I requested this book from NetGalley based on a recommendation from an author I love:

"An alternately charming and horrifying exploration of what it means to be human and how far we'll go in pursuit of personal and societal 'perfection.' I devoured this book." --Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author of And I Darken

It lived up to that! The book is a series of short stories, each with a different set of characters living out possible futures that employ today's emerging technologies more broadly. The stories range from the near-future with small changes to the human body driving heart-felt debates on morality and policy, to hundreds of years from now when "human" bodies are markedly different from what they are now. Each story stands on its own, yet as a whole, they hold together to give the book a satisfying end.

Each story highlights one aspect of emerging technology: genetic manipulation, organ transplant, extreme modification of the human body. As a writer of science fiction, I found the possibilities fascinating. As a reader and mom, I found them terrifying. This is a great book to get teens thinking through their point of view on how we should use the technology currently being developed.

The review will be posted on TheWingedPen.com on Tuesday.

Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton is about exactly that - what happens when humans go to any length to be their most perfect self. We’re not talking about being a kinder person, or engaging in something that you love, or doing charitable works. No, by perfect we mean changing your appearance, replacing your organs, or extending your life all in an effort to achieve some false sense of biological utopia.

Such is the premise of Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful, which follows six teens, each with their own story which connects to the whole concept of the novel. What begins as salvaging one twin’s organs to save the other, soon moves on to replacing damaged body parts with robotic bits, and then examines a fanatic preacher turned glorified, modified idol. While these concepts may not seem so far-fetched when compared to today’s society, the story quickly turns horrifying when it explores a young prodigy whose body has been altered to allow him to live underwater and coax animals into experimentation. It gets worse when Russia decides to turn people with terminal cancer into robotic slaves. The tales culminate in story 6, which explores what happens when these body modifications get drastically out of control.

Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful is a mixed bag of bizarre characters and intriguing concepts. While some stories offer up an emotional connection with the characters, others are completely plot-driven. I personally preferred the first two stories of the novel, which could fall into a contemporary genre with a sci-fi twist. There is still much of what makes us human to find in these tales. From there, however, it is all downhill, unless you enjoy your science fiction on the heavy side. Dayton gave readers little to care about in her later characters, instead focusing on strange and outlandish scenarios and action-packed plots. Personally, this wasn’t for me, as I felt Dayton tried to cram too many foreign concepts into too few pages. I often felt lost and reading felt like a chore, as I had to constantly learn and remember new details about an alien Earth.

Thank you to NetGalley & Delacorte Press for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Heart transplants. Body modification. Harvesting spleens from other animals. Steel/plastic/synthskin... How far can science go to help the human body fix itself? Or even create new? What are the religious and ethical ramifications of these practices?

Arwen Elys Dayton pushes these questions further and further in each of the six connected stories in Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful. It is populated with thought-provoking voices that are brimming with dark humor, eternal hope, and still others with stark, religious furor. The best part of this collection is the way Dayton seamlessly intertwines technology and the human desire for perfection in each narrative. Each subsequent step seems plausible in light of the previous machination.

Every story is a bitter-sweet satisfaction. A try for perfection, yet a dash towards a possible cliff.

Highly recommended for high school students and beyond. The speculative and dystopian fan will jump to this book.

Fascinating and disturbing. At first, the ties to current thinking can be seen, but it gets more bizarre the farther you get from the present. I liked the through line of Reverend Tadd and his daughter. Some of the future modifications were a bit gruesome, but thought provoking.

Although I'm not always a fan of science fiction, what I do love are books that explore the repercussions of technology and what questions will be raised as a result of genetic engineering. This book does just that as the six interconnected stories examine the controversies between science and religion and how they intersect and often divide us. Set in the near future, the novel shows worlds where genetic engineering has advanced to the point where skin and organs can be fused/manufactured/placed in humans to extend their lives. But where does a human end and a robot begin? And would God want us to take science this far? Lots of questions make this a very readable book that would make for great discussions!

What a weird book. If you like a non linear narrative (six stories with loose connections) and being slightly disgusted with the future: pick this up.

I am blown away by this book. I finished it yesterday and have thought about it since. I loved the short stories and how they hop through time. The story may seem a bit far fetched but still feels like this isn’t too unrealistic to be the way humans evolve in the future. There were a few of the short stories that I could have read a whole book of. Especially the last one, I would love for the author to continue the story and let us know more. Love!

This book is very confusing to start with. It hops around to different story lines and it takes a while into each story to explain what is going on. The general idea is that medical technology has advanced so greatly and while at first it was intended to cure those who were with ailments, broken or ridden with disease, it soon goes into harvesting extra livers from dolphins and manatees which just weirded me out. I didn't expect a story line quite like this so just be aware if you find it hard to stomach that sort of idea.

This book, a set of short(ish) stories set in the distant future when gene-editing has become a reality, is unexpectedly sweet and terrifying all at once. I don't want to say much about the plots, as it is honestly such a delight to read - one of the best books I have read this year, hands-down.

Fans of Arwen Elys Dayton's Seeker series already know that she is not afraid to tackle difficult themes and topics while creating an engaging narrative. However, rather than returning to a book series Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful is a collection of interconnected short stories that examine various aspects of genetic manipulation and how scientific advances both hold the power to heal and harm. Starting in the near future and moving progressively beyond our realm of understanding and progress each tale shows how humanity might decide to handle genetic manipulation , and where it might lead us.

