The Seventh Son

A story set in the future where mistakes of the past have been corrected yet progress raises frightening decisions with terrifying repercussions that will affect individuals for decades ; the impact potentially ricocheting for centuries. A high achieving young woman struggles to fund her studies on history and anthropology at university. An opportunity to offer her services in a scientific research programme related to IVF that would ultimately pay continued studies for her doctorate appears the ultimate solution. The reader aware of scientific decisions unknown to all but a finite number, then travels through the lives of both the surrogate and child, both living on opposite sides of the world yet tied by a unique bond. What follows is a heartbreaking situation that ultimately impacts on everyone concerned. Three dimensional characters all struggling between right and wrong. The drive to take science forward for the good of mankind versus the age old do no wrong and nature versus nurture debate with an individuals right of choice removed for the greater good of mankind A book raising more questions than answers. A window into a near future with current potential political and geographical concerns for the future becoming the reality for civilisation. A five star read with a thought provoking storyline that will linger long after the last page. An author who has opened up a vision of an uncertain future yet produced a heartbreaking series of decisions ultimately giving the only possible conclusion. Many thanks to the author , first among equals, the publisher and Netgalley for the pure joy of reading and reviewing a copy of this brilliant book.

A powerful novel about what it is to be human. The Parn Institute works with genetics and is experimenting with resurrecting long-dead species, including human species. Through the institute, a couple have a baby through IVF with Talissa as their surrogate. As the child grows up, it becomes apparent that he is subtly different from his peers…

This novel is intelligent but emotional, a book that engages both your brain and your heart.

Sebastian Faulks is a good storyteller and this is a great story. Talissa needs money to complete her post-doctorate research and comes across a document from a clinic in London seeking surrogate mothers. She contacts them and is drawn in by the research aspects of the project which eventually turn out to be not quite what they seemed! The Institute involved, run by Luke Parn a wealthy billionaire, has found a way of extracting Neanderthal DNA in such a way that it can be used to produce a child. That is secret, corrupt and illegal but it happens!

Talissa’s child, the hybrid, is called Seth and the adoptive parents Alaric and Mary bring him up as their own. From here, Sebastian Faulks begins to enquire into a whole series of what ifs?

The story is well researched, the science is explained and there’s an idea about how and why other and crafty species, especially those who had developed self-awareness, crossbred the Neanderthals into extinction. There’s an interesting side debate into whether that self-awareness increased the possibility of mental illness in the species. The ethical aspects are always there but not overplayed.

What the book does really well is to introduce these different threads into a convincing narrative. As readers, it is possible to understand the motivation of Talissa in the first place but also to see how she is more likely than some people to develop her own suspicions. Luke Parn does his best to keep things under wraps but in the end it becomes chaotic, leading to a sad but perhaps inevitable climax.

It’s a topical, relevant read but also a well told story and, as everyone knows, if something becomes scientifically possible someone, somewhere, is going to have a try at doing it.

This is a book that raises so many questions but is at the same time a super read. Set in the very near future - it starts 2030 - Talissa, an American academic, decides to travel to London to become a surrogate mother to fund her career in history and anthropology. Her decision has life-changing consequences because at the Parn Institute where the procedure is going to be carried out, a billionaire is not planning to play by the rules. The child, Seth, is born, handed over to his adoring parents and Talissa returns to the US, but she still has contact with the family and as years pass, bonds develop. It is difficult to say more without giving away huge spoilers, but when the truth is revealed what happens next is frightening. There are all sorts of issues here, nature versus nurture, a person's right to choose, what it means to be human. The characters of Talissa and Seth are really well drawn and I felt attached to them. As for the scientists, there is a part that can see the reasoning behind the actions, how they believed that their actions would be for the good of mankind in relation to cures for mental illness and I can't decide if Parn is Elon Musk-esque or Bill Gates-esque. Some of the science I found a little heavy going at times, but the story grips and I felt a sense of fear as it progressed. This piece of speculative fiction could have been melodramatic in other hands, but this author knows his craft. A super novel that feels not too far from reality.

What can I say...Sebastian Faulks delivers again.

With a back catalogue such as his, you go into a Faulks novel knowing you are likely to enjoy and The Seventh Son was not a letdown.

With his trademark prose and excellence in storytelling, this was a remarkably good read.

