Thank you to NetGalley, author Ling Ling Huang, and Penguin Group Dutton for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Immaculate Conception is a read that had me shocked, intrigued, confused, and engrossed on nearly every page! Yes, the book is about what the description states, but it also is so much more than that because fair warning, the “mind sharing” procedure/storyline doesn’t happen until around 70% through. At its core, this is a story about technology, art, jealousy, and how far we are willing to go to risk it all. Following Enka and her relationship to/with Mathilde is a winding road that is a slow burn, and although the book is not long, it truly feels like we as a reader journey far with these characters. Huang’s writing is fantastic, and I was always on the edge of my seat to see their relationship evolve into the parasitic nature it becomes. However, I do have to bump this read down to 3 stars from my true 3.5 rating because I had some big issues with the world-building/setting. The setting is very clearly a near future, dystopian world that is technology reliant; the issue is how this technology is explained, or rather, lack of being explained. The book immediately introduces some technology aspects that are really important to the story, such as the buffers, without fully explaining what they are for a long time. This made it really confusing to read for a majority of the book because I didn’t understand what exactly these things were in the context of the story. Basically, I knew that they affected Enka, but I didn’t fully understand the society she was living in until about halfway through the book. I would have liked a little more exposition/explanation to better set up where the story was going instead of finally getting what things did or meant more than halfway through. I haven’t read Huang’s previous book, Natural Beauty, yet, so I’m not sure if this is her style of writing or if it’s unique to this book. I also had a bit of an issue with the pacing and how some things were barely mentioned/explained that were pretty important to the story. I would have liked to see it be a bit longer to give some more time to linger in the secondary aspects of the story. Overall, though, this was a very intriguing and unique read that made me think and had me engrossed with only some pacing and explanation issues, so I look forward to reading more of Huang’s work!

3.5 rounded up—there was a lot going on in this and not all of it made sense to me, but the premise was so interesting and the execution took it to another level. I loved the exploration of a competitive female friendship and the lengths we might go to both to be the best and to save each other and ourselves. The art world setting was perfect, the dystopian future was haunting, and the writing style even put me on edge in the best way. I loved Ling Ling Huang’s debut novel and loved diving into another one from her. The ending had me staying up late again which never happens anymore, and it was so worth it.

I went into this book expecting something very different from what I got. I think it's been mis-marketed a bit in the synopsis, which gives away plot points which don't even happen until the latter half of the book. I did enjoy the commentary on art, envy, control, and the extractive nature of capitalism. However, the sharp commentary was surrounded by a story that faltered in its pacing and never quite managed to feel real. I think this is a valuable work, but not necessarily one that I enjoyed.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Where to even start with this wonderful book? I’m still mulling over everything in my mind days after finishing the last page, so I’ll do my best to convene my feelings.

I guess I should start by saying that this book is like an onion. It has layers. You definitely have to spend some time peeling back the outer skin to get to the good stuff underneath. Or rather, you must be patient with the slow build up. I personally never mind a book that takes its time setting the scene, but I know in a world where everything is so readily available, people can sometimes get impatient. Take your time with this one; it’s worth the investment.

I will also confess to not knowing a lot about art; I mean, I took the required undergraduate courses on art and culture and enjoy the occasional stroll through an art gallery, but the type of art explored in this book is outside my stratosphere by quite a large margin. I did struggle at times with understanding the scenes in this book that explored this type of art and I won’t deny it. It was, however, a minor issue I had and a personal one at that.

As for the things I loved, I must start with the characters. Female friendships are so rarely featured in media and entertainment; these friendships are complex and beautiful, joyous and heartbreaking, painful and wonderful. Mathilde and Enka’s relationship was all of these. I found myself completely invested in them, nodding and smiling to myself when they were getting along, crying literal tears when the jealousy ate them alive. Ling Ling Huang crafted these characters with such care that I often felt as if I could reach out and take their hand.

