I was really intrigued by the premise but the characters needed a bit more. One in particular was hard for me to like.

This was another “try something different” challenge, since I have been enjoying more dystopian literature. And while the storyline was fascinating and held great promise – a ruined future resulting from climate fallout - and a narcissistic businesswoman who wishes to save the world, it fell a bit short for me.

There was a missed opportunity to really delve into the characters’ emotions and into themes of female power and abuse, as this book seemed mostly to scratch the surface. The ending was quite tidy as well, and would have benefitted from some additional conflict.

I don’t tend to favor plot-focused books like this, as they often have little emphasis on the writing, with a lack of sentence variety (lots and lots of simple sentences here) and very few setting descriptions. When I look back on this story, I realize I truly have no picture of what Inside looked like. After I’d written this review, I peeked at a few other comments and see that this, more than likely, is why people have pegged the novel as a YA piece. And perhaps it really is, but was marketed otherwise? I don’t read in the YA genre and am no expert.

That said, this was an entertaining book and did raise some interesting questions about complacency, happiness, and family.

The premise and characters are super interesting in this book, but I agree with other readers that the ideas don’t feel flushed out. I think that is partially because this book spans a few decades and because the book is rather short. I would recommend this book as the beginning of a larger discussion on climate disasters and gender dynamics.

I was interested in this book because of the unique take on a dystopian novel. For a debut, I am really impressed with the quality of writing and can really see the effort put in creating a setting that is cohesive and makes sense thematically and realistically. Usually in these types of novels, the setting is not something that needs a lot of connecting to since the reader is able to extrapolate from real life examples without a lot of effort. As a result, the connection then comes down to the chracters and the character dynamics—how they interact with each other, consequences of such interactions, and thus creating stakes that are dependent on the characters.

I found myself having a hard time connecting with the characters and their motives. I felt they were slightly too removed from my understanding.

Thank you to the publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

this was a very engaging story and i was able to get through it pretty quickly! i thought it touched on the tough topics well without being boring!

Content Warnings: Forced pregnancy, Non-Consensual drugging, Cults, Drug overdose, Climate anxiety, doxing

I found the message of the book the most successful part. It reflects contemporary challenges marginalized communities, particularly the LGBTQ+ community, face not just from the traditional specter of rich, white, CIS-men but of rich, white, privileged TERFs. In particular, the risk of interacting with TERFs and allowing them to bend one’s personal values and morals was on point, and I think will resonate with many people. I also felt the world building overall was pretty well described, and I was curious throughout to keep reading.

However, I found all the characters flat. The time span covered in the book (20+ years) is not really reflected in either the planned/isolated communities (and those who do not inhabit them) or the individuals themselves. I also found the book overall predictable and with the open ending not very satisfying.

3.5/5 stars
Yours For The Taking. The Debut novel by Gabrielle Korn.

Yours For The Taking is a very interesting story that weaves themes of climate fiction, speculative fiction and dystopian fiction into one intriguing tale. The story takes place in the mid-late 21st century where the climate is rapidly deteriorating and sustaining human life on Earth as we know it is coming to an end. The governments and private industry concoct a plan to make “Insides” where a massive number of people can live in a controlled environment. North America’s Inside is located in present-day Manhattan. But of course the motives of a character in private industry has wild plans and that is what makes this novel so interesting.

People are picked to live in the North American Inside near the start of this story and we follow the main character through this journey. Ava goes in to the Inside as a 20-something and we follow her through into middle age. Her daughter also hits her early 20s by the end of this book and becomes a very important character in her own right. The story follows these women along with a few other characters in a highly-controlled environment that is the brainchild of a billionaire & women’s rights activist, Jacquelyn.. On the surface, everything looks utopian and perfect. Matching outfits, gardens, great smelling air and safety from the trashed Earth. It’s VERY quickly revealed that all is not what it seems. I don’t want to give away a lot because it just gets really wild and interesting!

I found this book to be a very engaging read and I got through it pretty quickly. While it dealt with some very serious issues it was a very entertaining read. The characters and their relationships are well developed. The love stories, family ties and friendships really give us a sense of who these people are. The building of the villain, Jacquelyn, the wealthy-white-billionaire-woman’s rights advocate is pretty good because the reader is just given every reason to despise her. She thinks she has great intentions, but she is way off-base and so unethical. While this book didn’t have any good twist reveals, it was still captivating as you wanted to see where this all ended up. And of course, you want to see the billionaire tumble.

I recommend this book to fans of speculative fiction, dystopian fiction, women’s fiction, LGBTQIA+ relationships & issues and climate fiction.

Thank you Netgalley, Gabrielle Korn and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Absolutely loved this book! The storyline was captivating from start to finish, with well-developed characters. Couldn't put it down! Highly recommend to any book lover.

The world korn created is so visceral and consuming I’m pretty sure my body did not move a muscle for 3 hours while reading this. I was in a trance!

I love speculative fiction from women writers. Although different in plot and story, I really enjoyed reading this and The Future by Naomi Alderman in quick succession. This focused on similar themes of how those with corporate power can enact whichever future they want, however they see it fit. It’s a dark book that I wish I hadn’t read before bed because of how stressed out I was for the characters.

