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More Perfect

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'A spectacular exploration of the power of technology... science fiction at its best' Saara El-Arifi, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Final Strife

What does it feel like to wake up in the Panopticon? It’s like waking up for the first time ever. It’s like waking up with a third eye.

When Moremi connects her brain to the Panopticon, a network which allows you to see inside the minds and dreams of others, she believes that it will save her from depression, loneliness and, eventually, death. That is until she meets Orpheus.

Orpheus was brought up in isolation by a Neo-luddite father. He was raised to question everything, including the government who plan to make the connection procedure compulsory.

They promise that connecting everyone to the Panopticon will end human suffering and usher in a more perfect world. But when Orpheus and Moremi uncover the dark side of the technology, they find themselves on opposite sides of a radical divide, between those who believe that the Panopticon will save humanity, and those who will stop at nothing to destroy it.

More Perfect is The Circle meets Inception in an immersive and futuristic story that explores love, loneliness and the limits of technology’s ability to save a humanity who might not want to be saved.

'A fascinating story that never shies away from the contradictions in human nature' Guardian
'An unnervingly believable struggle for the future. The story of Moremi and Orpheus has classical antecedents but with a satisfying eye for the future' Booklist
'Tightly crafted, weaving science fiction, mythology, and more to tell a tale that feels pertinent right now' Kirkus Reviews
'The London you encounter in Temi Oh's More Perfect is grittily familiar - making the near future she paints queasily plausible... It weaves an intriguing tapestry of references, from the classical story of Eurydice to the neuroscience of consciousness, set against a drumbeat of dread' New Scientist
'A high-octane journey with deeply moving stakes' Oprahdaily.com, Best Sci-Fi books of the Summer
'Feverishly inventive' The Washington Post

©2023 Temi Oh (P)2023 Simon & Schuster, UK Black Creators Cyberpunk Fantasy Science Fiction Fiction Magic Technology

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Critic reviews

"A major new voice. Read Temi Oh today. Everybody will be reading her tomorrow." (Stephen Baxter, author of World Engines)

"An ambitious 500-page coming-of-age blockbuster... Oh is excellent at portraying the aching sense of loss on a one-way trip to the stars." (Guardian)

"A tightly wound, emotional epic that asks important questions... This novel is a brilliant, beautiful debut. Reading it will change your heart." (Christian Kiefer, author of Phantoms)
Most relevant
It feels so real that I am almost expecting the announcement of the first ‘pulse’ by Elon Musk tomorrow. Cleverly never forcing a point of view on you, the writer takes you through a world full of shades of grey and good and bad, good intentions creating bad outcomes and visa-versa. It speaks of the y wisdom of decisions made in response to trauma on a government and personal level, and to the ambiguity of progress. Both narrators are excellent and weave back and forth telling a story I wish I could adapt for netflix. Really enjoyed it and urge you to listen!

Brilliant slice of near future sci-fi

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Temi weaves an intricate web of a technocratic future. Where people around the world, give up their heart, memories and the telling of story for the misplaced security of the future. People hold on to their memories as a promise of a better future, but all technology can deliver is more fear and uncertainty.

An intimate journey of love, adventure and great loss

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I was unsure about this book when I first read the description as it did not sound like my kind of thing at all. I find books difficult to connect with like this as i'm still getting into sifi.

This book however was really interesting, it was very gripping and although there were a lot of complecated bits which I struggled with which is why i'm not going to put a lot about the plot in this review overall this was a fantastic story. I found the consept of your brain being connected to the internet and I found Moraini and Orphious interesting main characters. I will probably need to read this book again in the future as think it will take multiple reads to take it all in.

Did not expect to like this one.

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I found myself wanting to finish the book, it took a while and I could put it down for a while, but the story gripped enough in places to have me wanting to find out what happens next.

I thought the “reveals” were a little underwhelming but the detail of the world were intriguing and deep enough that it had my attention. There was in place mystery solving, action a flip flop of who the good guys and bad guys are.

I didn’t love the flipping between two narrators personally, I thought this broke the immersion sometimes. But both were great in there performance.

Felt a little like jumping from one section to another.
This happens - then this happens - then this happens. But that is not a bad thing. There is enough happening to progress and keep you interested.

I liked that it’s a standalone. There’s options for more books in the world but I think this story is very much boxed off.

Overall I quite liked it, and would recommend to people that like mild sci fi/dystopian. It’s not that dystopian so don’t expect large strays away from reality. I did however like that the concept that you can’t change time, which I think seems quite realistic.

The rate that we are advancing technology I could see a lot of near future reality in some of this.

Bit slow but liked it. Not sure if it’s the authors first work but congrats all the same.

I could pick up and put down this, but found myself in the end wanting to finish it.

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It's an interesting story idea, and many sections go very well. But at times it feels overlong, and the transitions from POVs abrupt.

A good core, pacing lets it down

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Definitely much more a romance than speculative fiction. Note: fruit flies do not bang themselves against windows in an effort to leave your abode: the only glass they’re interested in is the one that contains your drink…

Romantic love story

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As an authentic scientist with a keen interest in future technologies such as implants, splicing, and genomic manipulation, I found the storyline and the brief references to anything remotely scientific, absolutely irrelevant and immature , as if the author had briefly read the comment sections of a handful of new scientists and spliced together a quick book.

The storyline and the plot was full of holes, and the tediously love story of the protagonists, both extremely young, seemed hollow and lacking in any imagination, also needlessly taking up 3/4 of the book.

That said I found the narrators extremely competent and engaging and would like to listen to more of their work, they being the only reason I ventured to complete the book.

To summarise it felt like I was watching a very empty teenage trashy stab at sci-fi. Wish someone had updated that this was not a book for hardcore Sci fi buffs who know their science and technology.

On a lighter note if you have a teenage daughter around the age of 13, and would like to introduce her to science and STEM, then this is the book for you.

Meh…. Teenage love story with brief clippings from New Scientist.

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