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_kathill's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gore, Infidelity, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Miscarriage, Racism, and Classism
caidyn's review
I'm sure this is a good book, but I felt lost. The world is rich, but I didn't understand it. Didn't like any of the characters either. All in all, not for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Misogyny
falenkizzy's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, and Death
Moderate: Ableism, Sexual assault, Rape, and Miscarriage
Minor: Trafficking, Sexual violence, and Incest
roytoo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
"The truth claws its way into Nelah’s life from the grave."
That line from the book description echoes my reactions:
This story clawed into me with its vivid descriptions of mundane, good, bad and evil deeds set in a future Botswana (and world) where very long lives are possible.
But what is the true cigar if those long lives, especially for everyone who isn't a cis male?
Please see the content warnings.
That line from the book description echoes my reactions:
This story clawed into me with its vivid descriptions of mundane, good, bad and evil deeds set in a future Botswana (and world) where very long lives are possible.
But what is the true cigar if those long lives, especially for everyone who isn't a cis male?
Please see the content warnings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Miscarriage
Minor: Incest, Trafficking, and Sexual violence
kelsokake's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I had little to no idea what to expect when starting this book, but I was pleasantly surprised! This wasn't a light read at all. It's sci-fi set in an insanely patriarchal society that has like, built-in generational trauma.
In our city, it is unwise to trust reality.
I have been betrayed by reality, betrayed by my subconscious, shipwrecked from reality.
Now every thought must be deceased from my mind before its birth.
While it took me a while to get invested, once I was in it, I was in it. The last quarter of the book had me constantly gasping in surprise and while the metaphor/allegory got a little heavy-handed towards the end, I still found myself wanting to know what was going to happen. I would definitely check out other books by Tlotlo Tsamaase
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Infertility, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Colonisation, Car accident, Body horror, Child death, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, and Miscarriage
Minor: Racism and Sexual violence
poisoned_icecream's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Sexual assault, Death, Drug use, Infertility, Car accident, and Gore
Moderate: Pregnancy, Incest, and Miscarriage
planet_taffy's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Womb City is a heavy book that handles gender politics and crimes against women in a deeply intersectional way. I was continually impressed with the new layers Tsamaase brought to the issue leaving no stone unturned in xer dissection of male privilege and the way it's used to enact violence on everyone else.
It terms of the sci-fi elements, Tsamaase's future Botswana is also full of layers from artificial immortality through "body-hopping" to the many tools of surveillance and control giving us the dynamic of second class citizens through "microchipped people". Xe is pretty good about explaining new technologies each time they come up so that, by the time they're super important to the plot, you're quite familiar with them.
All in all it's a rewarding read, even if the verbiage is a bit hard to get through on the first pass. Nothing in the book is a throwaway, making the ending one of the most satisfying I've read. My only complaint is that I wish less scenes had taken place in the car.
It terms of the sci-fi elements, Tsamaase's future Botswana is also full of layers from artificial immortality through "body-hopping" to the many tools of surveillance and control giving us the dynamic of second class citizens through "microchipped people". Xe is pretty good about explaining new technologies each time they come up so that, by the time they're super important to the plot, you're quite familiar with them.
All in all it's a rewarding read, even if the verbiage is a bit hard to get through on the first pass. Nothing in the book is a throwaway, making the ending one of the most satisfying I've read. My only complaint is that I wish less scenes had taken place in the car.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Misogyny, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Blood, Death, Sexism, Death of parent, Violence, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Miscarriage, and Child death
Minor: Kidnapping and Pregnancy
These are pulled from the frontmatter of the book. Sensitive topics are used with purpose, but there is quite a bit of gore & body horror.mals_reads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
i think this was a fantastic debut, and i don’t agree with the reviews saying the story was all over the place! it is very complex — a body-hopping re-incarnation-focused society, a murder plot, a cruel high society and authoritarian government, discussions on Black and trans and women’s bodies, and other similar commentary — and these multitudes of components make this story great in my opinion. but to each their own!
if you like a more complicated plot, this is definitely for you. the book takes a turn about a quarter of the way in, turning from pure Afrofuturist sci-fi into a dystopian psychological thriller and a race against time.
i think Tlotlo Tsamaase accomplished quite a feat and i really adored her main character Nelah; she was a fighter, and i think the author did an amazing job making her both complex and so, so understandable.
