This gritty, dystopian sci-fi dives into the question: what if the rich quarantine off a poor area due to disease, then just never lift the quarantine? The lung rot is long gone, but the occupants of Withers are still trapped.

Nate’s a GEM - a genetically engineered medi-tissue - who exists to cure others with his blood. Nate’s on the run, hiding with a found family who don’t know his secret. He’s afraid they’ll betray him if they know the truth, but his secrets keep him from the boy he longs for, too.

This world is immersive and dark. Almost all of the people we meet are involved in the chem trade - essentially illegal drugs - and all are desperately struggling to survive. Nate’s friends, especially precocious Pixel, will win your heart.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy of this book.

This is a fabulous debut novel with so many elements to love. At the mention of Genetically Engineered Medi-Tissue, this science nerd’s heart sped up. I immediately wanted to know more about Nate and his world – and it’s not pretty. Every day is a struggle to survive – food and safe housing are scarce in the Withers, and Nate’s gang scavenges for everything they have. And his gang? Found family is one of my favorite tropes, and this band of scavengers grabs your heart early on and doesn’t let go. They’re also taking care of a Pixel, a young girl, and each of them would sacrifice their own life to keep her safe. Her relationship with Nate is one of my favorite aspects of this story.

Stakes are sky high with this group. Nate is dying a slow, painful death due to lack of Remedy, the drug that keeps GEMs alive. Alden, his supplier is unable to obtain anymore. Their relationship is a complex one, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about Alden, but I think his heart is in the right place most of the time. Nate is withholding secrets from his gang that could end his freedom, but also make his friends’ lives easier. Violence is spreading throughout the Withers, and no place is safe. With seriously limited options, decisions are made that put all their lives in jeopardy. At one point, I thought there might be a sequel to this novel but was happy to discover it’s a standalone and plot threads are resolved by the end. It wouldn’t have been a patient wait for the next book.

As a dystopian fan, I’ve read several novels in the genre. Something I missed in this book was more information about the conflict between Gathos City and the Withers. It’s touched on, but not really fleshed out. I initially thought it would be a primary source of conflict, but that’s not the case.

Fragile Remedy offers outstanding LGBTQ representation, a main character who’s an adorable cinnamon roll, a sweet, tentative first love relationship, and thought-provoking scientific elements. It’s also about sacrifices, making hard decisions, and fighting for your family no matter what.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

thank you to flux and netgallery for the arc!

i liked this one! the worldbuilding was SO incredibly rich and had so much potential, but the plot kind of skipped over the interesting stuff, and was just... meh. the book was kind of all over the place and super unpredictable, and not really in a fun way. i did click with all of the characters almost instantly, and i thought they were all very well developed!

2.75 stars.
I was a bit unsure about the story, but i liked Nate alot. He was very easy to like and grew on me pretty quickly. Though i was a bit unsure about his love interest, i liked him enoguh but did not feel attatched in any way though. But the writing as easy to follow and had a nice flow.

It took me a long time to get into this at the beginning; I started it several times and stopped but once I made it a priority and dug in I LOVED the characters and the storyline. In this age of fantasy, it's hard to find something truly unique and I think this stands out for that. I can see the future sequels, and the prequel where we learn about lungrot and Ivy secreting Nate away from the city. I can't wait for more.

Characters you won't forget, a setting that keeps you immersed, and action that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Fragile Remedy is a book you should plan to sink into and read in one sitting!

This arc seems to have such good reviews, and sadly I just cant share that love for it.
Firstly this book just threw me into the world with no explanation. It wasn’t until the halfway point until i even kinda started to understand the world building. And after finishing i still don’t get a lot of it. There were just so many elements and made up future-lingo that were thrown in without a description.
The romance in this book was so confusing. First it seems like its an established relationship, then they say they aren’t together, then they kiss three times so as a reader i assumed that meant they were together now, but then they weren’t together again, and at the end they say they didnt even know the other liked them. It was Confusing and frustrating to read, and even without all the drama they still had no chemistry. The MC and LI barely interacted and when they did they didnt even seem to like each other.
All the characters feel very flat, and the main character didnt have any development and I found him very annoying. And the plot was all over the place, I could never keep track of what was supposed to be happening at any given moment. There were so many overly dramatic scene just thrown in and glossed over. And the whole Val thing frustrated me so much, she kept being set up and alluded to be a main character and just kept disappearing for hundreds of pages at a time. And by the end everyone just forgot about her all over again. The only reason I’m giving this a 2 instead of a 1, is because despite all its flaws it interested me enough that I didnt DNF it.

