Status Updates From The Merge

+VA’s
+slow burn w constant tension
+great twists
+emotional
+great sci fi themes to ponder
-needed more time w group members
-needed more inner conflict/rebelliousness from Amelia

Self ID, consent and sacrifice but set it to a medical background so you’re on edge always

4.5 round to 5 because honestly I enjoyed this and despite little things here and there I was here for the ride. And I still think of Laurie.

Annie spoke up at the conference in front of reporters! I mean that’s a badass who doesn’t give af, Alby has been fighting his way to Amelia the whole time and even got Eliza on board but Amelia…. Her journey couldn’t include these acts out of self-preservation but I wanted more at least inner conflict

We don’t get a strong rebelling from Amelia post op, at least for sci standards, it’s more be quiet and behave to get out so having her say okay at the end to pushing one last time didn’t feel quite so earned. And while not all rebellious acts are loud so to speak, it didn’t feel satisfying I think. Because Lara had her moment when she told Laurie in secret about her plans to self exit,

I think that the tech might have been better served if it were in even earlier trials than it actually was, and any use of it would be speculative like hey if this works imagine what we could do w it instead of it already being done. Cuz one billionaire against all religions doesn’t make sense to me. But alas, the book focuses on the characters not the background so I’ll let it go. I jsut needed to say it.

I think my only actual gripe is it’s kinda made out to be that merge tech is commonplace, many merged ppl exist etc etc. so seeing a merged speaker at their pre-op sessions shouldn’t surprise them and leading up to going Amelia’s life seems unaffected by climate change; there was also a mention of merging inmates… that seems like you’re making a person doubly capable of crime or dissent

I wish we had more time w the other group members pre op but I guess then the book would be 2 long. I got enough to distinctly know them but I think I wanted a little more. Especially since Ben/Annie were the least interacted with or shown but Annie is the one sitting w her in the end

I don’t think the twist on merge tech takes away from any of the character story or the problems they faced coming to their decisions

After the big reveal I felt so deflated. I knew something was coming and ofc didn’t guess that, but when Laurie stopped being a voice in her head I just knew. And I felt terrible. I had to stop because Laurie. Poor Laurie.

The book uses the merge as merely background setting and focuses on the characters and I loved it. I knew so much about the world but we didn’t live there for any of it. We were in the facility 90% of the time

After Jay’s jump I was shocked. Even though it’s “setup” this self exit through Lara’s own wishes, it still got me right through the chest. And now having finished, it hurts tenfold.

It touches on all the good little themes sci fi can hold a magnifying glass to: control, love, sacrifice, consent, and the most important self. Sprinkle in eugenics and you got yourself a stew! These topics are not explicitly delved into but just surfacing enough that it would make a great book club discussion

Review:
Yeah, that was great. The VA of Laurie was so loving in her memories of her daughter and I felt the pain in the memories with her own mother

I was on edge and anxious throughout but the uneasiness was so subtle but it’s there. You feel it. Something isn’t right. Amelia never outright addresses it but she can feel it too in her own subconscious ways

-so watching these videos of Laurie embedded her in their subconscious just like going down memory lane but make it EVIL

-what do they do w the second body? Oh god they bury them publically ouch

-transition is sort of like dreaming, too much input and your brain does its best to organize it into patterns thus they hallucinate or see memories

-the gasp I gusped when Lara-Jay finally spoke!

-through soft words and reassuring approaches, they are being manipulated!

-the scream I scremt when Lara-Jay jumped!

-Free will: Amelia foregoing as caregiver of her mother or as a combined, Laurie foregoing as disease worsens or as a combined

-At one point, after telling Combine they don’t want to merge Amelia admits to herself it was selfish to want to do it and I disagree, she would have to either pay someone else or herself give full time care to her mother effectively ending her free will regardless

-I wonder if rich ppl do this to be immortal... circling back. Yeah. NOPE

-Omg Lara is so smart, she knows that they’ll use this procedure as an easy way to rid society of the non-productive wowwwwww

-Bodily autonomy thru the literal conduit of merging and the figurative of dementia

Read along notes:

-What a cool concept! Close to home but far out, exactly what sci fi is about. And a class divide… losing yourself to just exist

-Inch arresting, those combined get privileges in ways our society incentivizes marriage, so either merge thru marriage for a two-income household to survive the tax or merge as a combined is how I see it

She gets syringed and wakes up heavily drugged watching Noah-Lucas on tv giving a speech, she’s with Blackwell the funder, Annie and doll Teddy

Annie’s caretaker says she wonder if Eliza and Nathan are doing ok w their transition but she uses Combined names when mentioning them So they were killed too!!