I also loved Ling Ling Huang’s insightful look into technology. I often feel we are not stopping to ask ourselves if certain advancements are wise and I felt that sentiment echoed in the pages of this book. Even if we could be so close to another that we are practically the same person, should we? Even if we’re doing things in the name of love, have we stopped to contemplate the real reasons for our choices. I don’t want to go into any more detail here for fear of spoilers, but Ling Ling Huang explores all of this with breathtaking humanity.
In summary, while this had a slow start, the characters and their journeys are real, tangible and heartbreaking. I recommend anything and everything by Ling Ling Huang with my whole chest and thank you to the publisher for giving me a chance to read this masterpiece early.

Thank you Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Chatting with friends, the inevitable “what are you reading” was asked.

My response “Immaculate Conception”.. ohh what’s that about, they asked?

It’s about art and friendship and even jealousy bordering on envy.
Oh and yeah it’s about transplanting bits of your brain to share trauma like PTSD and easing the load, yeah it’s weird but very clever.
And it’s about friendship and jealousy.

This is not my usual genre and at times I was going to ditch this but I’m very glad I didn’t.
Ling Ling Huang is an incredible author and makes me reflect that perhaps the books we want to ditch are the ones we need to read the most. Perhaps these are the books that stretch you, make you uncomfortable, but offer something you hadn’t considered (not that I would consider any of these concepts literally!).

This opened my mind, renewed my long hidden interest in medical/bio ethics and gave me so much to ponder over.
I’m not the person that book would be marketed toward, I don’t appreciate art as much as I could and others do, I don’t like SCI FI, yet perhaps I am the exact person this book was marketed for.

Thank you for opening my mind and creating curiosity for me this week.
4.5 stars.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Huang’s writing of complicated women shines once again. I had the pleasure of reading this book in Tokyo art galleries and the writing was so immersive. The twists of obsession and consumption will keep you til the very end.

WhAAAAAAt was that. I was a bit concerned at first like oh this is interesting enough but was thinking a mid range rating. That progressed after the halfway mark. I absolutely loved it. It was so weird and strange. I am not an art type person but the brains of this story is beautiful. Thank you Netgalley, Penguin, and Ling Ling Huang for the ARC. I did wait to be able to listen to the audio and enjoyed it.

This book provides a profound look at our relationship with technology and how it might affect not only our physical environment but our interpersonal relationships and selves if we let it. I was deeply moved by the commodification of consciousness in this story. It’s terrifying to examine the pros and cons of this type of advanced technology. The author does a great job of using our main character to discuss the benefits and risks. I found the complete lack of self esteem and deep jealousy in the protagonist to be difficult to read at times. You just want to shake her and try to wake her up and out of it so she would stop making the choices she did. The middle of the book felt a bit slow to me, so it doesn’t get a full 5 stars but the last quarter will stay with me and make me think long into the future. A huge thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC copy.

I struggled to write this review because I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to read a DRC and I LOVED Natural Beauty. I found Immaculate Conception difficult to finish. My reading experience reminded me of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - I enjoyed the vignettes and discussion of art but found every character one-dimensional and hard to root for. I thought the world-building, pace, and dialogue were uneven and clunky, and at times the narrator's voice felt very YA (love YA but was not expecting it here). There's no denying Ling Ling Huang's mind is powerful, and I wish the book could have been longer so we could have explored more threads I was interested in (I thought the flashbacks were the strongest part!). I think I'll be in the minority of this take and recognize that it's a me problem. Even though I was not the right audience for Immaculate Conception, I look forward to reading more by Ling Ling Huang.

2025 Comps: Confessions by Catherine Airey; Sister Snake by Amanda Lee Koe

I have absolutely no words.

This book is very black mirror and oh my god??? It’s absolute insanity. It was is very reminiscent of Parasite.

I’m so curious to know more about what happened once Logan found out! But I mean it also makes sense considering the whole point is a critique on performance art and how the industry extricates itself from trauma.

Enka is NUTS!!! Mathilde and Logan deserved so so so much better.

This was just, wow. Like.,,,, wow.

What a read!! I was instantly hooked from the start. Very eerie and unsettling. I loved the contrast between privileged and poor. I also liked exploring Mathilde and Enzo’s relationship. Obsessing makes you do crazy things, especially to the people you care about. Phenomenal writing, very detailed.

