4.25 ✰

“when mathilde experienced great success, no one was prouder of her than you. but i always sensed that it cost you something to be that way. you had a way of smiling that looked like an open wound on your face.”

taking a look at the dystopian world huang has created, through the eyes of an artist, made for a really, really fascinating read. as we travel with enka from fringe life, to enclave, to being in one of the most powerful families, you’d think she’d be happy with the life she’s created for herself. and yet, through it all, she’s just reminded of how she didn’t achieve it on her own.

in parallel to that journey, we see enka and mathilde’s friendship develop and evolve over time. as the years grew, so did enka’s jealousy over mathilde’s talent. without revealing too much, it was heartbreaking to watch enka make the choices she did in relation to mathilde. it was even more devastating when we were finally able to see their relationship from mathilde’s pov.

thank you to ling ling huang, dutton and netgalley for this arc 🖤

This was a readable narrative with interesting thematic exploration, but I felt it was bogged down by uneven pacing and muddied technology.

The world building began grounded in contemporary life, but the technology and futurism that developed were incomplete, like a half finished sketch. There’s clones, brain merging, digital twins, immaculate conception, genome editing. Throw a dart at a speculative fiction dartboard, and Immaculate Conception will incorporate that trope into the narrative.

For a tale that involves art and artists, and stretches decades into humanity’s future, there is a noticeable absence of gender and sexual expression within the pages of Immaculate Conception.

Overall, I think many readers will enjoy Immaculate Conception, it simply fell a little flat for me.

Immaculate Conception

Ling Ling Huang’s sophomore novel was underwhelming as someone who absolutely loved Natural Beauty. Immaculate Conception felt like two different stories mashed together and while one was interesting, the other wasn’t quite as intriguing. I don’t necessarily blame her for the fact that I found it difficult to fully dive into this book because it was far too in the depths of science fiction rather than what I had hoped it would be.
However, I did enjoy how it ended. It was very emotional and impactful. It shows the importance and value of friendship and relationships; how our decisions can forever change the course of the lives around us. The last chapter is left open-ended and hopeful, which I liked.
So, although I favor her first novel more, I do think this was a good book. The ending will leave me reeling for days to come.

Ling Ling Huang has the intelligence and creativity to create some of the most thought provoking nightmare fuel I have ever read. The worlds she creates are so immersive, there’s a palpable tension that I can never really pinpoint. All of the characters in Immaculate Conception are flawed in vastly different ways while simultaneously having a captivation about them. There are many themes explored here without being too in your face. The most impactful for me personally was the glimpse into trauma and how trauma is often used as fuel for other aspects of life, such as creativity and (a potentially toxic level of) ambition. Full transparency, I was at about 66% in when I decided to start completely over. I felt like I was missing A LOT and going back really helped me absorb more of the intricacies.

Immaculate Conception tackles heady subjects like authorship, artistic inclinations, individuation and friendship in a near future world where tech is even more closely connected with humanity. I was intrigued by Enka as a protagonist, and all the ways I ended up sometimes rooting for her as sh allowed jealousy to overtake her goodness.

Fans of Black Mirror-esque stories about art, technology and complex relationships will devour this one!

3.5 ⭐️. I'm in such wonder of the world's that Huang creates. this was such an interesting story of empathy, friendship, competition and working through trauma.

thank you to Dutton & Penguin Group & NetGalley for an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

I am not sure why but this book did not work for me. However, as I always say when I don't like a book, just because I did not like the book, it doesn't mean that someone else won't like it. It also doesn't necessarily mean that I may not like another book by the same author. Or even that I may not like the book if I try it again in the future...

[4.5 stars] I love an author who has such a distinct point of view and voice that you could quickly identify their writing from just a few sentences. I enjoyed Huang's debut Natural Beauty, and was eagerly awaiting the release of Immaculate Conception. After devouring this in 24 hours, I can confirm that I think it is even better than her debut.

The book could not be more timely as it confronts the threat of generative artificial intelligence to the livelihood of artists. We follow Enka and Mathilde, two burgeoning talents in art school with a bright future ahead of them. When their college announces the public release of a generative AI tool that creates art instantaneously, the entire art world is thrust into chaos. Artists enter ugly legal battles over copyright to their own ideas, the public becomes accustomed to instant gratification, and artists are forced to find ways to adapt. Artists are only deemed worthy of attention if they're willing to show the most raw and vulnerable aspects of their existence that AI cannot possibly capture. It leads to discourse around commodifying pain, the right to privacy, and the true meaning of art in late-stage capitalism.

Ling Ling Huang approaches this in a way I wouldn't expect most authors to. Everything in the novel is set from the perspective of Enka, whereas I think the easier choice would have been to frame things from Mathilde's point of view. For the reader, it tests our bounds of empathy and patience, but adds a layer of nuance and themes that otherwise would go unexplored. It would be a stretch to even call Enka morally grey, but her character arc explores important themes that Mathilde alone could not.

