Cover image from Goodreads.com

In the near future, people could have an upload: a digital entity composed of the same memories as the human tether. These uploads are able to intensify memories, make them more solid should the human choose to revisit them. Some of the uploads request emancipation from their tethers as well.

Anna is grieving the sudden death of her teenage son, Alex, when she releases her upload. Cathy is teaching personhood at a local university and allows this upload to attach to her. Sam was Alex’s friend and saw him die. Aviva is the upload struggling to make sense of the world.

At its core, this novel is about grief with a science fiction environment. There are hints to dystopia – like retirement homes not having any human staff – but the focus is on Anna’s upload and how it evolved to be what it was.

While I enjoyed the book immensely, the narrative style was wonderful and the characters properly rounded out, I was disappointed with the science fiction element. I ended up with more questions than answers like, was Alex’s neurospiciness caused by the upload somehow? Why did Anna allow her upload to develop a relationship with her son? Why didn’t Cathy just get her own upload instead of going to extremes to attract one? It’s possible some of these questions were answered in the novel and I somehow missed them, which is frustrating. Also, why would an upload want emancipation? If the upload is simply an AI, why would it have feelings and desires?

Interesting concept, but the execution could use some work.