There is so much more to say on this one that I can’t quite process everything I want to say without it sounding like word vomit, but it's an enjoyable story!

Yours for the Taking seems to be more about the big picture (including concepts and critiques) than it does about story details. I am all about a near-futuristic world where they don't have to explain every single thing, but I did want a little more explanation on many things in the Inside.

Duplicate review due to approval for audiobook and eARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

DNF'd pretty early on.

I thought the idea behind this story was fascinating! It should have all the things I like about cli-fi: dystopia/utopia, strong female MC, a political message worth reading about, and an ambiguous ending.

Unfortunately this story was not for me. Everything about it felt heavy-handed and forced. While I can completely understand why some readers will love this story -- I prefer my books with slightly more subtlety.

I do look forward to see if this author will write another book in the future so I can give them another try.

this was perfectly fine but it felt way too rushed to accomplish everything the author had set out to do. i love dystopian, end of the world stories and i also love books that tackle feminism and gender roles so i thought this would be perfect. unfortunately it missed the mark. it tried to tackle too many issues at once in way too few pages. i would like to read something similar but much slower paced next time.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

I thought this book was a captivating tale that provokes deep reflection on power, privilege, and the future we're shaping.

Thank you Netgalley for the e-ARC!

A dystopian story opabout developing an ideal society based on women designed by a self centered woman. Focuses on women relationships of all kinds, and the eventual downfall and breakdown of that society and the effects of climate change. Skimmed through the majority of it to see how it progressed but very unrealistic.

I’m at a 3.5/5 for this book.

It’s 2050, climate change is forcing humanity to find drastic solutions for survival.

I loved the condemnation of corporatized, cis (trans exclusionary), white, feminism.

There were some pacing problems for me. I had a hard time keeping all the characters straight.

But overall, I enjoyed the premise and the story. There was just some execution struggles.

Thought provoking and beautifully written, this is a book that will stay with me. Absolutely brilliant.

I’ve been pondering this book for a couple weeks now trying to put my finger on my exact feelings. I think overall I enjoyed it. The fact that I’m still thinking about it means it definitely had some meat. I think my main hesitation is that I think it tried to do too much. There were so many hot button topics that it didn’t quite give justice to any of them. Climate change, feminism, racism, transgendered women, female empowerment, greed, eugenics, forced pregnancy, “utopia”, and more. Add to this the timespan of decades and it felt like too much was trying to get a message across but not quite there.

Old white feminist blind to her racism, arrogance, and TERF-ism was a compelling “villain” but came across as a caricature of “sticking it to the man”. But maybe this was the point? Definitely a despicable character but no real insight as to why she felt her way was correct, nor why she had not previously pursued having a child through other means previously. I understand craving a “mini-me” to carry on her legacy, but crafting the Inside society was more opportunistic than the culmination of a lifetime of planning.

Tthe creation of the Inside societies was an interesting concept, but there were several of these enclosed cities around the globe. It seems unlikely that nobody would have noticed a crazy woman using one of these limited resources as her own little experimental fiefdom. Brief mentions were made of the unrest and problems in these other cities, but there was no follow-up of comparison/contrast. Increased sexual assaults were mentioned in passing, but why? Also, a big deal was made of the hand selection of intelligent women for the New York Inside, but nobody questioned anything about how the city functioned? The administration? The selection dichotomy? And the founder was so focused on female power so why were the mothers given so much better benefits rather than the scholars?

And all the main characters were such stereotypes it became annoying. The rich powerful b****, the super smart Black doctor, the butch who was rugged/handy/strong/silent, the quiet transwoman, the nurturing cis-woman. They were all stereotypes but not stereotypes. Maybe this was the point?

From the beginning, you know Sydney exposes everything, but you never really get a sense of how she got all the information. Yes, you can see glimpses of it but it just mostly just is taken as fact. She is on the space station, gets accused of causing a bedbug infestation. Because she is poor, of course she is the source, but there were other poor people (the assistants) on board. Obviously this was meant to elicit sympathy and serve as a catalyst for the expose, but there were other methods by which an awakening to the realities could have grown organically. And she was on board for decades and we don’t see much growth or change.

The pregnancy was also puzzling to me. Did she start to make peace with it because of the drugs or did she really start to embrace motherhood. If it was due to the drugs, this was never explored as to the effect on free will. If it was embracing motherhood as a natural course, this was problematic. Is the text then supposed to imply that regardless of whether you wanted to become pregnant, motherhood is the natural way of things, so it will change you and you will be happier if you just become a mother?

Overall, I just cannot pinpoint whether the characters and story beats were over the top on purpose to serve as almost a satire or whether everything was orchestrated to try make multiple points. I did enjoy the dystopian elements but feel they could have been further explored. And none of the characters really have a happy ending. Hopeful, maybe, but not guaranteed. But maybe this is all any of us can have - hope.

I received a copy of this title from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

DNF at 12%. I was really intrigued by the concept and it sounded like this book would cover a lot of topics that are really interesting to me. However pretty quickly I started to realize this might not be for me so I looked at some reviews. I saw a spoiler for something that’s coming that I know would make me mad and not in an intentional way so I decided to stop reading this one here. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review.