The rioters push forward and eventually make it to her room.

WOWWW

THEY MURDERED THEM

Amelia asks Eliza straight up if she wanted to do the procedure and she is honest says no but it was too late they forced it on her

Amelia has the realization that since Mary saw Jay jump she had to be silenced, so when Nathan told her she’s “merging” she was actually just killed, she insists no coordinator knows what’s happening

There’s one video of Laurie telling Nathan she MUST remember silly sod for Mary. THAT"S HOW THEY CONVINCED ME

Eliza said that Jay never took the pills fear of addiction and Annie took a much lower dose due to her pregnancy, and it wasn’t until they found the pills that Eliza reached out to protestors and met Alby and figured out what was happening, the pills are a sedative that also opens your mind up for suggestion

THERE she sees Annie asleep with white noise, a baby doll in her arms they took teddy!! :’’( and vids of Ben from his therapy sessions playing and she realizes the “merged” memories are brainwashing?!?

thru their smart watches that monitor sleep (Nathan insisted they sleep a bunch for recovery) that white noise and the videos play to brainwash them into thinking they are “remembering” OMG EVIL

LA awakes and she’s back in her apt, Nathan comes clean and says BA had post Partum depression and it was bad, Eliza speaks w her alone and says she’s going to get her out and Alby hasn’t given up

LA asks to be part of the school of NL since Laurie used to be a teacher so Eliza shows her a way to sneak out to BA’s apt and there

The OG Combined Winston-Adelaide is on a panel w them and Teddy the son is not crying or fussing despite the flashing lights and loud speakers

In the crowd is Eliza with Alby! Then Ben-Annie speaks and says Ben never merged with her, she cannot feel a single part of him and that he was taken by the company, she’s ushered off stage and I think teddy is taken too

Brightwell the lead investor is there to announce that with their success Combine tech will be available worldwide for ailments and such thanks to them, LA feels guilty as they haven’t spoken up so as to get free but they don’t think they’ve forgotten anything in weeks… except the merge procedure days

There’s no more “head talk” or Laurie and Amelia conversing, Nathan says it’s a sign of success

All 3 pairs will speak at the ceremony cuz they’re all getting discharged and LA can’t wait to tell Alby everything, gaps in their memory that never filled, forcing Lara to undergo the merge, being held indoors and forced to comply, geez BA are even being persuaded to be discharged when they can’t even handle more than one visitor a day!

They get to visit Ben-Annie! They’re in the Enclave for younger combined, But they take suspiciously long to get to the door and their apt doesn’t look lived in. BA admits they had a breakdown and don’t hold their baby anymore cuz it’s not natural to have two parents in one body it’s too much they’re afraid they’ll squeeze him to death

They have to play the role of Nathan cuz they can’t tell them about Lara-Jay…

Omg how sad… absolutely terrified of getting addicted to pills they refused and thus never fully did post-op

Nathan is pissed at them when he finds out but sees that they wanted to clear the name of their friend and thus thinks they should be rewarded, they’re also be discharged soon w a huge celebration

suspiciously no news of their health tho and if they’ve lied to the public about Laurie being cured they could be lying about the baby too

Eliza watches them today while Nathan's out, tell her if they’ve like to see Lara-jay’s room it’ll help them process their death and then they CSI that shit to try to find out what made them snap and find their daily pills hidden in a teddy bear

Eliza announces LA a success and that Alzheimer’s patients will be open to merging officially now, taking pressure away from Lara-Jay

Andrew at the press conference they ALSO announce Ben-Annie had a baby! They haven’t heard from them in soooo long and Nathan promised to tell them when there was something to tell, it was the day of their Passing and Lara-Jay’s death

Press Day is coming, the first time there’s been an inside look on a commune prior to reintegration into society and all combined are passive aggressively told to behave and recite the culty words or else be confined to their rooms and lose more and more privileges and LA agree to be good cuz that’s their ticket home

NL is taking to the cult style well, regurgitating words back to LA and is a star rep for Combine