Cover Image: Children of the Miracle

Children of the Miracle

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Children of the Miracle is a wild blend of sci-fi and speculative fiction. Will be purchasing for the library collection.

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This color-saturated cover with a demonic PIGMAN FETUS GRABBED my attention like Kramer’s on Seinfeld! I get to read a story with a pigman? Hell, yeah! I’ll get into the pigman later, but first let’s start at the beginning.

Sometime in the future, global warming triggers a virus that ends up killing most of humanity. We are told how the virus had always been around, lying dormant, and it was triggered by the polar icecap melt. But we learn nothing else. How it spread, manifests itself, and the description of how the science works is sketchy in more than one way. I doubt many of us are scientists, but this is science fiction and I expected more than a sketchy depiction of the virus.

So, fast forward 100 years past the pandemic to our MC who is developing a vaccine in the Settlement of England. The leaders in charge tell her they have decided to send her away to help another settlement. Until now, she thought that theirs was the only settlement!

As a reader with impulse control problems combined with ADD, the writing was unbearable distracting to me, and I’m doing my best to follow along. I LOVE science fiction! The tone is stiff and formal throughout. The omniscient narrator sprinkles a few extra adjectives in almost every sentence. Descriptions of nature are overly florid. Cliches and mixed metaphors abound. I paused way too often to mentally strike out words, reword passages, or just stare off into space. These things that bug me might not bug someone else.

Then there is a disregard for the terminology chosen for this world, which jarred me out of the narrative. We are told that countries don’t exist. The inhabitants don’t even know the concept of political boundaries, yet the MC mentions that the United States is “A country I didn’t even know existed.” She also is not supposed to know the word “country,” right? Oopsie. The editor should have caught that boo boo.

Similarly, I was bugged by an inattention to the idea that languages evolve over time—and change even more so when the speakers are separated geographically.

When she arrives in the Settlement of America, our British MC is told that she must circulate incognito to prevent discrimination against her. Hmmm. Just exactly how does she instantly disguise her accent and terminology that’s unique to England? They had an instant sunscreen pill; maybe there’s an instant accent pill too? Or do they give her an autotune app to flatten out her accent? Or maybe we are to assume that after 100 years of isolation, British and American accents have now become indistinguishable?

Now, onto the characters, which are boiled down into cardboard cutouts. Hey! I can write mismatched imagery too! Rimshot! Granted, sf characters are often intentionally flat to help move the idea of the story along. The strikingly flat characters here are fun and not nearly as distracting as the writing.

We have “Dr Mercy,” our MC. ‘Nuff said. We learn nothing about her except for a tidy little paragraph listing her description should we need to issue a BOLO. There is an heroic winged character named Michael, which too tidily calls up imagery of the archangel Michael, who according to Wikipedia is also “responsible for universal/environmental events [...] as the archangel of mercy.” Hmm

The last aspect I need to talk about is the pigman. Spoiler alert: there is no pigman! But there are many other human-animal hybrids.

I hate to think I’m a close-minded gal. I mean, I am ok with the current furries community and whatever motives drive them to dress up like stuffed animals. I once wore a red cow costume to be my high school’s mascot for the football team. It wasn’t for me. But the depictions of human-animal hybrids in this novel actually just kinda turned my stomach. Human hands that terminate in animal claws. Snoots instead of noses. The hybrids are covered in fur instead of hair. I have absolutely nothing against people with atavistic traits (furry face, vestigial tail, and hey, I have a bit of a neanderthal brow ridge.) But in this novel, the blended animal-humans make me shudder in revulsion.

Fortunately, Dr Mercy doesn’t react with aversion to the hybrids like I did. The first time, she barely even notices. Then when she meets Chase, a sexy dog-human hybrid, she has a strong, shall we say, “animal attraction?” and I am left snickering under my breath. I love animals, but you know, I don’t LOVE them. We know she gets pregnant, (*vomit*) and I have unbidden images of them doing it doggie style. Images of Dr Mercy continually pushing Chase off while he’s trying to hump her leg. Did their relationship start with petting? Does she ever catch him drinking out of the toilet? What will happen to this relationship? Was it only puppy love? But back to the book: What will happen to the animal hybrids? Will these genetic hybrids from the Settlement of America fix the virus ... or make it worse? Cue the dramatic prairie dog video.

But, seriously, it’s not a fowl book, and others may not be as sensitive to beastiality overtones like I am. I do want to thank NetGalley for providing me with an evening’s free entertainment in exchange for this review.

I’m going to go watch cat videos on YouTube now.

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Children of the Miracle is a speculative sci-fi / dystopian novel about a world after a pandemic called FosilFlu. The remaining population lives in four sanctuaries. Doctor Mercy Perching from Sanctuary of Europe will be the first contact between two sanctuaries after hundred years. She travels to the Sanctuary of the Americas to help them with a new mutation of this deadly virus. But there, nothing is as expected. The world is quite different from hers. The Sanctuary of Americas is breathtaking: more advanced than hers, nature there is beautiful, animals, people don't have to live below ground. But soon, she learns that not everything is so great as it seems.

I liked the first half of the book better than the second. The author deals with a thought-provoking theme: what could happen if we would dare to play god. I would recommend this book to sci-fi and dystopia fans.

I received an advance review copy for free. Thanks for the opportunity to read this! All opinions are my own.

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Children of the Miracle by Daniel Weisbeck is a book I requested from NetGalley. I love the cover, it's so striking and the main reasoning chose to pick it to read! This story imagines a world where a virus has left billions dead and only three Sanctuary cities in the world remain without interaction. Dr Mercy is a scientist and has found a potential breakthrough in genetic work. She has been asked to travel from the European city to the American one to help with another outbreak of a virus. In this city, they used animal and human DNA mixes to battle the virus but now this solution comes under treat.
Things are not what they seem there.

