Synopsis:

Noah Prime must set out to save his friends and the universe once again in this jaw-dropping sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel, I Am the Walrus . 

Noah Prime thought he was no more running, no more murderous aliens, and absolutely no more saving the world. The day he went into hiding should have put an end to it. But staying away is no longer an option when he winds up embroiled in yet another intergalactic calamity. This time, it’s courtesy of his usually level-headed friend Ogden, whose crush on the most popular girl in school, Claire, leads him to buy her a star for her birthday.

However, this heart-warming gesture ends up having disastrous consequences when it turns out the star is real—as in home to a gazillion aliens real. And it’s not long before these creatures have swooped down to Earth to abduct Claire and take her back to their planet—or rather her planet—as its new owner.

Now it’s up to Noah and his quick-changing animal abilities to help his friends find her. But with dangerous forces still out there and a perilous journey ahead, will Noah be able to find Claire before she meets her untimely doom? Even if it means putting his friends in more danger than ever before?

This action-packed, laugh-out-loud sci-fi adventure is perfect for fans of Eoin Colfer and Rick Riordan.

Why I want to read it: You might remember Neal Shusterman from the Unwind series. I read the first book of that series back in 2022, it was honestly one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read. It left me thinking about it for days after I closed the cover. Remembering it still leaves me with the creepy crawlies. You can check out that review here. So, when I saw a new book from Neal Shusterman it went immediately on my Want To Read list. And a mental note that I need to get back to the Unwind series, I was interested to see where it went.

Synopsis:

The world’s population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, 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. 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.

Why I Want to Read It: I love a good dystopian novel. Because it may seem like everything is rosy at first, but it’s going to go wrong. We all know it is going to go wrong, because that’s what dystopian fiction means. The question is always, how will it go wrong? When will it go wrong? What will be the collateral damage? This one looks like a perfect example of this kind of fiction. It takes real world issues and the extrapolates them to an extreme to examine what could happen. I love it. I want it.