Recommended to all

Thought-provoking and enjoyable novel from Faulks, one that’s most unlike
previous novels I’ve read of his and is instead a piece of speculative fiction based in genetics, ‘ancient history’ and ultimately what it means to be human (or otherwise).

The central characters are as well developed as you’d expect, and as you follow them over the years you are able to become emotionally invested as well as intellectually. The main scientists and the “Elon Musk-esque” character are perhaps less well drawn, and the scientists in particular suffer early on from delivering a lot of expository dialogue that feels unrealistic - a minor quibble.

Overall, an intellectually engaging novel that also has real heart.

In 'The Seventh Son', Sebastian Faulks returns to a subject that clearly fascinates him - the human brain, and in particular how it can go wrong in the disease of schizophrenia. It's a subject he must have researched exhaustively over the years of writing about it, and his insights are always interesting - I can't comment on how scientifically accurate or not they might be. But he portrays people with the condition in a sympathetic way.

The novel starts in 2030, with a young American academic, Talissa, deciding to act as a surrogate mother in order to fund her career development. She travels to London to take part in a research programme into miscarriage as part of her surrogacy, and leaves happily after handing over baby Seth to his adoring biological parents. But little do any of them know, the unscrupulous academics behind the programme have tricked them. The baby is not the son of mild mannered teacher Alaric Pedersen. It isn't until many years later that the truth starts to come out, with shattering consequences for Talissa, Seth and his parents.

The link with mental illness and consciousness may seem tenuous from the description above, but all becomes clear when you read the book. It is a thought provoking story that raises some uncomfortable truths about human behaviour, and about whether humans are as 'special' as we like to think ourselves. The characters are likeable and sympathetic, and Seth is particularly interesting. It's science fiction, but only mildly so - in fact it would probably be theoretically possible to do the experiment at the centre of the story today. I sincerely hope no one does as this story demonstrates how unethical it is.

Faulks writes without melodrama despite the story having the potential for high stakes emoting - it's the better for keeping things restrained. The storyline is gripping, as much because of the emotional tie you build with the characters as the events - although the plot does get pretty hot towards the end. For me this is one of his best novels for some years - probably since my own favourite Faulks book, 'Engleby'. There's a strong plot and the underlying idea is a really good one.

If you enjoy speculative fiction that's not too far from reality, and/or thought provoking literary fiction, 'The Seventh Son' is a great choice. I'd love to see Faulks write more in this genre.

The Seventh Son by Sebastian Gaulle

When a young American academic Talissa Adam offers to carry another woman's child, she has no idea of the life-changing consequences.

Behind the doors of the Parn Institute, a billionaire entrepreneur plans to stretch the boundaries of ethics as never before. Through a series of IVF treatments, which they hope to keep secret, they propose an experiment that will upend the human race as we know it.

Seth, the baby, is delivered to hopeful parents Mary and Alaric, but when his differences start to mark him out from his peers, he begins to attract unwanted attention.I

This book is a frightening ( possible ) insight of what could be seen as a breakthrough to the future of IVF .As I read the book , I was conscious of almost holding my breath , I could almost feel a heartbeat in my throat , a slight feeling of rising panic , a feeling of being uncomfortable.

You can gauge a good book , not by the words you read , but by the feeling it leaves you with .

This book has all the usual hallmarks of Sebastian Faulks’ writing -an engrossing story, superbly real characters, a fine sense of place and an exploration of some of the burning issues of our time. When a young geneticist offers herself as a surrogate she is unaware that she is unwittingly becoming part of an experiment stretching the boundaries of what is is to be human. The story is set in the not too distant future, where the ethics of what science and technology have made possible are being explored - because we have the capability to do something, does that mean we should? A baby is born to his excited and grateful parents, but as he grows his differences become more apparent and the story of his conception and genetic history start to unravel.

This reviewer is in awe of the imagination that could create this story, and the skill to write it with such fluidity, compassion and non-judgemental exploration of such enormous themes. The book of the year for me so far.

This is a fabulous, thought provoking, novel set in the near future. It starts in the year 2030, which feels reasonably close! But the world has changed and moved on. I particularly liked the description of London where the busses use the cycle lanes and the bikes dominate on the roads!

Talissa is an academic in the USA and she explores whether being a surrogate mother in the UK will earn her enough money to continue her research back home. However, what she doesn't know is that the institute behind the surrogacy arrangements is carrying out a highly illegal experiment.

This is a fascinating and compelling read. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.