Imagine being absolutely obsessed with a fellow artist who is just better than you and then getting the chance to actually be in her mind. What's the worst that can happen? Immaculate Conception takes this but spins out a high-tension story about female friendship, jealousy, art, and technology. I had a delightful time! Thanks to Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As some of you know, I work in the Humanities at a university and focus specifically on literature. As such, the creation of art, which I consider literature to be, is something close to my heart. It is also something I feel is being undermined a little by the rise of AI. It is not actually AI or technology that I think is the problem, it is the ease with which some people dismiss the craft and skill and emotion that goes into the actual creation of art, the ease with which they think an algorithm can produce something that would equal that. The best art pieces, be they sculpture, painting, writing, music etc., give an insight into the human behind them, into their time and their thoughts, and provide the audience with a new way of approaching themselves and their own feelings and ideas. An algorithm has nothing to share. Admittedly, as Immaculate Conception shows, some humans themselves have rather complex things to share which we might not want to see. Huang's book is full of odd, conceptual and performative art which continually straddles a line between intriguing and boring, exploitative and insightful. But I love the messiness of the art within the story and the willingness to get messy in the construction of the book itself. Huang plays with so many themes and ideas, which she somehow manages to meld together nicely into a gripping narrative.

Enka is a fringe kid, removed from the world of the rich not just physically, but even digitally. But she gets a scholarship to attend a prestigious art school and she hopes it's a way into a new life. There, she meets Mathilde, an art prodigy who is also deeply withdrawn and shaken by things in her past. A fierce friendship develops which is most definitely co-dependent. As Mathilde's career takes off, Enka finds her own stagnating until she becomes involved with the Dahl family, gaining access to a whole new level of wealth and privilege. But is true art born out of ease? And is trauma actually necessary or a hinderance to the creating of art? Enka and Mathilde's lives intertwine for years, even before the SCAFFOLD comes into play, allowing Enka direct access to Mathilde herself. Will this be the making or breaking of their friendship? And what kind of art can come out of the fusing of two minds? Immaculate Conception somehow walks the fine line between being insightful and bonkers. Parts of the plot are insane (complimentary), while I also found myself highlighting sentences that struck close to home in a deeply intimate way. There were a few moments where I legitimately put my Kindle down to explain to my cat what had just happened because I simply had to share. Bear in mind, there are discussions of sexual abuse, descriptions of medical procedures, and elements of body horror here and there.

Ling Ling Huang managed to grip me from the very first page and despite all the different themes it pulls in, it never feels confused or undirected. Huang discusses class, exploitation, ever-encroaching technology, the destruction wreaked by AI, female enmity and female love, identity, motherhood, and more and somehow it felt cohesive. The novel also covers years, decades even, and yet the characterisation always felt consistent. Enka is delightfully difficult, meaning that I found myself swinging like a pendulum between liking her and wondering what was actually wrong with her. She is not easy to root for, seeming to consistently take the worst option available to her, and yet Huang crafts a background for her from which many of those choices do, somehow, become a little understandable. Huang also doesn't shy away from showing us every character at their worst, sparing no contempt for the worst of them. I also adored the above-mentioned bonkers hijinks of parts of the plot, where Huang wove in speculative/sci-fi aspects, especially in relation to technology and medical advancements. Whether you will find parts of Immaculate Conception impactful as well probably depends on your willingness to let art people be art people and to trust Huang to know where she's going. I got the feeling she was utterly in control of what she was presenting, while leaving enough open to the reader to interpret and mull over themselves. Ling Ling Huang has absolutely won me over, I'm going to read whatever she writes next, pronto.

Immaculate Conception is one of my favourite reads so far, gripping me from page one and taking me on one hell of a ride. From decadent art shows and medical advancements to female friendship turned obsession, this book has pretty much everything you could wish for.