I take Faster, Stronger, and More Beautiful as a cautionary tale of how genetic manipulation can become a crutch that humanity might rely on so heavily they no longer can survive without it. The first story, a sobering tale of a teenage boy having his organs fused with his comatose twin sister's to save his life, shows a reality most readers can find relatable. However, Dayton quickly jumps to situations beyond our current understanding of gene therapy such as a boy modified to physically be like a manatee and humans merged with machines to provide nearly immortal grunt work. I struggled to comprehend the plots and find meaning in the more futuristic settings, but I also wanted to learn how the various threads tied into each other and how they worked as a whole.

I have spent several months since finishing the book to digest the material and formulate my thoughts, but when I recently described it to a co-worker I realized the impact it left on me. Faster, Stronger, and More Beautiful is an extremely different type of work than the author's Seeker series, but its power lies in how it makes readers analyze their feelings on a serious issue. It has stayed with me since I turned the last page, and I suspect I will be mulling over it for a long time.

4.5 Unexpected Consequences to Tweaking a Single Gene out of 5

This is an intriguing collection of interconnected short stories that had me getting goosebumps more than once. I really enjoyed the first few stories, but it started to drag toward the middle. Absolutely perfect for Black mirror fans

This book is so powerful and such an amazing read. For real it fits in totally with Black Mirror and is a really entertaining yet spooky read. It really makes you think.

It took me a little while to get hooked on the disjointed narrative being told across all the stories, but by the third installment, I was so engrossed I couldn't put it down. The writing style is smooth and imaginative and disturbing and made me take a long look at the people around me. It wasn't hard to imagine us going down the path Dayton described.

The character arc of Reverend Tadd provided a thread that carried through the entire book. Tadd's transformation from fundamentalist preacher to a fundamentalist of a different kind showed how his core personality didn't change. Rather, his beliefs were warped by his experiences to take him down a terrifying path.

I'd like to say this thought-provoking book was pure science fiction, but if the science becomes a reality, it isn't a stretch to imagine the world going to these extremes. And that's what changes this collection of stories from an exercise in imagination to a cautionary tale.

Wow! This book was a winner from the first page to the last. Each of the six stories was so interesting on its own, but, tied together by a thin and frightening thread, they made up a truly remarkable story. Before starting the book I thought it was going to be more on the light side; perhaps looking at how physical modifications might effect one person at a time, in both the near and more distant future. Instead, it took a much broader look at what could happen throughout the world of the future. By telling these six stories, each further into the future, the reader is taken on a wild ride of “just because we can, does that mean we should?” This well-written, fast-paced book was hard to put down and will stay with you long after it is finished. It is definitely not to be missed!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book is the kind you read and never forget. I still find myself thinking about the issues raised through beautiful storytelling. The premises in each vignette are scarily plausible and hauntingly memorable. This book reminded me of Cloud Atlas, yet the tech and genetic mod aspects made it feel like, a cautionary tale for our generation. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR all teens and fans of YA fiction.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

In a series of interconnected short stories, Dayton charts our progress toward a likely dystopia that will thrill and unsettle science fiction, contemporary, and fantasy fans alike.

Wowowow this book! What a ride! I loved this imagining of what might happen in the future as we delve further into genetic modifications. Fascinating read! I really loved it.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is compelling. It challenges genetic engineering concepts and really makes one think about the consequences of altering our bodies for reasons of vanity.

Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful (Hardcover)
by Arwen Elys Dayton
This is a compilation of stories in the book, loosely tied to each other because of the idea and premise that human adaptation will change the world as we understand.
Part One
Matched Pair
A set of semi-identical twins are dying. They are losing a battle against their own bodies, but its opposing parts that are failing. So the doctors propose a solution, combine them to save one. But which would you save, which is more viable. The real question is how does a young child comprehend that his sibling needs to die so he could live. This is a great theoretical proportionate to the idea of medical intervention and our responsibility to life.

Part Two
St. Ludmilla
The idea that we can repair ourselves, change our appearance to the point of an entirely different race of man would come out of it. How much of this is humanity? how much are we creations of our own making? This shows how survival is not always the easiest part of living after a tragedy, its coming to grips with what you have faced and how you have faced it.

Part Three
The Reverend Mr. Tad and Tadd's love story
The corruption of belief, the rejection of new ideals makes some pretty heavy and enterprising installments of social changes. Reverend Tad has jumped on the bandwagon that those who have chosen to go beyond their normal life span, or genetic preponderance are evil. He has made a fortune spouting his soapbox beliefs. The problem is, he is a fraud. This story is a great look at human acceptance, and the ability of the public to accept and adapt to social changes caused by technology and advancement.

Part Four
Eight Waded
The idiomatic adaptation of the mind is brought to question. How do you accept physiological and psychological change in a drastic nature? How do you survive when life had brought to question all that matters?

Part Five
California
Power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely. The idea that humanity is lost because of political affiliation, or the psychological change of humanity. Russia has returned, it uses the technology at their disposal to change humanity. They take those deemed unfit for Russian society, those out side the law, or from another jurisdiction and transform them into the partial robotic slaves. Using them to forced labor, and subjection of social ridicule. The idea is what is humanity, and what is political power.

Part Six
Curiosities
There is a division in society, those they deem human and those that don't. Never allowing the inhuman to touch the human, caging them behind force fields, and social walls. Yet when crisis comes they are left with needing the help of those they deem unworthy. Showing the meaning of humanity and having compassion for others.