

Toward Eternity is a love letter to language and music. It explores a future where nanotechnology forces us to confront what makes us human.

There were ideas and passages in this book I really enjoyed. And it did get me to think about the future of art and humanity as technology continues to progress. Upon finishing the book, however, I wished it had been a bit more subtle in the way it explored its themes. Some of it felt a bit heavy handed.

I thought it was a solid debut, though. And I look forward to what Anton Hur writes next!

I hadn't read anything by Anton Hur before, so I didn't know what to expect. However, that didn't even matter because the novel was really interesting and I found it to be quite unique. Was it perfect, no, but what is? I liked the creativity in setting and imagining the future how he did. Will definitely purchase for our branch!