“But she forgot the most important thing: In the absence of compassion, selfishness is the most rational response of all. Our species’ superpower is not caring. We merely exercised that ability. We don’t have an intelligence problem. We have a compassion problem. That, more than any other single factor, is what’s driving us toward extinction.”

This book is…heavy. With the state of the world the way it already, really is- this book is a lot to digest. Crouch’s books are like Black Mirror- set in a world that is futuristic, yet not. Fictional yet oddly familiar.

I did not love this one the way I loved his last few books. That’s not a a damning sentence, though -I really appreciated it and found it equal parts fascinating and terrifying.

Genetic terrorism is a petrifying notion. I really enjoy the way that Crouch juxtaposed family and science and the way he always makes me truly *think*. Parts of it came off pretty preachy but honestly…he’s not wrong.

4 stars.

Thank you to Penguin Random House for gifting me with a free advance copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

Upgrade
by Blake Crouch
Pub Date: July 12, 2022
Ballentine
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
* Science Fiction
This is the best Sci-Fi I've read this year!
An ordinary man gets an unwelcome upgrade to superhuman status in Crouch's latest techno-thriller.
No spoilers here! You will want to get this as soon as it is published.
Great book!
For fans of Crouch's Recursion & Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary.
5 stars

This book hasn't come out yet, and there are already hundreds of reviews, so I don't feel it necessary to offer yet another summary.

Instead I'll observe that it's tough for authors to depict human beings becoming superhuman intelligences in a realistic way. I really got into the first third to half of the story, but once it got past a certain point, the pacing slowed way down, favoring a ton of scienctiskiffy pyrotechnics that sometimes confused me more than enlightened me, making me want to skim. And this is when the stakes were getting higher and things were shifting into overdrive. I did put the book down a few times, letting days go by before returning to it.

But that is a small quibble in an otherwise solid skiffy offering. I might have liked DARK MATTER more, but that's a matter of taste--Crouch's fans will surely love this book, and be looking forward to his next--as will I.

Logan Ramsay has been upgraded. His sister Kara as well. They rae now humans with "extra". They are smarter, stronger and faster than they were before. At a time when our world is crumbling, will they choose to help or hurt? This is a fascinating storyline. There is quite a bit of science in this book, but the author tells it well and makes it understandable. The emotion in the telling really keeps you involved and rooting for everyone. The writing is so descriptive that you feel like you are there with Logan through it all. What a completely scary and wonderful book.

Upgrade by Blake Crouch is another FANTASTIC Science Fiction read.

What are the consequences of genetic engineering are really explored in this compelling and thought-provoking book.

There is so much to say about this book, but I don't want to give anything away.

AN excellent read.

This was a very interesting book, a futuristic book about a world being destroyed even more so than now by climate change, hunger and poverty. this is both a science fiction book, a philosophy book about what makes us human and an action story as a genetic scientist raises to spare the world from more genetic mutations and disease. A lot of the book was interesting, though a little too much action for me 4.5

In the world of UPGRADE, by Blake Crouch, the science of gene editing has exploded and changed the world forever. Logan Ramsay works for an agency that monitors and regulates gene editing. When Logan begins to feel like he has an uninvited gene edit causing massive upgrades to every facet of his mind and body, he looks to why he was chosen and then what he going to do about it. His newly enhanced intellect guides him to the truth and then it becomes a race to thwart a global plan that has massive repercussions before it's too late.
Crouch's creates a realistic, unique and eerily fascinating world that the reader in immediately drawn into. What starts as a study of what the world would be like if the population was allowed to modify themselves physically and all the pleasures and pitfalls that comes with that quickly turns into a techno-thriller of one man trying to save humanity from collapsing in on itself. A nefarious plan has been created and Logan seems to be the only one that sees why it won't work. A wonderful build to the finale keeps the reader hanging on to every move Logan makes.
UPGRADE not only exciting from beginning to end and keeps the reader guessing, but also considers the importance of family, loyalty and compassion that we all have as humans. The also looks at the moral quandary that if given the chance, is artificial enhancement a good thing or an immoral act that can lead to blind faith that the only way to fix an incorrect enhancement is with another enhancement.

Blake Crouch is an instant-buy author in my book! This is a smart, fast-paced, exhilarating read. I will be recommending this to all my bookish friends upon its release! Crouch has a way of weaving science and plot to keep the reader engaged. I will read anything he writes.

Special thanks to Ballantine Books for the digital ARC via NetGalley.

“You are the next step in human evolution.”

Mind-bending, thrilling story, Sci-FI. My first time reading from this author, I usually don't read Sci-Fi, but this one was good.

Thank you, ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.

My expectations were not particularly high before starting this book based on the description, but I was pleasantly surprised. The story exceeded all expectations and became a very quick read. The science was easy to understand and follow (which I think is very important when reading a science fiction book), and the story itself was entertaining and moved quickly. The twists and turns were somewhat predictable, but that didn't take away from how much I enjoyed it. I would absolutely read more by this author. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my review.

Sci-fi is always a hard area of fiction for me to get into, but Blake Crouch always gets it right. This book was just as good as I was hoping it would be.

I so wanted to like this, but it just wasn't it for me. I LOVED Dark Matter and Recursion, but this one just felt like it wasn't enough.

