I enjoyed this. It's mainly a love story, set slightly in the future in a world coping with climate change, which adds interest. The political and socio-economic situation plays out how you'd expect, greatly favoring the wealthy, but it's not heavy handed and accusing. Everything about this story is fragile. The mental health of the two main characters, the fraught state of NYC where the story takes place, the precarious state of the whole planet with unprecedented weather catastrophes and near total antibiotic resistance. Jake is very likeable and relatable, as he struggles with drug abuse and being overwhelmed by the responsibilities of his job securing scarce pharmaceuticals for the city. I'm not sure what draws him so much toward Shavir, she's indifferent or fickle towards him, and cares a lot more about dogs than people. She also has her on and off again ex in the wings. I guess it's about her beauty. She redeems herself a bit as her story progresses, putting herself in harms way to rescue Jake's sister and niece.

In the past year I’ve read three books set in North America in post-apocalyptic landscapes, including Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and Severance by Ling Ma. I enjoyed both, but Fragile had me spellbound. I was completely pulled in by the depth of Alexa Weik von Mossner’s descriptions of a devastated society that seems all too real.

Realistic dystopia

If I had read this book a few years ago, I would have labelled it as scaremongering but realistic dystopian fiction. None of it feels far-fetched after the last couple of years of pandemic, with its PPE shortages and panic buying and the climate disasters of heatwave, wildfires and flooding. It feels all too close for comfort. We even had shortages of common medicines such as the contraceptive pill in Europe because of a rejected batch from China, and one container ship blocking the Suez Canal caused major logistical backlogs worldwide. Alexa Weik von Mossner has definitely being paying attention and incorporated these issues into her novel.

The year is 2057. The world has been irrevocably changed by rising temperatures and rising sea levels. There are no more farm animals, and legal meat production has been shut down to preserve stocks of antibiotics and reduce carbon emissions. Meat substitute is called art-meat, with the slogan ‘Better than nature!’ However, people want real meat, so illegal puppy farms produce dogs for human consumption.

It certainly raises an interesting question for meat lovers: how far would you go to taste meat? And would you eat man’s best friend if that was the only option? Especially if cultivated/cultured meat (i.e. tissue culture in a lab) was readily available. As a pescatarian/vegetarian, my son has already asked me whether I would eat cultivated meat and I don’t really feel the need.

The first scene is a group of activists rescuing puppies from a horrific meat farm on the Atlantic coast of the USA. One of these activists is Shavir, a young woman who works in a coffee outlet by day, but spends her spare time volunteering with Roots, a counterculture group started during the early 2050s Global Supply Crisis, living in makeshift cubicles in abandoned office buildings, tending an urban farm on the roof. She has recently left a rather one-sided relationship with a rich idealist and garden designer who helps sponsor Roots, Finn Larsen.

In the second scene, Jake is watching a holographic news report on his Spine, an embedded device that make mobile phones and televisions obsolete. He is watching news about sweatshop workers in Cambodia who are rioting because their houses are being demolished to build a sea wall to protect not their homes, but factories. They shake their fists at the drone cameras, angry at the western world that caused the environmental catastrophe. This will affect Jake personally because he works for SAFE: Special Agency For Essentials, responsible for sourcing medicines and other essentials. Many medical supplies are normally shipped from Cambodia for the City of New York: antibiotics, antivirals, anticoagulants.

On behalf of New York City, Jake’s job is to solve the logistical nightmare that is the global supply chain in the face of unpredictable weather and shortages of antibiotics and other lifesaving medications. Without antibiotics, no surgery can take place. As he is fully aware, distribution of the food and medications they secure is uneven, biased in favour of the rich area of Manhattan. And it is distributed according to an impenetrable AI system that only its creator understands. Overriding it is not an option, even in an emergency, when hospitals run out of the antibiotics they need to perform surgery. The system will only allow them to reallocate resources once a state of emergency has been declared.

To add to the chaos, the city is undergoing a serious heatwave over and above the 2°C raise in global temperatures. The only way many people cope is to take an emotion regulating drug called Emovia. Now the supply of this is also failing and could lead to major civil unrest. What is more, it is not deemed to be a critical medication, whatever the consequences if it runs out. Jake will have to cheat the system to ensure supplies and prevent revolution.

Jake and Shavir know each other by sight as Jake takes a detour every day to buy his morning coffee from her as he is so attracted to her. In spite of their different backgrounds, they form a relationship which will test their loyalties and provoke many heated discussions.

It's an indication of how immersive this is that I scarcely wrote any notes about this book. I would definitely recommend it for anyone who enjoys speculative fiction and climate fiction (cli-fi). Ten out of ten.

I absolutely LOVED this story.
Set in the world that is coming due to climate change, people finding each other.

I just reviewed Fragile by Alexa Weik von Mossner. #Fragile #NetGalley

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. I absolutely loved it from start to finish, amazing read. I’m a big fan of Dystopian and this book didn’t disappoint. I could not put it down and read it in one sitting! The story primarily focuses on a future world suffering the effects of climate change but also the personal experiences of the main characters Jake and Shavir. This book is for everyone not just Dystopian fans and I can’t recommend it highly enough. A massive 5 stars from me.

This dystopian novel imo reads more like horror with that said I was pleasantly surprised by how much I absolutely loved it & could not put it down !!
It's pretty much a future glimpse of our world.
This book touches on SOO many issues that our country is dealing with right now :
Supply chain issues
Government control
People in general unable to sustain basic life needs .. 😐
Rich people thrive where the poor gets ignored

Sounds too familiar & a bit spooky but sadly that's our society now .. but with that said I LOVED this book !!! & Totally recommend it .
It may be a bit depressing, hence the topic but I love how in the end everyone comes together for one common goal : human kind ❤️

Thank you Netgalley for this ArC!!
I love finding new authors

Realistic and well done, this held my attention and is well executed. This author has a good imagination and writing style, and I look forward to her future work.

I really appreciate the free ARC for review!!

This is a novel set in the near future when global warming has made society unstable and violent. Although the premise was good, the romantic relationship between the two protagonists lacked realistic chemistry. I.wanted a more satisfying denouement than I was given as a reader.

The premise of the book is interesting but the fact that there was two parallel stories made it difficult for me to enjoy the book. I could not help but think that the stories could have been better as standalones or if the author had focused on just one of them for this book.

here were elements of this story which really grabbed my attention and made me feel tense and distracted .The dystopian world set in a future of climate change and after a big economic global catastrophe felt very real and possible .The supply chain issues faced by the make lead as he worked for homeland agency ensuring access to vital food and medicine was totally believable .We’ve all seen this year the global energy prices zooming ever upwards and supply chain issues during times of pandemic .What happening in this novel is not too many steps away from our reality .This makes the story more upsetting I could imagine myself as a parent trying to find medication for me family
The bit I failed to really get interested in was the female leads supposed eco terrorism that involved rescuing puppies from meat farms and rejoining them .I felt this stretched credulity too much for me .They were clearly risking their lives in times of violent crisis and I found I didn’t really care enough .
I cared more for the stress felt by the homeland agent I felt this deeply .The mood stabilisers large portions of the population were taking and what might happen if supplies of these were suddenly cut off was deeply threatening
I personally wasn’t very interested in the love story between the 2 main characters
I felt the end of the book was disappointing the story fizzled out leaving me feeling unsatisfied
I read an early copy on NetGalley Uk the book is published in the Uk by Elzware Press on 7 January 2023