Definitely a response to the world we live in...

...today since that poor excuse for a human being was elected president of the US (and probably would need to look up the word "empathy" but would be too stupid to understand it). Possibly the author has read the recent spate of articles that state that reading promotes empathy, and that got her thinking? Regardless, it was a really good read. I was engaged in the plot and invested in the characters the entire book.

I suppose it kind of failed in making the characters seem totally devoid of emotion. Kind of a fine line to walk there. But I didn't really care. They were emotionless enough but not so much that they were unlikeable. In fact, the main character (Natalia) is quite likeable, intelligent, clever, etc. And anyway, her little brother Cal (whom she has to rescue from big pharma because he shows no signs of waning) claims that even though after "the waning" all emotions supposedly vanish, they are actually still there--horribly blunted and muted, but still there.

The audio narrator for Natalia's character did a great job. If she had actually read the character as emotionless as she supposedly was, it would have been robotic and awful to listen to. She strikes just the right balance.

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