What if you had the ability to modify your DNA, would you get an upgrade?
Become smarter (genius level IQ).
Stronger.
Faster.
Able to predict actions of those around you.
Would you use those new abilities to help others, or for your own benefit?
This story explores what happens when a man gets such an upgrade, and the reasons why unsettle him more than the upgrade itself.

From the get-go, this story was fascinating. We are introduced to a future world where DNA manipulation has been responsible for many successes and some epic failures. As part of the Gene Protection Agency (GPA), Logan Ramsay is one trying to prevent future global incidents like the one his mother was responsible for years prior, with one mistake causing millions of lives. And one night, a raid by the GPA changes everything for Logan.

To avoid spoilers, I won't go further into the plot. But I will say the story had the perfect pacing, providing scientific background on the impact of DNA changes, while keeping the storyline flowing. There was no slow point in this story, it almost felt like an adrenaline rush, as I was desperate to see how things played out in preventing a future catastrophe. In addition, Logan was a great protagonist. He has a good heart and despite the upgrade, his morals seemed to have stayed unchanged.

This book delivered on everything I've come to love about the author - a complex and unique storyline, fast paced, and an intriguing character arc. Definitely worth reading if you are a fan of this author or genre.

Another fast-paced winner from Blake Crouch. This book makes you think about altering genetics with advantages and consequences unforeseen. Our main character is someone you like and are rooting for, especially when it comes to saving the world.

Wow! A summer blockbuster action thriller that questions humanity’s ongoing trajectory toward self-destruction. It’s Bourne Identity meets Mission: Impossible meets Die Hard meets Spider Man.

After an unexpected raid leads to Logan's hospitilization, he starts feeling different. At first the changes seem minor, but soon his abilities move from within human capability into superhuman ability.

My feelings for this book were a real rollercoaster. There were parts of this book that showcased Crouch's ability to blend deeply intriguing science fiction plots with really relatable stories about what drives humanity. My love for this novel ebbed and flowed. I felt really connected to the story and characters at some points and then all of that fell away and I felt lost and disconnected from the things that I had previously enjoyed. This didn't feel like a complete novel to me. It felt more like a lot of plot details connected in ways that didn't make sense to me. I am super bummed! Recursion was one of my favodite reads of 2020, but the magic present in recursion wasn't given the time it needed to shine.

The exception to my feelings if this review came after I finished the final page of the epilogue. I thought the epilogue was moving and well thought out and I found myself wishing the concept present in the epilogue didn't feel like such an afterthought to the story's central plot!

I wish I would have like this more than I did! I was already halfway to loving it before I came in, but I just couldn't get there! I'm always going to pick up and read anything Crouch signs his name too because I have loved so much of his previous work! I only hope the next one will resemble the magic he cultivated in the books he wrote leading up to this one.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for a copy of Upgrade in exchange for an honest review.

Upgrade is set to release July 12th 2022!

This book while being thematically, scientifically and philosophically interesting, misses the mark in its final act discounting all of the previous chapters before it. The book begins in glorious fashion with a fantastic opening which gets you invested immediately. The world is one that is very realistic and one that we move closer to every day. The book itself is paced excellently with just the right blend of emotion, action and scientific exposition to hold the reader's attention well; however, the book loses its way in the last few chapters and the overall message gets lost for the sake of simple plot convenience and a completely different ethic than the rest of the book espouses.

This is a story about stopping to ask “just because we can… does that mean we should?”

I’m a huge Blake Crouch fan, and I’ll happily preorder anything he writes- so when the publisher sent this too me I was thrilled. It did not disappoint! I found the protagonist to be compelling, and the concepts while firmly in the sci fi realm didn’t feel as far off they might have a few years ago. I loved especially loved the nuanced exploration of resolutions to humanities flaws. My biggest complaint is that it was too short! I think it easily could’ve been another 100 pages long, to explore the dynamics further & expand on the testing elements.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️. 💫/5, rounded to 5.

Thank you so much netgalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the eArc!

4.5 stars

What I liked:
➱ super fast-paced
➱ the evocative descriptions of the world a few decades from now — both cool things (hyperloop travel) and bad things (Lower Manhattan submerged under water, constant government surveillance)
➱ a timely and thought-provoking premise
➱ a likable main character faced with a moral dilemma (as in Dark Matter and Recursion)
➱ lots of interesting science about virology and genetics, some of which I actually understood
➱ would make an amazing movie

Basically, if you enjoyed Dark Matter and/or Recursion, you’ll like Upgrade.

It's an interesting paradox in life that humans often have to save themselves from ... well ... themselves. We've seen this conundrum dish itself up slice after slice over the many millenia that homo sapeins have walked the planet. From modern travel to exploration to streamlined production, the most brilliant of minds have used science to make life more convenient, but — from disease to war to environmental crisis — these advancements always come at a cost. Is it because we lack foresight? Or is it because we allow greed to take over when selflessness should instead?

Blake Crouch explores this very question in his newest book, UPGRADE. If you, like me, gobbled up RECURSION (and then quickly picked up DARK MATTER) you are in for another absolute ride with this baby! It is fast-paced and intriguing, while achieving an impressive balance of a whole lot of deeply complex scientific material. It's the perfect sciencey book for non sciencey people.

While I loved the ride, there were a few bumpy spots along the way that would've benefitted from an adjustment. Most notably, I felt like the ending was way too rushed and the pacing of the plot, in general, was just a bit unbalanced. Beyond all of that, UPGRADE was a very entertaining story. I would absolutely recommend if the premise intrigues you at all.