https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2150611571 my review.

A really intriguing book. Once you get into it, you won’t be able to put it down.

I don’t have much to say about this one other than I didn’t care for it.

This was a very creepy and eerie, which was something I was interested in at the time, so this definitely quenched that. I also loved the writing style of the author.

I thought that I had this book all figured out after only reading the blurb about the book. I wanted to read it to see if I got it right and was interested in reading a sci-fi thriller. I think that the author was very creative in her approach to this genre. Even hours after finishing this book, I have been able to think of more things that were subtly creative about it. I think that other readers will be able to enjoy the title of the book more so after reading it. I wasn't sure that I understood the title before I read the book. It made me think of the resemblance of one object or person to another but it is supposed to represent so much more than that.

I loved how the author revealed the personalities of the main characters throughout the book. It was interesting to see all the layers that there were to each of them especially Cora and Hannah. I appreciated the depth that the author was able to reveal with her style of writing by revealing aspects of the characters at a slower pace than other books. I felt as if I was not only trying to solve the mystery of what happened on the night of Hannah's death but also who each of the characters really were. I felt like every person in this book was hiding something whether it was a huge secret or something smaller. It was hard to know who to trust.

The points of view were interesting with each voice being unique and presenting challenges and questions for the reader to ponder. I thought that the AI counselor in particular was a great addition to the book. I've never read a point of view quite like his before. He was very informative regarding the mystery and was lacking in emotion but at the same time not. It is hard to explain unless you read the book.

I wish that the author would have explained the technology and setting more fully in the beginning of the book. I had trouble understanding exactly what the purpose of Cerepins were. Is it like a phone? A computer? What are cannies? Are they security guard robots? Other than the lack of explanation, I thought that the beginning of the book started out well with the main character Cora beginning her path of self destruction although the author hints that other things have happened before the events at the beginning if the book. The author does eventually explain all of these questions and more throughout the course the book. I would have liked to have been able to understand them quicker so that I could dwell on other aspects of the book sooner.

"Two sisters. One death. No memories."

In a world where AI is in effect and your every moment is being recorded. How is it that a memory goes blank? One good sister. One sister that was less. A set of parents that seem more distant than loving. Murder/Death mystery. YA Fantasy with a touch of futuristic technology. This type of read can be beyond my scope of involvement and this one kept me on to the end. Unanny was a dark, emotional, mystery, that has it drama and twist. Cora has this one to work out on her own or does she? She may find help in the most unlikely of places.

In to mystery, sci-fi, ya, with drama, then pick up Uncanny.

I picked this one up at bed time and was so gripped I read it until the early hours of the morning with no respect whatsoever for having to get up early for work. The opening just made me want to know everything, immediately.

The technology in Uncanny is really advanced and intrusive. People have implants that they carry around streaming "feeds" into their eyes, they can record anything they want, and their houses monitor their every move, unless you can override them. The novel is in part a commentary on privacy in a tech-heavy world. There are AI characters, most notably Cora's therapist Rafiq, but they are also an integral part of society in schools, medical care and the police, and Sarah addresses the concept of free will for AI beings. It is fascinating.

Uncanny opens with us knowing Hannah is dead. Initially the details of this are relayed through reports from the technology, and this is somehow more haunting than it would otherwise be: the technology is more distant, it can't tell which details are relevant and which aren't, the information given is cold and clinical. Cora, Hannah's sister, is implicated in her murder: both girls had their feeds switched off and the house security system, Franka, was disabled. Cora claims to remember nothing, but may not be telling the truth. She is being more closely monitored than normal by her family in the hope that memories resurface or some footage is found.

Uncanny is a fantastic novel that kept me hooked and guessing until the end. And that ending was like a punch to the gut. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone with an interest in tech or a love of thriller / crime novels.

What a wild, crazy ride Uncanny takes readers on. After reading the synopsis, it's clear that there's a mystery on hand - what happened the night Hannah died and why doesn't Cora remember any of it.

We dive immediately into the story on page one, with Cora struggling to make sense of what happened when her memory is gone. She knows bits and pieces from what others have told her, but she lacks crucial memories and its making her question everything.

With her family pushing her to remember the details, and her own mind seemingly turning agains her, Cora tries to piece everything together - but while she's adding two and two, she's not getting four and she's starting to wonder just what her own mind is hiding from her.

Uncanny has many twists and turns, showing us moments from the past leading us up to the memories of that fatal night - only things aren't always what they seem. For some characters - there is plenty of secrets and lots to hide. This story is about so much more than a mystery, filled with questions and details leading you one direction while showing you something else. When the truth comes out - who will be left standing?