Huang's sophomore novel exploring themes of female friendship, possession, and art is just as unsettling and exquisitely written as her first book. I look forward to what else she writes in the future

Immaculate Conception dives into a ton of big themes—greed, AI, tech, digital identity, friendship, art ownership, the wealth gap, bodily autonomy, and more. What really stuck with me, though, was its take on something I’ve been thinking about a lot: what even counts as original anymore? Is there such a thing as a truly new idea, or are we all just remixing each other’s thoughts and feelings in different ways?

The writing is just as sharp and thoughtful as I expected from Huang. But something about this one felt a little more surface-level. The relationships between characters and the rise of certain tech happened so quickly or off-page that I didn’t always feel grounded in what was going on. At first, I actually liked that—it felt like Huang was skipping the fluff and getting straight to the point. But by the end, I found myself wanting more: more time with the characters, more unpacking of the world, more depth overall.

That said, it didn’t take too much away from the experience. The book still hit a lot of the right notes, and even with those issues, I came away feeling like it was worth the read.

Happy release day!

Let me preface this by saying that this book was one of my most anticipated releases for 2025 after having LOVED Natural Beauty. This book honestly did not grip me as quickly as I had hoped it would, and at times I felt a tad too dumb to grasp what was going on. It wasn’t until the 75% mark that I truly was locked in to the story and could see the story fully shaping up.

What I love about Huang’s writing is the exploration of complex themes through a kind of horror that makes you feel like you need to take a shower. Huang excels at dissecting the atrocities of wealth and vanity while also showing how easy it is to be trapped by those pressures of comparison. By the end of Immaculate Conception, I was just in awe of her storytelling, use of language, and ability to not just tug at your emotions but full on YANK them.

I am two for two on leaving Ling Ling Huang’s books with so so much to think about. And while it did take a while for me to be sold on this book, I think the journey was worth it.

Though, I do hope that the few editing errors were fixed ahead of production.

Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Group Dutton, for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book!

Disconcerting novel about trauma, the commodification of artists, and female friendships. The last quarter or so is the strongest, 4 stars, but the rest of the novel is about 3-3.5 stars.

“Is there anyone who knows a young woman’s body better than her closest friends? By way of love or comparison or some combination of the two?”

What do you do when your entire art career has been sent into a downward spiral after the introduction of artificial intelligence? If you’re Enka, you start a rivalry with your best friend, who just so happens to be the only still succeeding artist in the current world, or more specifically, the girl who has achieved everything you have worked and dreamed of. And then comes the invention of SCAFFOLD, a cutting-edge technology designed to enhance empathy between people by creating a mental link, allowing the user to inhabit the mind of another. When Enka is presented with the opportunity to inhabit her best friend’s mind, accessing her memories, artistic inspirations, and deep-seated trauma, linking them together forever, well, that is an opportunity too good not to take.

This is my first book by Ling Ling Huang, and oh my god, I am over the moon in love with the way she writes! This book is a literal work of art in itself. The first half reads as literary fiction, while the second half takes a turn into a more dystopian/horror read. Huang astutely dissects the absurdity of today’s art world, specifically the accessibility of art due to factors such as wealth and status. Beyond the world of art, Huang explores the complexities of being an artist, the self-trauma, power, gender, and the implications of science and technology.

This is a book for all of us who love some weird girl fiction. I cannot recommend this highly enough. Immaculate Conception releases tomorrow at all major retailers. Thank you, Dutton and Penguin Books for the opportunity to read this ARC.

In a combination of art and technology, Enka meets and befriends Mathilde. Told in dual timelines, in “then” we see the friendship blossom as one ascends to fame much quicker and become estranged in their competition to one another. Enka is an unreliable and selfish narrator and Mathilde feels like the one to root for.

I really enjoyed the author bringing new depth to this not new concept of frenemies and toxic female friendships by bringing in new ideas ingrained with advances in technology and AI. Very much modernizes the trope. And I loved the internal dialogue Enka has as an art student, when she researched her ideas and concepts; it brings up the very much debated “is anything new anymore” conversations that are very relevant. And disturbing, relishing in making a profit off someone else’s trauma leaves the same feeling but harder to digest. It does take about 45% of the way in, before the plot really grabs you and seems to find its footing.

