The Family Experiment by John Marrs ~ Book Review

This is the second book I've read by John Marrs, and I was uncertain about what to expect when I picked it up. However, I was hooked from the very beginning. The story felt like a plausible glimpse into the future of AI, exploring a world where wearing a VR headset and suit immerses you fully in the metaverse. I devoured this book in just a few days because I couldn't put it down. I was eager to learn more about each couple or individual on the reality show. Will they be able to parent their metaverse child? Who will win the grand prize? The intricate connections between the characters surprised me. I loved the back-and-forth narrative, delving into each character's past and seeing how it influenced their interactions with their meta child. This book is full of twists and turns, making it impossible to stop reading until the very end. I look forward to exploring more of John Marrs' work.

Description: 

From the acclaimed author of The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and brilliant speculative thriller about families: real and virtual.

Some families are virtually perfect…

The world's population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, the breaking point has arrived. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families, let alone raise them.

But for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality TV show called The Substitute. It will follow ten couples as they raise a virtual child from birth to the age of eighteen but in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child, or risk it all for the chance of a real baby…

Set in the same universe as John Marrs's bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate Tamagotchi—a virtual baby.