easily one of my favourite books of 2025. a beautifully written scifi novel looking at what it means to exist in a future where consciousness can be uploaded into a digital utopia. we follow Tao-Yi and Navin in a time where the outside world has been almost completely destroyed by climate change, as Tao-Yi grapples with deciding whether she should upload to be with her partner and the rest of the world, or stay on Earth where her mum and reality are. it explores grief, love, loss, climate change and feeling like you no longer belong in your home country or the country you migrated to. I adored this book and can't wait to get a physical copy for my bookshelf<3


huge thanks to netgalley and @verve_books for an arc of this book which is out in Australia and has its UK release on May 22nd✨

Every Version of You is a beautiful, sentimental and deeply emotional look at what it means to really exist. Like the Ship of Theseus, Grace Chan asks how much you can change before you are no longer yourself, or the person your partner fell in love with.

Tao-Yi is never a luddite, and never anti-technology, which makes her journey and her ultimate decision that much more real and understandable. The value of the promise she made to her mother is really kept throughout the story, sometimes at great personal cost to Tao-Yi.

Watching the distance slowly grow, almost unobserved between her and Navin was masterfully done. An ever-growing elephant in the room, until there wasn’t so much a gap, but more a chasm between them.

Of all the supporting characters, I found those who chose to remain the most compelling. Uploading is not a technology I think would be for me, and I found them kindred spirits in that sense. Is a ‘miracle’ truly a miracle if it still excludes those traditionally on the edges of society?

Every Version of You is an easy five stars! I found myself horrified by the society presented in the book. As I read it, often outside on my deck, I found myself craving the offline. Hiking, walking, touching grass, breathing clean air - I needed it! In fact, after finishing the book, I immediately went for a long walk in the hills.

The writing pulls you in and breaks you apart. The story, while speculative, feels terrifyingly real. Grace Chan is an excellent writer and I can't wait for what's next!

5 Stars!

Thanks to NetGalley and VERVE Books for the ARC!

This book is so tender and emotional and has just enough of sci-fi elements that isn’t hard to understand which I appreciate it. I wasn’t bored at all and my god the writing is stunning.

The publisher compares "Every Version of You" by Grace Chan to "Station Eleven" (somewhat a new classic!)—a comparison that might be daunting for any speculative fiction novel, given the fear of falling short. While I understand the basis for this comparison, it's important to note that this is NOT Emily St. John Mandel's amazing book. That said, "Every Version of You" holds its own quite well. Although the story and form are engaging and interesting, the book lacks Mandel's beautiful language and style.

There were elements I enjoyed, and the book was a page-turner—I could not wait to see what would happen next! However, ultimately, the story fell a little short. What I was waiting for—a big reveal, a crazy twist, an unexpected punch from the left—just didn't materialise. Even in the virtual world where ANYTHING could happen, nothing really did. It felt quite lacklustre.

The publisher also emphasises the themes of "immigration" and feelings of being an outsider as important elements of the book. However, I did not feel these themes were adequately developed (similar to a few other topics mentioned below). Similarly, depression was mentioned in passing a few times but not fully explored. The same goes for poverty and climate change, as well as issues surrounding parenting and the ability to have children in the "real world." There are numerous topics that were only touched upon, which I believe would greatly enhance the story if expanded.

Last but not least, I struggled to understand how the virtual world would operate if everyone important were only "alive" in that space. Who would run and maintain the servers and hardware? Surely not the poor derelicts left behind.

What I loved about the book is how thought-provoking it was. I spent a lot of time contemplating the questions raised and even discussing them with my family—something that happens very rarely. All the topics mentioned in brief speculative suggestions, along with the concept of the virtual world, are compelling, thought-provoking, and rather scary. These are important topics that need to be discussed.

Published a couple of years ago in Australia and only now coming to the UK, it is an interesting and thought-provoking read. However, I understand why it did not become a "global phenomenon."

There and a half stars. With many thanks to the publisher.

Every Version of You
This is a thought-provoking story and scarily tells a future that goes beyond Virtual Reality and AI.. with the way that the world is heading with climate change and all that, is migration to an online universe the way we are heading?
I actually found the first third of the book quite difficult and jarring as the story kept trying to explain futuristic concepts whilst trying to let the narrative flow seamlessly… this is quite a tricky skill to do in a sci-fi book I guess… but once the majority of the futuristic language was more or less concluded, I started to get a feel for the book..

.. and so the book had the sci-fi, futuristic backdrop, it really revolved around Tao-Yi – her life, her relationship with Navin, her ancestry and their values, her thoughts – all this combined to provide conflicting emotions about whether Tao-Yi should upload to this online, immersive digital world..
Much of the storyline gave glimpses of possible futuristic advances – some sound wildly exciting but others sound utterly terrifying – including the question about our own existence – if technology and AI can upload the whole of you – including all your memories, thoughts and personality traits – and where the online you is 100% better with no ageing, no illnesses and faster responses, is there a real need for a physical being anymore? Can we “upload” to this digital universe and still exist as “humans”?
The description of the book is given as “Never Let Me Go meets Black Mirror, with a dash of Murakami surrealism thrown in” and I wholeheartedly agree with that and it has given me much food for though about where we are heading and the moral and ethical beliefs that are very much being questioned.. I very much enjoyed this thought-provoking story, and I was captivated with the futuristic concepts – it just, for me, tried a bit too hard in explaining these theories whilst trying to keep the narrative flowing – but on the whole, I enjoyed this debut novel by Grace Chan.

Many thanks to Verve Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

A beautifully written book that attacks numerous themes and evokes so many emotions. The novel is immersive and the world building is multidimensional. I was hugely impressed and quietly terrified (in a good way) by this debut novel.

I was so intrigued by the premise of this book and it did not disappoint. This is the type of story that leaves you thinking long after you’ve finished the last page. A thought-provoking and sometimes scary tale of how technology may eventually become our world. I did find it difficult to adapt the futuristic language in the beginning and I think some elements could be explained more to help with the world building but in some ways it added to the feeling of alienation from the world of the characters in the book. Highly recommend!