Ling’s story ideas and concepts are clever, comparing this one with their other book of Natural Beauty. I liked the execution of this one better, from the pacing and plot progression. This is Single White Female, encompassing technology and art. I would have liked the last chapter left off. I’m excited to see what this author does this next.

Immaculate Conception had an interesting premise but ultimately fell short of my expectations, mostly due to the pacing. The core of this book is supposed to be how closely knit Enka and Mathilde's friendship is, to the point where they essentially decide to share brains so that Enka can help absorb Mathilde's trauma. This part doesn't happen till the 2/3 mark by the way, considering it's the main point in the summary. The first half explores Enka and Mathilde's friendship, but it switches between the past (when they met in art school, how Enka was always taking care of Mathilde) and the present (where Enka has married Logan, the heir to the richest company in the world, and where she discovers that Mathilde has gone missing).

This does the book a disservice in my opinion because the constant flashing back and forth ruins the flow. I think it would have worked better if this book was told linearly; the flashbacks don't allow you to sit in Enka's complex feelings toward Mathilde for long enough before it propels you back to the present. Because of this, when we finally reach the point where their relationship comes to a peak, I felt that the whole moral complexity of why they agreed to do this and how Enka crosses a line because she's always been jealous of Mathilde fell short. Additionally the fact that this was only 1/3 of a relatively short book meant that we were essentially speed-running the plot at this point. I mean that quite literally as it started jumping 2-3 years in a single paragraph.

So yeah, interesting concept, intriguing characters, but a lot of this book felt more surface level only because the pacing was all over the place. I did still enjoy this book for the most part, but I was a bit disappointed after loving Natural Beauty so much.

Thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Dutton and NetGalley for an ARC of Immaculate Conception in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3/5

I found many aspects of the book enjoyable; however, I had some difficulty connecting with the vocabulary and jargon specific to the art world. This experience left me feeling a bit isolated, which, unfortunately, affected my overall enjoyment of the book. If you enjoy rich storytelling and are immersed in the art world, I recommend this one.

