STOP THE PRESS! I've just read my book of the year! Bold I know but that's how strongly I feel about The Mother Code. I have a heart of stone but The Mother Code managed to wring a few tears out of me; the story at the heart of the science is absolutely beautiful.

An act of bio terrorism releases a deadly disease into the world, throw in some genetic mutation and you're left with a horrifying post apocalyptic vision of our future. To balance out these terrifying events we have the creation of The Mother Code and the robotic mothers that have this embedded in them. These machines are responsible for incubating, birthing and raising their genetically modified charge, each one is unique and every mother has a different personality and teachings.

The story is told over two timelines, pre Mother Code launch and years later as the children come of age and begin to group together. But as children grow their Mothers transform too—in ways that were never predicted. The government survivors decide that the Mothers must be destroyed. One of these children, Kai, must make a choice. Will he break the bond he shares with Rho-Z? Or will he fight to save the only parent he has ever known?

The Mother Code explores what exactly makes us human and certainly made me question what I would do.

Five stars and I'll be telling everyone I know to read this book!

A very believable sci-fi scenario of our near future, particularly an act of bio terrorism from the US wiping out most of humankind. At first I wasn’t sure what I felt about the jumping timelines, but all that made sense once the two timelines caught up. The idea of the robotic Mothers was intriguing, as was the tech used — advanced machine learning systems leading to unprecedented outcomes. The only other place I stumbled was the latter third of the book — the locations were confusing and I didn’t quite get what the problem was or how exactly it was surmounted.

Despite all that, it was an engrossing read.

(Review copy from NetGalley)

It's 2049, and the world as we know it is about to end. A weaponised virus has turned into a plague, and humanity's last chance to survive is a small group of embryos, genetically engineered to be immune to the virus. But there will be no one left alive to raise them. So, a daring decision is made - to create robots who will incubate, birth, and raise these children in the reclusive safety of the American desert. And to ensure that these children will be raised with a sense of humanity, each robot is created with a vital extra element - the mother code.

Ok, so at the start of the book in particular there is a lot of sciencey information thrown your way about genetics and DNA and mutations and diseases. I have to admit I didn't understand the more technical bits, but luckily enough the summary of what they said was easy enough to understand. This does a really good job of setting the scene though, and making you understand the importance of the mother code project and why it is a necessity.

My only issue personally was that it did take me a while to get my head around the two timelines. Essentially, you follow both the scientists creating the mother robots, and Kai, who has been raised by one. So there's probably about 15-20 years between the two timelines, and then they gradually catch up and converge at the end. Personally, I think the reason it took a while to adjust was because I was an idiot and missed the dates for the first few bits, so I just assumed it all happened at the same time. Once I realised I was wrong, it was easy enough to follow, and it did create some great tension as the two storylines begin to build up...

Personally, I really enjoyed it, and I can see why the film rights have already been bought. In fact, I can see this being a book that will translate into film really well - just imagine actually seeing the mothers! If you're a fan of the genre, I would definitely give it a go, as to me, it was a great example of dystopian fiction. I did feel it had a touch of the YA about it though - no instalove or anything like that, just something about it spoke more to the YA fan in me than the adult fiction fan. But that's just me!

I quite like Science fiction, but I don’t think I review enough of it so when I read that Stephen Spielberg had bought the film rights for this novel, I was looking forward to reading it.

The novel almost didn’t do it for me. The differing timelines before and after the epidemic; and the different plot lines: the children and their bots and the military who built the programme just didn’t interest me. So much so that I got to 40% of the novel and decided that it was going on my DNF shelf.

I actually deleted the ARC from my kindle and moved onto another novel. But I found myself a week later wondering what happened to the children, so I took the unusual step for me of downloading for a second time to finish reading the novel.

I am so glad that I did whilst the plot plods along just before halfway point it tips of in a different direction. The race to bring the bots into line and get the children is both fascinating, and heart-breaking without descending into a Lord of the Flies scenario due to the lack of adult influence in the children’s lives.

Am looking forward to seeing the film, and so glad that I finished it. Definitely recommend and looking forward to reading more from this author.

The Mother Code is an extremely clever and addictive post apocalyptic drama, exploring parental relationships and our increasing reliance on technology – a thought provoking, atmospheric narrative that keeps you immersed throughout.

The end of human existence as we know it has been done many times in literature – Carole Stivers manages to put a new twist on it, presenting us with a multi layered emotionally resonant story featuring a group of characters both human and machine, setting them against a realistically built world in ruins then challenging them in many ways.

After feeling slightly blinded by science in the very early stages I completely devoured this- there is a lot of nuance here and some twists of fate that hit you in the heart- I don’t want to give too much away, many of the joys of this novel came in it’s unexpected moments but overall this is a beautifully written page turner that I highly recommend.

You can purchase The Mother Code (Hodder and Staughton) Here.

Happy Reading!

An original and intriguing piece of science fiction,The Mother Code by Carole Stivers is a very impressive debut. When a dangerous bio weapon is accidentally released , it seems like the human race has found a way to wipe itself out. Their only hope is a small group of genetically engineered children, who will be incubated in and raised by specially designed robots. Each of these robots will house an AI system based on a real woman , and it is hoped that this unique "mother code" will enable the robots to pass on some degree of humanity. However as is often the case with technology, not everything goes according to plan ,and when some of the Mothers become a little too protective, it seems like they may end up harming the very children they were designed to protect.
The book follows several different perspectives and timelines, which can be a little confusing at first but soon comes together to form a strong and compelling story. I loved that the author chose to include First Nations characters, and found the juxtaposition between the Hopi traditions and the technology added an interesting extra dimension to the story. Although there is a lot of technospeak I did not feel that it took away from the story, nor did it slow down the pace of the book, which was pretty steady throughout, though a little more rushed towards the ending, which was more hopeful than the bleak beginning of the book would have suggested.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I really love a scifi book with a premise I haven't come across before, and The Mother Code delivers this.

After careless scientists infect the entire planet with a DNA based biological weapon, they realise they have no way to save themselves and that all human life will be wiped out. They put all their efforts into creating a handful of immune babies who will be able to survive the sickness, but as everyone else will be dead by the time they grow (!) they will be reared and raised by robots. Hence the name of the book "The Mother Code"

This is a really gripping read, told via flashback showing the panicking scientists trying to right their wrongs having unleashed the killing virus, and the stories of the children who are being born, weaned and parented by the mother robots.

Steven Spielberg has already picked up the film option on this book, I'm sure he felt the epic storytelling would be a match for his style of iconic movie making, and of course all his movies are about families - is this the ultimate futuristic story? Children being raised by robots and facing a new world order...?

I really enjoyed this story although I felt the ending was a little rushed, and there were some technobabble moments. Overall a fresh and riveting tale that will keep you turning pages until the wee hours.

Many thanks to NetGalley for making a review copy of this book available!

An amazing and beautifully written debut novel. Thoroughly enjoyed this book not my usual type of book but it was great look forward to reading more from this author !!