In Cora’s world there is very little privacy, very few secrets to be kept. Vid cameras monitor your every move, AI turns your home into a living, breathing entity that can detect mood swings, a rise in blood pressure and heart rate and even unease. So when Cora’s stepsister, Hannah, dies and all video and AI monitoring have been turned off, everyone turns to Cora for answers. After all, she was there when it happened but doesn’t remember anything.
Cora and Hannah have been living in the same home for a good year. They are stepsisters, Cora’s mother recently married Hannah’s father. They go to the same school and have the same friends. Only, Cora really only has one good friend, Neda. The rest of the kids are Hannah’s friends and they are nice to Cora because Hannah is nice to her, or is she? Cora and Hannah are both manipulative and it’s hard to tell at times who is worse.
When Hannah dies, Rafiq, a canny is brought in to help Cora come to terms with the accident and bring light to what happened. Rafiq has been programmed to find out the truth and report back to Gary, Hannah’s father (Cora’s stepfather). The cannies are robots. AI is so advanced that the only thing that separates robots from humans is their lack of free will, feelings and emotions. They are programmed to complete a task and report to their admin
I have to say I struggled when I first started this book because of the way it transitions in the telling of the story. It is told through the point of view of both Cora and Rafiq, as well as video data reviews. The video data reviews reveal a different character “angle” making the reader really question the motives behind both sisters. They are both cunning characters that break into vulnerability just in the nick of time to keep the reader from a feeling of complete disgust.
I have to say this book is really intriguing. I enjoyed the writing and especially enjoyed the sci fi element of AI. I will absolutely add this book to my classroom library.
4/5 stars

I want to thank NetGalley and Skyscape and Two Lions for providing me with this copy in exchange for an honest review

I have enjoyed it although I think it may haven't been my cup of tea

3/5 Stars

This story is catching, I can't deny that I have been so intrigued during the course of the plot, because in this book you never know who to trust in and that fact keeps you interested and wanting to find out all the matter. I liked that aspect, but I also had some problems with the plot in general, I feel that although it keeps the suspense at all times I was a liitle bit bored at times, this aggravated to that I'm not sure about the characters


The writing style is fantastic without doubts would read another book of the author, has that touch that makes you feel in the events placesur rounded by mystery and keeps you curious, that's great !. I also understand that the author is accustomed to writing paranormal and that kind of thing, so I'm not sure if it's her first Sci-Fi work, I may be wrong, but anyway I wanted to mention it because she did a great job, besides mixes a futuristic reality with a very contemporary style. I know it sounds confusing but it works lol


Cora is the main character, and the plot focuses on the suspicious death of her sister. Cora has many difficult decisions that she must take during the plot, as she is faced in the beginning of the book with the possibility of committing suicide and then we will also see other equally delicate subjects. I mention it because being a sensitive subject I think some sensitive people might find the book somewhat strong, but still everything is touched in a very respectful way. Going back to Cora is not a character that I couldn't connect, sadly I couldn't with any character and that is one of my main problems, even so it's not a justification to tell you that the book is not good, because in fact, it is! I think it's just been personal.


I strongly recommend that you get into the book without knowing anything about it, I think you'll be surprised and you'll enjoy it even more. I think you'll enjoy it if you like the mystery, the futuristic novels and the aspects of Sci-fi, which I think even though I'm not a fan of the genre, I've really liked it how the author has handled it in here

Imagine living in an age where your every movement is recorded, where artificial intelligence can be used to help or hinder, where humanity seems to be drifting into some kind of great abyss because a sophisticated computer interface holds all truths.

Cora awoke to a blank in her memory and those missing moments happened the night her stepsister died. Was Cora responsible as many thought? Was she the awful daughter/stepdaughter that her parents believed? Was she the troubled one or was she the silent victim of something dark and brutally cruel? Who would believe her, anyway? Hannah was always the perfect one, the caring one, or so it seemed…Now, an AI counselor would attempt to uncover what lay hidden in Cora’s mind and on her computer interface, but who is he working for and what is he really supposed to reveal?

UNCANNY by Sarah Fine is a gritty, terrifying and emotionally dark tale of a cold society that has stopped feeling compassion, or empathy or even being truly supportive because computers will tell all, absolving even a parent from real responsibility. Cora has been a victim of cleverly hidden bullying and her stepsister’s death was merely one more nail in the coffin of her self-esteem and self-doubt. As the mystery unfolds, Cora has little support and even the “help” she needs comes from a machine. As repulsive as it is compelling, this tale of a future world is as raw as it is telling, a flawed child is in crisis and the lines of right and wrong are smeared with 1’s and 0’s. A read that defies being ignored or forgotten.

