More Perfect

May 1, 2023
The Pulse implant connects everyone to the internet, records their memories, and makes the Panopticon inevitable. Through the lives of two people growing up in London after the barrier protecting the city from floods and storm surges has been bombed by terrorists, readers see both the benefits of and the opposition to the Pulse. Moremi, whose mother died in the flood, enthusiastically adopted the Pulse. When she learns of an experimental treatment involving specially designed dreams, she leaps at the opportunity. Meanwhile, Orpheus, raised off-grid, was brought back from the dead after a gunshot wound and now works designing dreams for the Panopticon. Moremi and Orpheus' paths collide in a manufactured dream, and a whirlwind romance follows. The Panopticon claims to be able to predict crimes, and they see something coming--something Orpheus' father was instrumental in developing. As the vote on total adoption of the Pulse approaches, tension increases in an unnervingly believable struggle for the future. The story of Moremi and Orpheus has classical antecedents but with a satisfying eye for the future.

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May 8, 2023
Oh (Do You Dream of Terra Too?) loosely riffs on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in this clever, if slightly overwrought, sci-fi thriller set in a near-future London, where Pulse, a brain implant, allows people to live and work in an augmented reality, but also grants the government unprecedented control over citizens. Moremi, an aspiring dancer, can’t wait to get a Pulse, which she believes will cure her loneliness. Meanwhile, Orpheus’s off-grid life takes a devastating turn when his enigmatic father (who claims he has found a way to “defeat death”) is killed by security officers who inform Orpheus that his dad was secretly a terrorist associated with an organization of “neo-Luddites.” There’s a lot of backstory to get through, and both Moremi’s obsession with love and Orpheus’s desperation to escape into the Pulse’s vivid dreams make the first half drag, but their meeting and subsequent romance tempers the protagonists into more enjoyable characters. The mythological inspiration is slight, but it comes to the fore when Moremi and Orpheus become wrapped up in a political conspiracy and Orpheus discovers more unsettling truths about his late father. Dystopian fans will appreciate Oh’s incisive and nuanced take on technology’s place in society. Agent: Judith Murray, Greene and Heaton.

Starred review from July 1, 2023

Oh's (Do You Dream of Terra-Two?) near-future novel, loosely based on the myth of Eurydice and Orpheus, is set in London when much of the world is linked online through a neural implant called Pulse. Teenager Moremi was excited to have her Pulse installed, but five years after a terrorist event killed her mother, Moremi is lonely and burdened by grief and trauma. Hoping to move on with her life, she agrees to a procedure that will alter her memories. When she meets Orpheus, the Dreamscaper from her procedure, she falls into a whirlwind love affair with him. Their happiness together is short-lived, however, as Orpheus is jailed, based on the probability that he will commit a crime in the future. But Moremi will do anything to save him amid a battle for the future that pits the controlling government against "neo-Luddites," who believe in the freedom of an off-grid life. Readers will find themselves immersed in the intricate and deeply felt wonder and horror of this world. VERDICT Oh has written a stunning dystopian tale that contemplates the future of augmented reality, and who controls it, through a heartrending love story.--Melissa DeWild

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 1, 2023
In the near future, technology brings minds and dreams together--but to what end? Despite her family's concerns, Moremi is elated to receive a Pulse, which will finally allow her brain to tap directly into the internet. With the Pulse, Moremi no longer has to be alone: She can message everyone she knows from inside her head or run a search on anything she sees or anything she might wonder. Meanwhile, Orpheus' father has raised him alone on an island, dodging the authorities, until a misstep sends him into a London full of technology that he doesn't wholly trust. As Orpheus learns how to use the Pulse to manipulate dreams, Moremi continues to seek solutions for her depressive episodes, and the two will eventually find themselves in each other's lives. Meanwhile, technology and politics entwine as, on one side, the inventors of the Pulse push for technological singularity while, on the other, Revelators like Moremi's sister advocate for a more analog lifestyle. Moremi and Orpheus simply want to focus on their own lives and concerns, but plans have been made since before they were born that they may never escape. The world of dreams blends seamlessly with the world of big tech as author Oh explores the drawbacks and positive aspects of living plugged in. The depiction of a near-future London easily portrays the diversity of the country--Moremi is British Nigerian, and Orpheus is mixed race--and deftly underscores the inequalities and problems that are still present. While the pacing leaves time for the reader to sink into emotions, the plotting is tightly crafted, weaving science fiction, mythology, and more to tell a tale that feels pertinent right now. An emotional tale exploring light and dark and the gray areas in change and progress.

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