A review by selenotropic
Cradle and Grave by Anya Ow

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A tremendous entry in the "people entering a strange twisted zone" subgenre of sci-fi. The original and intense body horror is buoyed by gentle, humane character work and some really interesting large-scale themes of transhumanism and ecological devastation. I wish the book was slightly longer because the ending is awfully quick and things get very abstract for a bit there - I would've liked to see some of that dense conceptual stuff fleshed out a little more. Nonetheless, Cradle and Grave is an excellent novella and I can't recommend it enough.