Big thanks to Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for allowing me to preview the best novel of the year I’ve read so far, Ling Ling Huang’s Immaculate Conception. Wow! I absolutely loved this book. I read Natural Beauty about 2 years ago, and I really enjoyed Huang’s sharp social satire and criticism of beauty standards and wellness culture in a kind of body horror novel. It was definitely not what I anticipated, but it was a fun and exciting read that offered some humorous and insightful social commentary; plus, the book predated The Substance, which also dealt with similar anxieties about appearance and identity in a culture and media that is obsessed with certain, unrealistic beauty standards. Although reading the synopsis for Immaculate Conception made me realize that this book might not be the same kind of body horror that was represented in Natural Beauty, I was still excited to read this book. Immaculate Conception shares thematic similarities with Natural Beauty, and Huang also effectively employs a kind of subtle satire to critique and question art and commerce, so the critique is still biting, but there is more ambiguity and questions since it is not as explicit and blatant as the criticism in Natural Beauty. While Immaculate Conception is not a horror story in the way that Natural Beauty is, this book is somewhat fantastical and more like a kind of science fiction. I felt like there were elements that were so fitting for the ways in which we rely on and seek out technology as a remedy and panacea for everything, from our boredom and identities to creativity. With all of the uncertainty surrounding artificial intelligence and how it may be used (or misused) for creative purposes, Immaculate Conception interrogates some of the issues and explores the ambiguities about art, creativity, and intellectual ownership. I’m still wrestling with many of the scenarios and issues that were raised in this book, beyond technology and focusing more on creativity, art, and commerce, and what each of these means in the digital age where there is less human hand and more machine learning in products, whether it is music, reading materials, or visual depictions. I’m so glad that Huang wrote this book now, and that the characters, mostly Enka and Mathilde, but also Logan and the Dahl Corp., allow readers to examine the moral and intellectual ambiguities of the creative process and art, and how art is informed by our own personal experiences and identities.
Although this is a novel of ideas, it’s also a great story of friendship and jealousy, one that I didn’t initially realize until towards the end of the novel and then revisiting at the dedication “for the jealous”. The story revolves around two young artists, Enka and Mathilde, who are enrolled in the Berkshire College of Art and Design (BCAD). Enka narrates the story and immediately identifies Mathilde as someone who is incredibly gifted, with rumors swiriing around about her artistic experiences, internships with more established artists and possibly contributing to other famous artistic collectives, even before stepping foot on Campus. Enka, on the other hand, is one of the “non-enclave”, a possible socio-economic division that has arisen in society in which families like Enka’s have fewer resources and opportunities. Enka regularly notes that her peers in BCAD all probably had more access to art and supplies as “enclave” students, and therefore art, experience, and ideas all come to them much easier. I was a little unclear about what the distinction between the enclave and non-enclave was, but it seemed to have arisen because of Richard Dahl and his work with the Dahl Corp. I appreciated that the distinction was somewhat ambiguous and mysterious, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions about what this meant for a student like Enka, and how her limited experiences and access to resources would affect her ability to study, create, and engage in the artistic process in a school like BCAD. If anything, it allows Huang to focus more on the story and characters, and especially establishing the strong bond that Enka formed with Mathilde as Mathilde created more engaging and elaborate art projects based on her life experiences. Enka finds Mathilde one day in the bathroom, drained of blood, used for her art. She helps Mathilde, bringing her to the studio and checks in on her frequently, gradually bringing Mathilde back to reality and not allowing her to dive too deep into the artistic abyss. Enka’s gesture of placing her palm on the window serves as a personal connection when Mathilde seems both consumed by the artistic process but also consumed the loneliness and sadness that seem to compel her to work and that pervade her artistic output. This gesture and interaction, means different things to each woman, but it is something that bonds them throughout the later events in the story.
As Enka and Mathilde develop their friendship, Enka realizes the power of Mathilde’s creativity and how Mathilde is able to harness the tragedies and trauma in her life to make meaningful art that engages and enthralls audiences. In one piece, Mathilde re-creates her father’s last moments, using a voicemail message to repeat his final words. Mathilde’s father was on one of the flights that crashed on 9/11, and died when Mathilde was younger. However, Enka sees the reaction and while feeling sympathetic for Mathilde, also wishes that her art could move people in the same manner. While Enka works with technology and art, finding ways to “expose technology’s limited ability for representation,” Mathilde seems more interested in developing experiences—that is looking at the ways that art can be a fleeting experience that is only remembered, but never preserved. She thinks more about installation pieces, and how people can interact with art, not just examine and observe. I loved the artistic ideas that Huang presents here, and I am always amazed when writers or directors develop these kind of artistic projects that are not real but seem so real. Otessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation had some hilarious art projects that were hilarious critiques, but also had the patina of reality, which made the critique even more enjoyable. Similarly Huang develops some realistic projects, and I even thought Enka’s project of having the technology of her childhood connected to fake umbilical cords was an interesting concept. Apparently, Mathilde did too, since she later represented birth and umbilical cords in a later art project, something that Enka notices as well that leads to some feelings of jealousy and resentment from Enka. She not only begins to feel jealous, but her sense of being an imposter at the school becomes heightened. To me, Enka seemed like someone who was struggling with imposter syndrome, constantly unsure of her place in the school, questioning whether her work was good enough. Like the narrator in Natural Beauty, Enka questions her identity and whether she made the right choice as an artist. I supposed that this is something that probably all artists experience—I’m almost certain that most college students probably experience this kind of feeling of whether they made the correct choice or not. We also know that minorities and first generation college students also experience the imposter syndrome acutely, to the point where it may even affect their grades or emotional well-being. As I was reading about Enka struggling with her identity and place in the school, I kept thinking about the imposter syndrome and how defeating and challenging it can be, especially when one may perceive their peers achieving and doing more than they ever could. However, Enka seems to also be driven by jealousy and resentment, especially in regards to Mathilde’s increasing stature in the art world. While Enka is amazed at Mathilde’s achievements, she ends up using their relationship as a lever which she can control Mathilde’s access to her. I won’t get into the details about how their relationships change over the course of the novel, but I can see a different side of Enka after finishing the novel.
In addition to art, Enka pursues an opportunity with the Dahl Corporation, a mysterious mega-conglomerate that has had projects involving cloning and control of the internet. It also seems like the Dahl Corp. had something to do with creating the Enclave and Non-Enclave distinction. As Enka feels more and more desperate about her future in art, she sees an experimental study with Project Scaffold, a new experimental treatment for trauma from Logan Dahl, the son of Richard Dahl, the CEO of Dahl Corp. Project Scaffold seeks to build a kind of wireless neural emotional support from one person to another—developing a kind of psychic empathy, where one person can take on another’s trauma. Logan likens this to sucking the venom from a snakebite, where someone might experience a lesser degree of pain or venom, but they are doing so to help another person out. Doubting her abilities to be an artist, Enka sees this as a possible pathway to more creativity and pain, seemingly trying to plumb the depths of artistic trauma, just not her own, to find inspiration to making art. Yet, as a student at BCAD, a school that the Dahl Corp sponsors scholarships, Enka is deemed a conflict of interest, yet Logan Dahl takes an interest in her and hires her on as the Dahl artist in residence. Enka’s proximity to Logan, like her proximity to Mathilde, brings her more experiences and access to art, but not any true artistic inspiration. Eventually Logan proposes, and Enka agrees. I also loved these sections that describe her wedding planning and eventual motherhood. Logan’s mother becomes incredibly involved, making decisions about the wedding for Enka and Logan, but Enka also mentioned that “wedding planning, it turned out, was a wonderful way to distract myself from the disappointments in my life”. I never thought about it that way, and I hope my wife didn’t either, but I can see how some people may view wedding planning in this way. From Enka’s perspective, the wedding kept her away from the pressures of being an artist and focused her attention on other areas, even though her choices were largely bound by her mother-in-law’s preferences. Similarly, Enka’s descriptions about the challenges of motherhood and the kinds of doubts and questions Monika raises were all something I felt when my kids were born. It’s this kind of creative act where I felt so inadequate and unsure, and any kind of advice or offers of help I sometimes questioned whether they were intended well or not. Even with the privilege that marriage to Logan brings, Enka still remains jealous and resentful, although not overtly. She seems to keep it inside, but still uses her relationship and access to Mathilde as a kind of lever she can press to make Mathilde feel more lonely.