I received an ARC edition from Skyscape in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Skyscape (October 3, 2017)
Publication Date: October 3, 2017
Genre: YA | Bullying | Scifi
Print Length: 316 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

When I first requested this book from Netgalley, who kindly agreed to send me it for review, I thought it sounded amazing, I was not wrong.
I mean wow, this book!
This story messes with your mind. It started a little slow and very confusing but as we got further into the story I was just drawn in. I needed this mystery to be solved.
I loved the futuristic element to the story, but also that it didn't play on that too much, it was first and foremost a very compelling mystery.
The relationship between the two sisters was complex and at times a little frightening, I didnt know who's side I was on.
I personally had never heard of this author before but after reading this one I'll definitely be picking up more of her work.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so good! So it takes place in the future and a lot of the story revolves around future tech and AI. There's a lot about privacy (or lack thereof) and ethics revolving around the advanced technology used (which is pretty interesting in itself, for me anyway). Everyone who isn't AI in this story essentially has a smartphone built into the side of their head (what they refer to as a Cerepin). The story is all about a slightly disturbed girl with some mental health issues (who was so well written) and her relationship with her step-sister and how her step-sister ended up dead. It told in alternating narratives (Cora, the girl mentioned above and a mystery narrator--don't want to give anything away!).

There are so many twists in this book, literally up until the last page. You think you have it figured out like four times during the story, but you don't. Just when you start to root for a character, or despise a character, something happens and your opinion changes. Mini-spoiler (maybe?) warning: you won't get the neat little happy ending you think you want with this one, but the ending is so good you will find yourself okay with it, even if it's a little bit disturbing.

In summary: this is a must read! You won't regret it.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Uncanny is the story of Cora and how she has to both come to terms with the death of her stepsister and the fact that she was the only person with her when she died under suspicious circumstances. In a future world where everything is recorded and mainstreamed the events of that night are nowhere to be found. With Cora unravelling under the pressure of blame it is up to those around her to both protect and exonerate her, even if that comes from the most unusual of sources.

Uncanny covers a lot of difficult themes, I was reminded a lot about 13 Reasons Why with the passive aggressive bullying suffered by Cora and the attempts at humiliation and playing on fragile mental health. Cora is a very broken young girl, thrown into a world of excess and struggles to keep her head above water, never fitting in with the popular crowd her new sister inhabits. Our smartphones scarily have become part of us, installed in our heads, never being able to escape the constant messages, video feeds and recordings. AI is all around, ready to catch the parts that you don’t want others to see, which makes the journey to uncover Hannah’s murderer all the more difficult when this failsafe apparently fails.

The story plays out in 2 POV’s, Cora’s and then also a retrospective with different video clips being reviewed of Cora and her step sister Hannah’s interactions. It’s these retrospectives which I struggled with at the start. The flow of them didn’t really work for me, there was no change in font or formatting to indicate video clip conversation versus the inner narrative of the person viewing the video file and I often found myself reading in Cora’s voice when I shouldn’t have been. That being said as new characters were introduced and clips starting catching up to present day, I found the voice that I needed to differentiate.

I did find Uncanny very difficult in the start, if it wasn’t for the fact I had committed to a review I probably would have put it down before I got to the good stuff. I’m glad I did persevere though as I did find it quite the page turner at the end as it became an intense murder mystery thriller, with some very shocking twists.

This book!! When I requested it on netgalley I thought the description was interesting so after I was approved I quickly downloaded it and started reading right away. I thought the beginning of the book was ok, then it started to annoy me, and then all of the sudden it was like BOOM and everything started happening. So many twists and turns plus I'm a sucker for a mystery,and the end.... I definitely recommend this book to people who like mysteries, but if you don't like death or negativity I suggest not reading it.

This review is also on goodreads

Cora does not remember what happened the night her step sister fell down a flight of stairs and died. She knows that it might have been recorded by her Cerepin, but she is afraid that she may have been at fault. Cora’s step father hires an AI counselor to help her deal with her grief and hopefully assist her in recovering her lost memories. As she begins to remember snippets of her past and tries to work up the courage to watch the vid, Cora uncovers scary truths about herself and those around her.

Uncanny is a stand-alone science fiction story that is refreshingly different. What would the world be like if people were constantly recording events around them? Who could you trust? Fine has created a world that is filled with a variety of automatons and readers will enjoy the experience of exploring this different society. The storyline twists and turns as the pages almost turn themselves. Uncanny is a good escape with an unexpected conclusion.