What a fantastic story concept! It was a science fiction thriller and a medical ethics philosophy track all in one. This was beautifully written and paced just right. The characters are all engaging and relatable, especially Nate and his love for his "found family."

By all accounts, I should have liked this book. However, it was just way too hard for me to get into. Thankfully, the last half picked up and I followed along well enough from that point onwards. I loved the characters and their dynamics together. I just struggled with liking the story itself.
Overall, the worldbuilding was done very well--with genetically modified children who were created to help deal with a pandemic who now rely upon Remedy. The characters have high stakes as they decide whether to do what is right, what is easy, and who to trust.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book!

I’ve been wanting to read more dystopian books recently and “Fragile Remedy” seemed like the perfect chance to do that and I ended up really enjoying it!

The writing style was amazing and I can’t wait to read more by this author in the future! The story was super fast-paced, it grabbed me from the first chapter and didn’t let go until the end! I binge read this whole thing in an evening.

I adore queer found family and this book is the optimum of that trope.

I was a little confused about the world-building at times and there are a lot of technical terms I had to get my head around, but overall this world is super immersive and easy to grasp. It was also a lot darker than I was expecting it to be, but obviously, this is dystopian so that’s to be expected.

I really hope this isn’t a standalone because I have so many unanswered questions and a lot of stuff felt unresolved to me!

Overall, I really enjoyed this queer YA dystopian surrounding a ragtag group of thieves and I highly recommend checking this out!

I was completely blown away by the young adult dystopian read! I immediately fell in love with Reed, Nate and the rest of the gang. The world created by the author is a rich and layered tapestry. I loved the family dynamic of Reed's gang. The ending was perfection!

Fragile Remedy is a wonderful, complex story that covers a plethora of important topics through a dystopian-sci-fi lens. It explores the feeling of grief, addiction and reliance on other people and how these things can be harmful when not managed properly with the sci-fi elements intensifying this portrayal and making these issues explicit and succinct. I love how Maria Ingrande Mora tackles the lack of queerness in dystopia, by making the central character queer and in love with another boy, while also utilising queerness as to accentuate the found family aspects of the story.
In all, Fragile Remedy is a story of survival and togetherness. It's about staying close to those who wish to see you be strong and being strong FOR them. It's about finding a group of people with whom you belong and would stand by you until the end. The relationships and friendships formed in this book feel so amazingly authentic and are pivotal to the story.
Any fans of traditional YA dystopia, queer couples in the centre of stories, fans of the found family trope and fans of heartfelt stories that are character-driven will adore this book.

As an overall story, and as someone who gets really invested in characters, I found Fragile Remedy to be an entertaining read. There's a little something for everyone: a tad of yearning romance, found family, and the fight for survival in a dystopic world. Nate is a hidden GEM who's been smuggled out of Gathos City into the chem-addled Withers, and if he's made, who knows what people are willing to do for his "magic" blood. Ultimately, Nate must keep his identity a secret from everyone he loves, and still find Remedy, the only thing keeping him alive.

While I enjoyed reading the story, I found the pacing to be a little weird in the beginning; it took me a while to get past the first few chapters, and once it picked up, there were still parts that felt oddly rushed or dragging. I did love the nostalgia it brought out because there was something eerily familiar to other popular dystopic novels, and it was something kind of new but still known. As much as I enjoyed Nate's found family, individually they fell flat, and I found this to be true of some of the plot points as well.

All in all, it was an interesting story that kept me rooting for Nate during his hard times, and although predictable, it was a quick read once it got going.