My only minor critique of the novel is the world-building. The integration of technology and division of classes is interesting, but seldom explored beyond the introduction. As a reader, I'm greedy - give me all the context and backstory behind a dystopian world!

Immaculate Conception is like the twisted, dark love child between Suture and Sirens & Muses that I'll be thinking about for weeks to come. If you're interested in literary science fiction (Goodreads classifies this as horror, which I don't think is quite accurate), it's a very timely read. Thank you to the publisher for the e-ARC, and for solidifying Ling Ling Huang as one of my all-time favourite authors.

This had so many intriguing emotional dilemmas and such interesting sci-fi concepts, I know I will keep thinking about this one till long after.
I’ve never seen such a heavy focus of science intermingled with art, and the moral ramifications of doing so. This book raises a lot of questions (though it doesn’t quite focus in and “resolve” one). I think this had 5 or so big topics that could have been the “main plot” - just sticking to the SCAFFOLD project for instance - but instead it introduces class buffers, AI artwork, copyright infringement, clones, memory tampering, corporations owning art, the death of the internet, and on and on.
The pacing feels a bit off with back and forth timelines then time jumps, but ultimately our anchor is the relationship of Enka & Mathilde. Their complicated friendship/rivals is really where this book excels and I think a lot of the world could have been cut to build on them and the trauma vs art themes.
Probably a 3 but close enough to be rounded up to a 4.

Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for the chance to read this ARC!

I didn’t love this one, but I didn’t hate it. The name originally captured my attention. I honestly wasn’t a fan of the writing but overall it was an okay read .

<i>First, a thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.</i>

This book was A LOT, but in a good way. If you are looking for entertainment, I would say this isn't really it - this book is pretty heavy, and deals with a lot of questions on personhood, on the <i>soul</i>, and are you entirely your thoughts, or does part of your soul live in your body, in your muscle memory, as well?

In that way, this book reminded me of [book:And Again|25110965], which also deals (in one part) of your person existing in your body as well as your mind.

This book took it much further, however, and was really more of a artistic statement itself (which is fitting, given the subject matter and how we learn about the characters).

The other thing that really got me about this book is the idea that you can mean the world to someone else, they can hold you in such high esteem, you can be one of the most pivotal people in their life - and you could never know how much you mean to them. Someone YOU even hold in high esteem - you can mean as much, or even more, to them. I think sometimes we forget not only are we affected by the world and people around us - but we affect and impact them, too.

Immaculate Conception is a book I have been wanting to get my hands on since finishing Natural Beauty. Ling Ling Huang is quickly becoming a new voice in speculative horror and I cannot wait to see how her career progresses. In this new work, she tackles AI's effects on art, envy between female professionals in a highly competitive industry, and how far someone is willing to go to get what they want. Set in a seemingly near future, the world of Immaculate Conception is simultaneously foreign with its use of technology and familiar with themes of insecurity and jealousy that we have all felt at some point in our lives. The book has genuine jaw dropping moments of psychological horror and equally devastating sections of sadness. Additionally, many explorations of ethical dilemmas in some of the art pieces and technologies used in the book which may become real ideas to debate sooner than we think. The end was like a gut punch. Immaculate Conception is haunting and I will be thinking of it for a long time.

Just not my kind of thing. I thought maybe I'd expand my horizons, nearly died, and playing catch up amounted to a lot of stress for nothing.

Thank you to Ling Ling Huang, Penguin Group, and NetGalley for this eARC!

This book had a really interesting premise. It felt very in the vein of Severance and Black Mirror—excited to read the author's other work.

I really enjoyed the first 60% and the last 40%… but they felt like different books. Really interesting premise.

Enka, an outsider artist with a chip on her shoulder, becomes intensely obsessed with Mathilde, a rising star in the contemporary art scene, while they’re both in art school. What starts as admiration and inspiration quickly spirals into jealousy, competition, fixation, friendship, and something even more tangled and dark.

What blew me away about Immaculate Conception is how Ling Ling Huang juggles so many heavy themes without ever slipping into preachiness. At the center of the story is this twisted, impossible to define relationship between Enka and Mathilde. Around that axis, the book explores the darker side of friendship, artistic ambition, and the murky line between talent and desperation.

The setting adds yet another layer. The story is grounded in a future that feels almost disturbingly near, where technology has become not just embedded in our lives, but fused with our bodies, our memories, even our creativity. Tech that allows you to link minds, replicate emotions, slow aging, preserve consciousness. None of it exists yet, but Huang makes it feel like we’re maybe six months away from all of it. That speculative element made the book even more unsettling in the best way. It constantly asked: just because we can, should we?

But Immaculate Conception isn’t just a philosophical think piece. It’s a visceral, emotionally taut novel that also delves into trauma, bodily autonomy, loss, and the fracturing concept of originality, particularly timely in the age of AI. What even counts as original thought anymore? What happens when your mind, your grief, and your art are no longer private?

The writing was incredible. Atmospheric without being indulgent, sharp without being sterile. Huang’s prose is both precise and immersive. The pacing is tight, I was fully engaged the entire way through. No saggy middle, no unnecessary tangents. Every chapter built on the last in a way that had me holding my breath a little.