Again, I don’t want to get into more specifics, but so many of the ideas surrounding art, originality, families, marriage, and technology are all so relevant to events and discussions that are happening today. For example, Enka has children, twins boys, but other characters struggle with fertility, while another character seeks out artificial insemination. Given the rise of pro-natalists in the government and how there is a focus on the declining birthrate, it was interesting to read about these issues and how some of the characters were obsessed with lineage and inheritance. It also relates to the art projects, as it seems like Enka is seeking out the kind of recognition and acclaim from artists who have developed staying power, while Mathilde creates these kind of impermanent experiences of art installations that are more about interaction and engagement, and taking away memories. Similarly, we learn that Richard Dahl has a collection of rare medieval paintings of saints, but he only likes to keep them in a slight state of decay where the colors are beginning to fade to certain hues. I want to revisit this book to learn more about the connection between art and lineage, between these creative acts, and how they relate to who actually owns the art and why it was created. Furthermore, right before Enka drops out of BCAD, a new kind of AI program is developed that can create any kind of art, basically putting artists out of business. Artists are sued if they are found to copy anything in this Stochastic Archive. Enka finds that someone has created an umbilical art installation just like hers, and without the resources to fight a lawsuit, she decides to give up her art. Her classmates, who also have creative, unique art projects, try to come up with interesting alternatives, only to find themselves out of work and original ideas. I thought this was also a powerful question about the nature of art in the age of AI, and what constitutes originality. Since AI are digesting publicly available works online, should artists and others contributing to its massive corpus receive compensation for their works? Or will artists and other creative types continue to lose out while technology receives corporate funding? Furthermore, to receive funding for her projects, Mathilde develops a foundation, and although they fund her art projects, they also seem to take an incredible amount of responsibility for her well-being, even requiring her to live in certain places or receive specialized medical and mental health treatments. Their interest in Mathilde is not necessarily about her wellbeing, but rather her commodification and the ability to profit from her artwork, as we later learn about the commercialization of her art exhibits, where visitors can seemingly exit by the giftshop. Huang’s story and the events in this novel bring up questions about the nature of art—whether it is funding for art or who owns art. Even questions about what is the purpose of art—is it something that is a personal expression? Is it catharsis? Should art involve social commentary? I loved how she subtly imbues the narrative with these questions by creating these interesting art projects that make readers question the nature of art and creativity, and how technology may be helping or hindering this process (and its products). There’s so much to question and sort through, and Huang presents these ideas and ambiguities with such an engaging and creative story that is relative to so many people. Once I got into the second and third parts of the book (Middle Style and Late Style), I couldn’t stop reading it. I highly recommend this book since it was the best novel I’ve read this year. It’s an important book, that is not only full of ideas and questions about art, culture, society, friendship and altruism, but also told in such a compelling, engaging, and creative way. Highly, highly recommended book!

