Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful book review

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton
Published by Delacorte Press on December 4, 2018
Pages: 384
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads

For fans of television shows Black Mirror and Westworld, this compelling, mind-bending novel is a twisted look into the future, exploring how far we will go to remake ourselves into the perfect human specimen and what it means to be human at all.
Set in our world, spanning the near to distant futures, Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful is a novel made up of six interconnected stories that ask how far we will go to remake ourselves into the perfect human specimens, and how hard that will push the definition of "human."
This extraordinary work explores the amazing possibilities of genetic manipulation and life extension, as well as the ethical quandaries that will arise with these advances. The results range from the heavenly to the monstrous. Deeply thoughtful, poignant, horrifying, and action-packed, Arwen Elys Dayton's Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful is groundbreaking in both form and substance.

Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful is a collection of six stories, all of which comments on how technology can better or destroy the human race. I think the commentary in this book was really well placed and offered a really unique insight into the world of technology and how that meshes with humans. I did enjoy this read and I’ll go into more detail as always as to what I think worked and what didn’t for me, but I just wish that there had been more of everything if I’m honest and I wish the payoff at the end had been worth it.

There are far too many characters to talk about each and every one of them but I did think they were extremely well written. I loved learning about each of them in turn even though I did feel as though their stories ended quite abruptly and didn’t quite get the explanation they needed or deserved. I think this book builds beautiful characters that you begin to care and want to know more about before ending their story without actually getting into the nitty-gritty of their motivations which is what made Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful a little disappointing in my eyes. Purely because the characters had so much potential.

I loved the commentary throughout Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful was really well done. I loved seeing the different sides to the stories and seeing the good and the bad of technology and how it can affect people’s lives for both the better and the worst. Once I realised that there were six completely different stories instead of one continual one I stopped waiting for the connection and started to enjoy them as singular storylines and without much more meaning than that. I do think that this book offers interesting insight and I really started to look at the technology we have and the pros and cons of each.

I think although I can see the idea behind having 6 separate stories I think this would have worked better if there had been more of a connection between each story. I would have loved for all the characters in Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful to have come together and for there to have been a little more closure. I just felt that even though each story offered some really great commentary there was no real point to the earlier stories because they didn’t end up feeding into one another. I got to the end of the book and didn’t quite know where it was going or why it was ending the way it did.

Once I realised that there were 6 separate stories, it made way more sense and I enjoyed them each as their own. I did think it would have been better to have more developed storyline for each and I was waiting to see how they would all entwine with each other. I would recommend Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful with the caveat that you don’t get any closure at the end of the stories so if that is what you’re after this might not be for you!

What books have you read that deal with technology and the dangers that come with it? Hit me with your recommendations!