I think you should go into this blind so that’s all I’m going to say!


Thank you to the publishers for the opportunity of reading this as an E-arc <3

Immaculate Conception was visceral and dark, the type of book that turns everything upside down and makes you rearrange how you feel about life and its values. The relationship dynamic between Enka and Mathilde is one that can be seen in many female friendships when one feels the other is more talented. Even when you love someone, you always compare yourself. In this story you can take that comparison even farther and Enka does ultimately ruining her own artistic merit and abilities as well as Mathilde's. This book shows you the thing you love the most can be the thing that kills you. There may be redemption but there may also not be. I really enjoyed this novel, it made me ask a lot of questions of myself and my relationships.

This was honestly so confusing because I’m not in the art world. But my boyfriend started out as an art major in college and I told him all about this book and he confirmed that it be like that lol. So I definitely loved Natural Beauty more but once I got to the end of this one and took some time to think about it I ended up really enjoying it. Immaculate Conception looks at the elite world of art, questions how technology impacts the idea that there is no longer original art without technology and science, and examines the dark side of female friendship and jealousy. I felt very sad at the end of this but also loved watching how the FMC grapples with these things and loses a sense of what is important to her in order to be adored by fans and viewed as a well known artist.

This sophomore album blew me away.

Immaculate Conception is so much more well rounded than Natural Beauty. I think that the world was so beautifully built up and, therefore, provided a rich backdrop to this twisty story.

There was such a deeply personal exploration into what makes an artist an artist that I really resonated with. Enka and Mathilde's friendship is also one that is familiar and intriguingly pushed to the extreme but still tugs at your heartstrings. I really felt Enka's heartache at loving Mathilde so much but also being swept up in the envy of her. Huang wrote it so well that even though Enka is ultimately the "villain" of this story, you just empathize with her being unable to untangle the threads of love and jealously.
This book made up of well crafted layers that were engaging in their own right and powerful as a whole. The tech aspect brings up some feelings that we are all going through now, with the rise of AI. What is art, who owns art, is all art derivative? There is exploration of the accessibility of art world and the impacts that that gatekeeping has on potential artists. There is advanced tech fueled by billionaires with implications on humanity. Layers on layers bound by basic human emotions.

It's such a captivating read and everyone deserves to go into it without expectations. I loved it, it makes me so excited to see what Huang writes next.

Thank you to Dutton Books and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was introduced to Huang with her debut novel, Natural Beauty. It was mesmerizing, and I could not put it down. It explored the horrors of beauty culture and just how harrowing and horrifying it can really be. Once I found out there was a new book, I KNEW I had to get my hands on it, and I’m so glad I did!

“Ah-ah. Like I always say in my first lecture to every new class, there is no gifted. Only the gift of being fully oneself, and expressing oneself to the utmost.” -> I feel like this quote encapsulates what Huang is trying to get at throughout the novel. Enka is desperate to be anyone but herself, however, she wants to be original and known in the art world. The small amount of people who are close to her love her for who she is, while she’s looking to be anything else. Enka befriends Mathilde, an artist prodigy, and they create a close friendship that helps them survive through art school. As they grow, it’s clear that Enka’s jealously is at the forefront of every conversation and interaction with Mathilde, even though there is a clear and distinct sense of love, devotion, and care for her. I was so invested in how they are linked in mind, body, and spirit in more ways than one. I don’t want to give too much away, but it was damn good. I really enjoy when authors give main characters qualities or personalities that aren’t popular or completely liked by the audience. I feel like it made this book and story all the more authentic, especially with how the ending happened.

At every turn in this novel, I had no idea where it would go. I loved getting the world building of how technology and AI are so immensely integrated into daily life, especially in Enka’s world. If you enjoy sci-fi/horror fiction that is beautifully written with complex characters and situations, I would definitely recommend this book.

