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Subject Twenty-One

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

What if our future lies 40,000 years in our past? Subject Twenty-One is an astonishing debut novel in which a young woman's refusal to accept the status quo opens her eyes to the lies her society is built on.

Elise's world is forever changed when she is given the opportunity of a lifetime - to work at the Museum of Evolution and be a companion to the Neanderthal, Subject Twenty-One.

As a Sapien, a member of the lowest order of humans, she and others like her are held responsible for the damages inflicted on the world by previous generations. This job may be Elise's only chance to escape a stagnating life in an ostracised and impoverished community.

But it doesn't take long for Elise to realise that, away from the familiarity and safety of her home, her own secrets are much harder to conceal.

And the longer she stays the more she comes to realise that little separates her from the exhibits...and a cage of her own.

©2021 A. E. Warren (P)2021 Penguin Audio Dystopian Fantasy Genetic Engineering Science Fiction Fiction
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I enjoyed the story and the narrator was excellent. There is a technical issue with the audio book though. The gaps and pauses between sentences are sometimes too long and sometimes the end of sentences are clipped. This is a shame as it can really spoil the flow of the excellent narration.

Enjoyable

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Loved it but the ending was weak. I know there are 4 more books but it fizzled at the end.

Loved it

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..which is a shame as the setup is interesting, but then it proceeds exactly as you'd expect. every. step. of the well worn plot path. Such as shame as I really wanted to love it

Might be a YA book? Super obvious plot...

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The story just didn’t grab me. There will no doubt be a second book but I’ll opt out now . For some reason, the narrator put me off. Her characterisation often sounded like an irate infant school teacher’s voice to me

Promised a lot and delivered little

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