if you like a more complicated plot, this is definitely for you. the book takes a turn about a quarter of the way in, turning from pure Afrofuturist sci-fi into a dystopian psychological thriller and a race against time.
i think Tlotlo Tsamaase accomplished quite a feat and i really adored her main character Nelah; she was a fighter, and i think the author did an amazing job making her both complex and so, so understandable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Racism
Moderate: Violence, Rape, Pregnancy, Murder, and Medical trauma
Minor: Incest
swalk's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Womb City is a dystopian futuristic sci-fi set in Botswana with a horror twist. In this world, you live a 210-year lifespan by body hopping, that is having your consciousness transplanted into a host body by the Body Hope Facility. There are low levels of crime, particularly homicide and every Sunday at dusk human corpse-detecting chemicals are sprayed into the air, revealing any murders which have occurred over the previous week. If you are unlucky you end up with a body which has previously been involved in crime. In that case, you have an operating system implanted in your brainstem to prevent criminal recidivism by monitoring your every move, thought and feeling. Nelah is one such unfortunate although she is a successful architect, she is in a loveless and childless marriage and begins to look elsewhere, finding ways to mislead the chip and hide from its monitoring.
Whilst I really loved the concept of mixing futuristic dystopia and horror, the execution could have been better. There is quite a lot to take in about this new world and at the start, this was at a reasonable pace, then not much happened for a while until there was a huge information dump in chapter 31. I felt some of these concepts could have been explained earlier whilst still keeping plenty for a big reveal. At 80% I had to go back to 60% and re-listen, which helped the rest of the book make much more sense.
*SPOILERS*
Useful concepts to understand when you get to 75%
Microchipped persons who are due to get their chip removed are put to a test - The Murder Trial to see how they react under pressure when they think no one is watching. That’s how the government determine microchip removal. If you fail the test you must deal with the return of your dead victim, through Motseyeng they will return and kill your whole family unless you stop them. There is still a chance to get through this if you stop the victim from completing this process.
The Murder Trials - a city-sanctioned cultural heritage and purification ritual that every person with a microchip undergoes. The victim of the murder sets the rules that emanate from Motseyeng (sp.), a historically magical watering hole that demands blood from human sacrifice.
*END OF SPOILERS*
Overall I did enjoy this, I just found parts of it very confusing at times. 3.5/5 but with a lot of potential, I will be keeping an eye out for future work from this author.
If you like Noughts+Crosses, Jordan Peele movies or Black Mirror you might enjoy this.
The narrator does a great job bringing characters to life and keeping you engaged with the storyline. I think if the narrator hadn’t done such a good job I would have ended up a lot more confused than I did.
Whilst I really loved the concept of mixing futuristic dystopia and horror, the execution could have been better. There is quite a lot to take in about this new world and at the start, this was at a reasonable pace, then not much happened for a while until there was a huge information dump in chapter 31. I felt some of these concepts could have been explained earlier whilst still keeping plenty for a big reveal. At 80% I had to go back to 60% and re-listen, which helped the rest of the book make much more sense.
*SPOILERS*
Useful concepts to understand when you get to 75%
Microchipped persons who are due to get their chip removed are put to a test - The Murder Trial to see how they react under pressure when they think no one is watching. That’s how the government determine microchip removal. If you fail the test you must deal with the return of your dead victim, through Motseyeng they will return and kill your whole family unless you stop them. There is still a chance to get through this if you stop the victim from completing this process.
The Murder Trials - a city-sanctioned cultural heritage and purification ritual that every person with a microchip undergoes. The victim of the murder sets the rules that emanate from Motseyeng (sp.), a historically magical watering hole that demands blood from human sacrifice.
*END OF SPOILERS*
Overall I did enjoy this, I just found parts of it very confusing at times. 3.5/5 but with a lot of potential, I will be keeping an eye out for future work from this author.
If you like Noughts+Crosses, Jordan Peele movies or Black Mirror you might enjoy this.
The narrator does a great job bringing characters to life and keeping you engaged with the storyline. I think if the narrator hadn’t done such a good job I would have ended up a lot more confused than I did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Gore and Miscarriage
poindextrix's review against another edition
dark
tense
- Loveable characters? No
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Drug use, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia and Miscarriage