Immaculate Conception by Ling Ling Huang is an eerie and beautifully strange sci-fi novel that lingers long after you finish. Set in the art world of a chilling, dystopian alternate history, the book explores friendship, envy, and the fine, often uncomfortable, line between love and possession. Huang’s prose keeps you disoriented in the best way—dreamlike, sharp, and unpredictable.

The world-building is vivid and unsettling, though I often found myself wanting even more detail about the universe Huang has created. Still, the novel thrives in its emotional intensity and thematic depth, making it feel haunting and intimate. A perfect read for fans of speculative fiction that leans literary and unflinching.

This was such an intricate and fascinating story. The narrative progression is so complex and I really enjoyed the depth of this story and the overall arc. Exploring the deeper insecurities and essences of our main characters really helped lay down a foundation for the story and really grounded the narrative. As the sci-fi elements start to pick up, I really felt immersed in the world and the mingling of art and technology. And I really enjoyed exploring the idea of nature vs nurture as well as the other concepts (such as personhood/autonomy and grief's impact on a person's makeup) that are pervasive through the story.
I also really enjoyed the dimensionality of the characters. Seeing them work through their issues, both independently and together (and then really together) it was so fascinating exploring so much of who they were and their issues. Seeing how their codependency leads to a fracturing as their career trajectories start to diverge and mixing in the predisposition to insecurities Enka carries with her given societal perceptions made for an oddly relatable and empathizable situation in a sci-fi world. There is a lot of nuance that is woven into this story and the novel does a great job of really juggling several moving parts and creating a thorough picture for readers.

I will say, while I can completely understand Enka's obsession and fascination with Mathilde, I wish the story did a bit more to explore the other side of their relationship. Especially since Enka's insecurities play heavily into the plot, it would have been cool if we got to see more of Mathilde's view of Enka (and made for an interesting contrast to how Enka thinks of and sees herself and their relationship). I also wanted to dive more into the betrayals and felt more of the fracturing of their friendship.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group and Dutton for providing me with a digital review copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

4.5, rounding up.