CW: child death, grief, mental illness, child abuse, body horror, sexual assault, racism

I was hooked from the beginning!!
It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: I'm going to start this off by saying, I don't know where to start this off LOL. This book is, ugh I don't even know what words to use. It's not bad, I also didn't enjoy it. It's incredibly intellectual and has a lot of very important things to say. It's also pretentious, made me frustrated and I almost DNF'd several times. It's heartbreaking and extremely emotional but also there's a lot of gaps in plot and truly felt like it was doing too much at once. This is such a difficult book to describe and review. Immaculate Conception discusses a lot of things, deeply, very deeply, with an emotional intelligence and depth rarely seen. However, it was simultaneously annoying to read and irritating. I don't really know how else to put it. The codependency between the two MC's at times felt realistic and relatable and at other times had me throwing my hands up. I am looking forward to this book coming out and seeing what other people say about it. I'll leave my review with, it was innovative, complex, thought provoking and written in a way that made me irritated.

I really love a fever dream book and this one definitely goes in that category.

The story is placed in a futuristic world, where technology is basically, and sometimes literally, engraved in their brains and control almost every single decision they make in their every day life. Now add to this the obsession with creating art that transcends reality and human connections.

Enka and Mathilde are the most common example of a female friendship that is born in a very competitive environment as is academia. Where you’re not sure how much you’re worth, or even if you’re worth something, if your work or art is not loved or admired enough, and the chance of entering a dark space of greed, jealousy and envy is extremely high, and suddenly all your actions are guided by them.

“In some perverse way, by taking care of her, I was making myself indispensable to the institution, maybe even the art world at large.”

I’m incredibly in awe of what i just read, there’s so much you can take from it from different topics: technology, art, friendship, religion, how people respond to traumatic events, hoe maybe love is all we need instead of admiration. I really enjoyed this story.

Thank you @netgalley and @duttonbooks for the advance copy in exchange of an honest review.

Some books crack you open gently. This one tears you wide with surgical precision, then whispers something so true into the wound, it changes you.

I’m usually a plot-first reader. If nothing’s happening, I’m gone. But Ling Ling Huang makes stillness feel electric. She doesn't just tell a story—she excavates it from the marrow of being human. This novel isn’t a thrill ride. It’s a slow, quiet descent into the most haunting parts of ambition, friendship, and the fear of being ordinary.

Enka and Mathilde’s relationship isn’t healthy, but it is honest. At its core, this book explores what we’re willing to sacrifice—especially of others—in order to feel important. And when technology promises us a shortcut to understanding someone, how far is too far?

There’s something almost spiritual about Huang’s writing. She weaves futuristic horror into everyday life in a way that feels possible—which is what makes it so terrifying. But it’s not just a book about tech or even art. It’s about that messy, ugly ache to be seen, to be loved, to matter. And how we sometimes destroy the very thing we love by wanting too much from it.

This story wrecked me. It was like watching someone peel their skin back to expose the nerves—raw, bleeding, and lightning hot—and then realizing you've done the same without meaning to. It’s tragic. It’s twisted. But it also plants something in you: a deep-rooted empathy and priceless perspective that lingers long after the final page.

If you’ve ever wanted someone so badly you forgot yourself, or chased greatness until it became a ghost, this book will speak to you in a language only pain understands.

As the summary says, so much of this novel is about technologies “purported to enhance empathy and connection.” What does it mean to love someone? I don’t pretend to be the expert in this arena, but I don’t think the characters in Immaculate Conception have it down either.

Enka and Mathilde are the focus of this story, two artists with a relationship that feels impossible to see clearly in just a few words. They are simultaneously genuine and loving and codependent and fraught with artistic jealousy on at least one side.

The title obviously evokes the colloquial and more common Christian meaning of immaculate conception, but Immaculate Conception (the book) calls to mind the literal meaning, too. As in, a perfect idea. What you might do for one, and what you might do if you knew someone else would always beat you to one.

The art world was believable in its conceits. The world of the nouveau riche was too. Both were annoying, but, you know, purposely so. Some of the character relationships felt rushed a bit—a rare case where I think the book would have benefited from being longer. You can’t be this ambitious thematically and also truncate. Overall, a strong four stars for an interesting idea.