Overall It is a good story but it enters a genre that's overcrowded with stories like this and unfortunately it's not special enough to stand on it's own.

I would have liked it better if the characters were more developed as they are both overly described but I didn't have any emotional connection to any of them. This is a running theme - the descriptive style of story telling is quite frustrating in parts as it takes away from any drama that may be occurring The ending was ultimately rushed and disappointing.

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Thank you NetGalley for a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Children of the Miracle: A dystopian thriller (The Children of the Miracle Series Book 1 by Daniel Weisbeck is a science fiction novel about a pandemic that has decimated most of the world. The Flu was released from ancient fossils hence the clever name Fossilflu. In this future world, there are sanctuaries, which act like bubbles. People do not travel or interact with different sanctuaries. One scientist, Dr. Mercy Perching is asked to travel to another sanctuary where they have been splicing human and animal DNA, creating a new breed called Chimeras. Animals are supposed to be immune to the virus, so the hope is the new breed of Chimeras could save humanity, but the virus has changed and is now infecting animals. This was an interesting fast-paced read. I enjoyed getting to know the characters, both Chimera and human. The description and images of this new world were superb. It kept me hooked, and I can’t wait to continue the adventure in a second book. I highly recommend it to fans who enjoy sci-fi and dystopian genres.

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Children of the Miracle.

[Blurb goes here]

The premise of the book is not only compelling, but really interesting. The Sci Fi aspect is impressive. There's not much in the way of character development, still the story is something I felt I needed to discover and follow to its conclusion. Unfortunately by the middle of the book it all starts falling down. The fast pace painfully slows down, the characters loose all credibility. Still I'm giving this book four stars, since the science depicted in the story is simply breathtaking.

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Some of the reviews on this book talk about the allegory for this or the metaphor. I read for the story and the characters. I thought this was a well written book. The characters were well developed. The story kept my attention.
Sanctuary of the America has requested help from the Sanctuary of Europe, possibly the last two enclaves of people left on the planet after a disease from a recovered fossil decimates the world. Europe sends its best researcher to America, where she finds that the American sanctuary is far beyond Europe in science and has bred hybrid man-animals to neutralize the Fossil Flu. Now the Flu has mutated...
Any more would be spoilers!

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One hundred years after a plague nearly wipes out civilization, a potential cure is in the works involving the mixing of animal and human DNA.  The premise of this story got my inner sci-fi nerd super excited (even though the whole plague thing hits a little too close to home at the moment).  The attention to detail in the science aspect was great, both believable and coherent.  However...I just wish the same attention would have been paid to developing the characters and action sequences.  By the mid-point, the narrative began to feel stilted and the characters all seemed to blend together.  The storyline still intrigues me enough to want to continue the series, hopefully with more fleshed-out characters and  action in the future.

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Oooh by!! This was so thought provoking and interesting!! I couldn't put it down, this book is very much recommended to Science Fiction fans!!!

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Children of the Miracle was amazing. The unimaginable utopia with equally unimaginable issues. It has a completely unexpected forbidden love story with enemies in high places.
If you're looking for different, this is it. It makes for a great read with more than enough turns and twists.

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The science fiction genre creates stories of futures that push the boundaries of ethics, technology and humanity. Children of the Miracle by Daniel Weisbeck is a novella that does just that via a tale which takes a genius doctor to another continent in order to work with unknown entities to devise a cure for a new pandemic. Dr. Mercy Perching finds many ethical lines are crossed in the land where she goes to utilize her lifelong research and work with other researchers who are way past her level. She creates relationships there that become quite close in less than 200 pages, making this reader wish we could have had a whole novel’s worth of adventures to build time spent with those characters. However the story makes us ponder if the biological changes, adaptations and experiments worth it for a breakthrough? How does society deal with the living results of these experiments? When a new “race” of people is created, are they treated equally in society? Who controls their population?

“The Ambassador explained: ‘The goal of hybrid breeding is variation. We aim to fracture the human evolutionary path in as many different directions as we can to ensure survival. However, there are rules – guidelines for acceptable hybrid breeds so that we can live together in a productive society.”

Are as many questions and problems begun as those that are to be answered? Weisbeck’s first novella harkens back to H. G. Wells’ Island of Dr. Moreau in the issues (and creatures) that are created, as well as the secrecy of those in charge. His vivid descriptions of the new beings found on Dr. Perching’s adventure create a detailed picture of the beasts. His nomenclature of animal/human hybrids is well explained as is the technology in this world that is recovering from both a pandemic and major climate change. I so enjoyed the world of this book and can envision so many more adventures that can stem from the ending. I was able to read this book via #netgalley for an honest review and I look forward to the promised sequel!

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Children of the Miracle by Daniel Weisbeck. The story is extremely captivating and cleverly imaginative. Populated with unusual and reliable characters from test tube babies to Avian hybrids in a future world that is vividly described. Suspense, wonder, excitement, horror, love and so much more in this story. Anxiously awaiting for the second book in the series.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

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Children of the Miracle by Daniel Weisbeck is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary. I love the cover, it really caught my attention! This world is post a virus leaving billions dead and only three Sanctuary cities in the world. Dr Mercy is asked it travel from the European city to the American one. No one has ever traveled to another sanctuary. She is there to help with another outbreak of a virus. In this city, they used animal and human DNA mixes to battle the virus so their population has a mixed citizenship. There is also now a virus attacking the animal virus.
Things are not what they seem there. It is a good story.
I would have liked it better if the characters were more developed. I didn't have any emotional connection to any of them. The ending was rushed and disappointing.

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this was a great scifi novel, the plot was fascinating and I really loved the use of hybrids and a pandemic. I look forward to more from the author and hopefully more from this universe.

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