Thank you to Simon and Schuster UK for my ARC in exchange for an honest review. This was okay! Nothing bad but nothing I LOVED either.

This was so promising, the idea and the writing were great, but the execution was... not. It took too long to set up the world and I felt like information was thrown at us instead of introduced through the narrative. The plot didn't follow what was promised and I found it lost it's purpose the further I ventured in. I couldn't finish, I couldn't find a reason to. I didn't care about the characters and their struggles, although in theory are major, fell flat and I didn't feel anything for their plights.

Everything that a coming of age novel should be, heartwarming, hopeful, brutal and complicated. I couldn't put it down

Set in a future London, this book follows the idea of implants replacing social media and interactions. It was a fun, thrilling story that kept me on the edge of my seat. I liked the characters and the plot wasn't too complicated. I did like the writing, but I wish the pace had been better.

This book discusses some themes of depression, loneliness and grief, which I thought could've been discussed better and more deeply, but it didn't bog down the story. I liked the direction it took, and the few twists that weren't too hard to guess. Still, it was a fun read!

A fun sci-fi for anyone who wants to get into the genre!

More Perfect by Temi Oh was a great introduction to Oh as an author. I enjoyed her writing so much, in fact, that I could not believe that I had never heard of or read anything by her before!

Set in a not-too-distant future, this dystopian novel makes you think about human connection, morality, justice, friendship, and family. What would it be like if you could experience the dreams of others? If you could share memories as if you lived them yourself? Would there be more compassion in the world?

I really enjoyed this novel and it inspired me to pick up more of Temi Oh’s books, which I have also enjoyed.

More Perfect, similar to Oh's previous work, depicts a dystopian future for the UK that takes inspiration from real-life events like the Brexit vote. The book provides insights into the role of technology in society, highlighting both its positive and negative aspects. At first glance, the book may seem simple, but the compelling narratives of Moremi and Orpheus present compelling arguments for both sides of the debate concerning the employment of the mind-linking Panopticon technology.

More Perfect is a character driven, technology based dystopian novel. It looks at our connectivity in a near future world and is beautifully written by Temi Oh, who's last book was just as masterful.

Although the book was a little long, it was well crafted and engaging, and a real thinker. One I'll be encouraging others to pick up!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

first things first, thank you to simon and schuester for approving my request for this book!!

this book was for interesting, i love a dystopian-style future based book! this book was a little bit slow at times so i think it would have benefitted by being around 100 pages shorter or even cut up into a trilogy or a series rather than being super long - i can definitely see it being a trilogy!. this is the first book by temi oh that i have read and i know that this is not going to be the last one! her writing style and voice is one that you can get so lost in and it was absolutely wonderful. the most harrowing thing about this book is that i can definitely see this happening in the future and that’s kinda scary.

i would definitely recommend this book!

Thank you netgalley and Simon & Schuster UK for this e copy to review

This was an interesting take on our future where the internet becomes embedded in your brain through a device called the pulse. Those without are marginalised by the Panopticon who is always watching what you access. Future crimes can now be detected and future criminals are put into a deep sleep. This is what happens to Orpheus in the story. I felt there was a lot of plot holes with time flashing by super quick or being tediously slow.

An interesting take but not the best of this genre

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

The story is set in a not-too-far future, where implants take social medial and smartphones to the next level, while the world continues to be affected by climate change and political turbulence. As humans get increasingly online, a symbiotic relationship seems to emerge between the company administering the new virtual universe (Panopticon) and governments, which slowly privatises various services, and evolves authoritarian tendencies. At the centre of the story we find our two protagonists. Moremi, is our young woman struggling with life's tribulations and unable to find her true purpose and meaning (leading her to various failed relationships, unstable jobs, etc). Orpheus is our young man, who grew up in a Luddite-like environment before various upheavals led him to become a hacker specialising in constructing experiences for those entering the virtual reality. He is also deeply troubled, addicted to a particular drug, friend-less, and very much alone in the world. As the story progresses, our two protagonists' lives collide, and lead them to re-evaluate their feelings towards the new virtual reality they are living in, as their affection towards each other grows and changes their values and priorities. There are many more themes in the book - but I'd rather be brief (and I've not enough patience for it).

I really wanted to like the book. The premise is interesting, and the world-building is refreshing (albeit not really new - more about this later). I particularly liked the characterisation of the troubled psychology of the two protagonists - it made me care about them, look forward to how they gained new dimensions in their thinking and worldviews, and root for them as they struggled to survive and thrive as individuals. Their troubled relationships with themselves, each other, and their parents were particularly interesting to read, as the background to their decisions and motivations in this interesting reality the author created.

While I did want to like, I really didn't. The main reason is that it just felt like an immature piece of literature. I am a firm believer that an author writing something like this needs to realise they stand on the shoulders of giants, and at least educate themselves in how these themes were explored in the past. One would hope that this exploration would cause them to improve upon the past. In this instance it feels like the author didn't actually account for what came before her, made embarrassing mistakes in logic and storyflow (more on this below), and didn't spend enough time to make the "science" part of this book credible and internally consistent.

More specifically, I found the story lacked consistency and was full of logical gaps. At times I was so upset when reading some of these that I almost threw my Kindle away. How did the Panopticon security forces not search the house properly?! How was Moremi able to review the entirety of Orpheus's childhood memories in a short period of time to find the clue to change her mind, given they are stored in real time length?! How come time in the dreamscape for Orpheus passed more slowly than for Moremi when she was there (weeks of real life for a few years inside for the former, vs 8 hours for 6 years for the latter)?! If Panopticon has access to all the implants and their data, why do they have to have the person physically present to read their crystal?! Don't even let me get started on the watch... it's completely incredible.

There were also just too many random tangents in the writing: prolonged scenes of lovemaking between the protagonists (unnecessary for the plot, and not well written), multiple flashbacks to Moremi's childhood (again - no value for the plot), backstories of random characters that had literally no bearing on the story, and many more.

While the two protagonists were rather well characterised, many others were not. They felt one dimensional, shallow, and simplistic. The worst were Zee, the aunt, the older sister, Zen. Their motivations are unclear, and the changes in their behaviours over time are completely unexplained.

Overall, despite moments of greatness, this book is average at best. Recommended perhaps to YAs, who are trying to discover this genre. Anyone with serious experience with post apocalyptic novels, cyberpunk, or dystopias will find this book subpar. Just to mention a few of these works (which are all far superior to this one): PKD's Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Stephenson's Fall or Dodge in Hell, Snow Crash, and Reamde, and perhaps Gibson's Neuromancer. The movies that are clearly an inspiration here (or just better executed precursors) are Strange Days (1995), and Minority Report (2002).

Like Oh’s previous work, More Perfect is a sort of dystopian vision of a future UK that draws on memories of real events- most notably the Brexit vote- to make pointed commentary about technology and its role for both good and bad. It’s certainly not as clear cut as the beginning makes it seem, and I felt that the lives of both Moremi and Orpheus made very compelling arguments for either side of the central debate around the use of the mind-linking Panopticon technology.

However, that isn’t to say that this is purely a scientific debate- it’s also very affecting, particularly Moremi’s struggles against her own worst instincts and her dependency on the Panopticon to feel safe. Orpheus, too, was fascinating, though I felt that his acceptance of the technology was a bit too abrupt considering his upbringing and how firmly it had been established that he didn’t want it.

All in all, though, this was a great follow up to Oh’s first book and I reccomend it without hesitation.