"<i>We'll make our own normal, one that fits just right. Was that too therapisty?</i>"
"<b>It was actually kind of beautiful.</b>"

There's no denying that I love this author's writing. I have always loved how she weaves such dark, real, raw, elements into her fantasy (and now scifi) works. UNCANNY is pretty close to contemporary, probably as close as we'll ever get from her, except for the fact that it's set in the future and there are many scientific advancements and elements at play in society.

"<i>Sometimes I think I'm going crazy.</i>"
"<b>Sometimes, I think <i>surviving</i> looks crazy. But it never is, okay? Surviving is the best way to tell the people who have hurt you that they can go to hell.</b>"

One of those advancements being cannies, robots/tech with AI who perform a variety of roles from driving, cooking, cleaning, to being an actual presence in one's house and monitoring the safety, security, location, and health of its inhabitants. I absolutely loved this element, the complexity of it, and yet how seamlessly it had been woven into the world and the lives of the characters.

"<i>I've been wondering -- do you breathe?</i>"
"<b>I have a heat-diffusion system that is vented through my nose.</b>"
"<i>So.. no? You just blow hot air?</i>"

As for those characters, well, in that regard this was a tough book to love. UNCANNY opens up with Cora trying to kill herself. Her stepsister has just died, in what seems to be an accident, and despite being the only witness, she has no memory of what happened and all the recording devices -- both the house and their Cerepins, basically implanted computers in their temples -- were shut off. At least.. so they believe. Cora is torn between her memories of a kind sister who only wanted to accept her in her life and the occasional glimpses of behaviour that showed otherwise.

"<i>You're upset.</i>"
"<b>Wow, Rafiq, you're a real pro.</b>"
"<i>When we discuss your sister, your heart rate rises dramatically.</i>"
"<b>Now you're getting creepy.</b>"

What makes Cora's unreliable and confused memories harder is the presence of a second POV (in a way) as shown as video data being reviewed. Data that was recorded by Hannah and that shows her to be something other than what everyone believes her to be. But it also seems to support the evidence that Cora was unbalanced, traumatized by her childhood, and jealous of her new sister. So, who is to be believed? What's the truth?

<i>Grief is an animal inside me, settled in its cave.</i>

I don't want to say more than that because this is a story that deserves to be taken apart piece by piece as each moment is revealed. There's a lot on the go in this story. Fine had me on the edge of my seat for this ride. It was tough to read, excruciating to see the manipulations and sabotage being done, and yet incredibly compelling. We're seeing more and more of these unreliable narrators, these grey characters, and while I love the change up it does actually make for a rather stressful experience. And UNCANNY was no different.

<i>All I know is there is something big and dark inside me, and I don't know how to get rid of it. This will never get better, no matter how perfect my robot therapist is.</i>

IIn addition to the real-talk around self-harm and neglect as abuse, bullying, and survivor's guilt and trauma, I loved the dialogue about AI rights, wants and desires, free will; it was so deftly woven into the story and made a big impact at the end of it all. And that ending.. wow. That being said, the problem is that while it fit the suspense element to have two characters we couldn't be sure about -- who was lying, who was hurting, who should be believed -- ultimately it makes it hard to like either of them.. and therefore hard to love the book. Because it seems like only one character in UNCANNY is exactly as they seem. Well, maybe two.

So while I didn't love it, I did like it, because not knowing who to trust makes for a tense, fast-paced, page-turning experience.

3.5 "lying is well within my operating parameters" stars

Very well written, but unfortunately, the story itself was not my cup of tea. None of the characters were likeable, and the ending horrified me. I was not expecting such a gruesome, negative story from Sarah Fine. Her writing is amazing, but usually I don't leave the book needing to immediately go hug my loved ones.

The title is ironic.
The book itself is strange and it took me for a loop. It's about Cora, an AI, who is struggling to figure out what happened on the night of her sister's death. It was hard to like Cora simply because she wasn't what I expected at all but at the same time, this was what I found most interesting about her. There were so many twists and turns that kept me captivated. The writing style is different but I enjoyed it. It took me ages to get through the book but not because it was bad.
I just didn't want it to end.

I'm completely amazed at this book. It brings a completely different approach to contemporary fiction with its futuristic setting (which I truly loved and wished I could transport myself in the pages) and characters who are really well-developed and completely human.

Uncanny is an interesting novel which dealt with Cora's emotional struggle in the aftermath of her stepsister's death emotional and intense themes of family relationships and sensitive issues. Furthermore, Cora's physical and emotional struggle in the aftermath of her stepsister's death was truly interesting to read about and this story will be with me for a long while.