And perhaps the smartest narrative decision: we see everything through Enka’s perspective. Not the victim. Not the moral center. But the outsider, the antagonist, the one making increasingly terrible choices. Yet? You get her. You feel for her. You understand her longing to be seen, acknowledged, chosen. That messy, complicated empathy the reader has for someone who's objectively in the wrong, it's such a brilliant tension to sit with.

Overall, I adored this book. It’s weird and dark and boundary pushing in exactly the ways I crave. If you're into stories that blend psychological tension with speculative tech, and you love a morally gray woman spiraling toward ruin in the name of art and recognition, this one’s for you.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I really liked 'Natural Beauty,' so I probably had unfairly high expectations for this follow-up. It didn't really work for me, but this kind of Black Mirror-esque satirization of technological progress rarely works for me. I also don't love art school stories, so...my lower rating for this is completely a me issue, rather than anything reflective about the book. I know tons will love it, and I'm so glad for them.

Ling Ling Huang is able to create stories that have these fascinating speculative elements that work to provide commentary about modern society. Enka is such a complicated main character, I loved watching her move throughout the story even though most of the time I didn’t love her choices. The codependent bond she has with Mathilde went in very interesting directions.

The book touches on so many different topics like art, AI, trauma, exploitation, envy, agency, and societal divides. It took me a little while to fully get into the story, the beginning felt pretty slow. But once more of the sci-fi elements from the synopsis are brought in I started flying through the book.

Definitely check this out if you enjoy books about messy friendships and the lengths people will go to for art, fame, and connection.

The true killer of creativity is comparison, and Enka takes it way, way too far.

Immaculate Conception revolves around Enka and Mathilde's increasingly bizarre lives. They meet in art college, Mathilde an already sought after artist and Enka barely scraping by with a scholarship, coming from a more or less forced lower class situation. AI threatens to destroy the concept of being an artist all together, and Enka finds herself struggling with inspiration and insecurity. Despite this, the girls become inseparable, and as Mathilde grows her art career to a global degree, Enka ends up pursuing a life with a prestigious family in hopes of furthering her own career.

After an especially traumatic event, their lives become intertwined in a scientific yet horrifying way, leading Enka's insecurities to take a dark turn and risk Mathilde's wellbeing.

The story is a slow burn of mainly Enka's life, and how her insecurity comes between genuine relationships. It touches on AI and art, class differences, healing trauma (in questionable ways), and ties it all up in a neat little bow of horror and unease. A must read for those who enjoyed "Natural Beauty" and anything body horror!

TW: serious traumatic events and adult content

Thank you to Net Galley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC!

Ling Ling Huang’s "Immaculate Conception" is a masterful, kaleidoscopic swirl of themes and ideas that circumvents the question of artistic originality to get at something deeper—the importance of origin itself.

I encourage would-be readers to avoid the publisher-shared summary and instead go into the book with only this: "Immaculate Conception" follows the competitive but complementary relationship between Enka—an artist who is technically gifted but lacks vision, and Mathilde—a peer who outshines her in every way. It is not, as the copy makes it sound, “yet another book about AI.”

It’s about the ways identity is commodified.

The author immediately subverts questions surrounding the value of AI-generated “art” by dwelling on something more existential—why does authenticity or authorship matter at all?

Within "Immaculate Conception," Huang seems to insist that art and selfhood are tightly interwoven. At one point, we witness the literal “death of the author” while others co-opt their work. It’s framed as a profane act. Without the context of a life behind it, the resulting “art” is simply a lifeless, violated object.

Huang then builds on this premise by gradually removing different kinds of context from her characters’ lives, asking how much humanity they retain without it. What does it mean to be a self if one’s trauma is removed? How does something that jeopardizes selfhood also solidify it?

That might sound esoteric, but Huang makes it fun. She exercises such care and intentionality at every turn. Her prose is exceptional, full of knotty, richly textured phrases and images. There were points where I found myself reading aloud to feel the words in my mouth. Similarly, it’s clear that Huang put a great deal of research into the art community—a community she’s part of as a musician. There are countless references to performance artists, painters, and composers, and it's a delight to interrupt one's read to look them up and see how they fit into the themes of the story. Impressively, the line between real and imagined projects is often unclear, further emphasizing the question of authorship. If a piece of art exists only as a sentence in this book, is it somehow less real than a comparable piece in a museum?

If there are any critiques to be made about "Immaculate Conception," it’s that the finale isn’t quite able to sustain the frenzied fever pitch to which it escalates. For a book that revels in ambiguity and big questions, it’s a surprisingly limp end, feeling almost like an editorial obligation—"You should spell it all out for readers in case they don't get it." It didn’t diminish how much I loved the book as a whole, but it was a surprising turn.

I’m excited about this book. It’s some of the most fun I’ve had with a novel in quite a while, and it’s a story that takes full advantage of its medium. Ling Ling Huang is such a talented author, and I’m looking forward to seeing how people engage with her work here.