This book is one of the most compelling books I've read all year. Mora's world-building is superb, creating a fantastically complex world the reader can dive into. However, the star of the book is Mora's talent for writing flawed, frustrating, and beautiful characters. This is a book I have not stopped thinking about.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an e-ARC of this book.

During the first half of the book I enjoyed it but wasn't taken away with it. I found there to be good parts but felt like I read it before. Once I got to the 50% mark things really picked up and there was a lot of action. The story really picked up and I found it to be really interesting. There was plot twist
after plot twist that kept me wanting to see what would happen.
I really enjoyed the queer found family aspect in this book! It really gave some heart to the story. There were rather tough parts throughout this book so the found family part brought light to the story.
I gave this four stars because of how I didn't love the beginning.

**Thank you Netgalley and publisher for giving me an electronic ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Alden was my second favorite character, my first being Pixel. This was such an interesting story that kept my attention. I loved the romance between Reed and Nate.

i really enjoyed this book. the writing was sublime and I really felt attached to the characters. the writing flowed smoothly and i quickly got drawn into the story.

This was such a refreshing read for the dystopian genre. The world building is rich and is revealed through clever narration. The characters are so nuanced, diverse and fleshed out through their interactions, rather than just info dumping back stories. The romance between the three leads was so palpable just from Nate's perspective, it's still resonating with me.

I really like how easily I was able to slide into this small corner of this book's universe. Although I wish we could have glimpsed more into Gathos City, I found that disconnect heightened the level of fear the Alley Cats had for their safety, from unseen dangers and overblown rumors.

I very much enjoyed it as a standalone, but could easily see the potential for a series in this world (and I usually prefer standalones). I very much look forward to reading more works from this author!

HOLY SHIT!

what an amazing read! seeing at this is Maria's debut novel, I am very surprised at the level from which she is starting..

The story follows Nate and his merry band of scavengers trying to survive in the lowest and poorest side of the city known as The Withers. Can I just say how strong and brave I think they all are because they have VIP passes on the world's worse Struggle Bus. Not only that but Nate is a GEM, which means he also struggles with making sure he has enough Remedy in his system in order to survive and function.

This book is definitely not for the faint of heart. As much as I loved it, I did struggle with it for a long time. It was hard to get through and harder to experience all their hardship and everything they went through to make it to the other side.

Though this is not a relationship or love-focused story, I did enjoy the romance between Nate and Reed. But more than that I very much enjoyed the friendship between Alden and Nate, Alden wasn't a good person and he hurt a lot of people but he was still a fantastic character and I couldn't help but root for him and his adorable quirkiness.

All and all, I thoroughly enjoyed this read and am I VERY excited for the rest of the world to enjoy it too. I will definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for more Ingrande Mora, she is a force to be reckoned with.

I received an e-ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5

Fragile Remedy is a good book. The premise is unique, the characters are engaging, for the most part, and the world was interesting. If only there was more. Not necessarily more book or even more books set in this world, I just wanted more of this book in this book.

Most characters felt like shadows whose depth I could see but not quite grasp. Most characters are given ample backstory and yet I still felt like I didn’t know any of them by the end of the novel. Yet, the most interesting character had some trouble sticking around. On the other hand, the main character, Nate, can become annoying at times. He, along with most other characters, don’t experience any growth by the end. Nate’s mindset doesn’t change even by the final pages of the novel.

The setting, while detailed well via the descriptive writing, was unable to be visualized. It’s hard to gauge how far into the future this story is set, therefore making it difficult to grasp what the Withers truly looks like without knowing what it was before it became a dilapidated, withering mess.

The world mechanics and politics were intriguing while also lost. I have no idea what Gathos City and the other islands are like, so its difficult for me to gauge how different life is between those places and the Withers. Also, I don’t have enough information about the overall world politics that allow for a place like the Withers to exist in, what is to be assumed, a far future world.

And the plot was found missing. This book was more of a series of scenes that bled into one another without an overarching plot line tying everything together. No matter how hard the last 10% of the book tried to get me to believe there was one all along.

Maria Ingrande Mora writes well and I look forward to reading what she conjures up next.

So… with Fragile Remedy, there was a book I enjoyed reading while also wanting more from than its pages were able to give.