Huang begins with an obsession with a stereotypically unnourished, traumatized, elusive artist but transforms the story to be about empathy, the corporeal as an artistic vessel, the vulnerability of someone else seeing the ugliness inside you, and the lies we tell both ourselves and others to enhance our own creativity.

Enka is an insecure artist who believes her entire artist career has been shaped by her friendship with the much more successful Mathilde. When Enka enters a wealthy family shaping the future of technology, she seizes on an opportunity to help heal her friend's trauma and enhance her own success. Envy truly is the ugliest of all human traits.

Not only did I love Ling Ling Huang's prose and depiction of female friendship, but she also does this against a technological backdrop where neighborhood barriers are erected to prevent the haves and have-nots from having to deal with one another. Such a minor detail shapes our characters without overwhelming the story itself. I will also say I found her ideas for Mathilde's art pieces to be amusingly provocative, even when only verbally described within the confines of a novel.

The only thing keeping this from being a full five star read for me is the tidy ending. There is one element left open, and I wouldn't call it a happy ending, but I wish Huang was a little more withholding in the last act. Overall, a fantastic read I can't wait to share with others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Dutton for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I found this book to be right up my alley of weird and vaguely confusing books. I really was not sure on where this book was going for most of it, but with this genre/style of book I find that to be one of the best parts of it. I found the relationship between Enka and Mathilde to be a great representation of female relationships, women and relationships in a competitive field, and famous women. I found both of them equally likable and unlikeable at the same time, making them a complimentary duo. The writing of this book was also enjoyable and at times extremely beautifully written. I found the dystopian part of this novel could have been expanded on more in order to learn more about the lead up to the world being the way it was, as this played a pivotal part in many of the characters ending up where they did, as well as shaping their identities. Overall I would give this book a 4.5/5.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The premise here is really interesting and all of the technological advances the author dreamed up were incredibly creative, but the setting and timeline seem off, which really took me out of the story. The book seems to be set in a futuristic, dystopian society, yet in the first couple of chapters, Mathilde (a first year college student) creates an art piece about her father who died in 9/11. If she has actual memories of that at age 18/19, doesn’t that mean the book is set some time in the mid to late-2010s? That timing doesn’t make sense with all of the technological and scientific innovations described throughout the rest of the book.

I also feel like the back copy is misleading. Enka and Mathilde don’t undergo the procedure that links their minds until about 70% of the book, but the back copy leads the reader to believe they are linked for almost the whole story. This also made the pacing feel so uneven. It’s fairly slow until the procedure and then all of a sudden all this stuff happens the last 30% of the book.

Maybe I am nitpicking science fiction a little too much, but this didn’t do it for me overall.

Immaculate Conception is the second book written by Ling Ling Huang. Having read Natural Beauty, I was absolutely taken with the skill and message this author delivered in her debut novel. I was moved in ways I can only describe by talking your ear off for several hours about the layers which Huang was able to reach with such a story. Having said this, I was beyond eager to read her second novel. This being my own personal opinion, take this as you will.
I love horror and thrillers. They have to be intelligent and always with great meaning. Huang still accomplishes these elements in this novel, just not at the same heights as Natural Beauty. There is a nice sci-fi aspect that does well to make sense and lend itself to the spine of the story and the horror elements are few but effective. There are messages to this novel that I will share passages from, but I felt the story could have been shorter and more concise. There are clearly moments where a build is very essential to the plot, but there was some unnecessary meandering, to me anyhow. The feel of the story felt not as powerful, and maybe that is unfair of me to compare to her first.
Now will I continue to read from Huang? Well, of course, I'd be crazy not to. She's brilliant! This one just didn't match with me as much.

I breathe in, you breathe out.

But no matter what I said, or how much I embellished, I couldn't shake the feeling that our lives had already been determined. 4%

I couldn't be the daughter they'd been conditioned to want. 5%

...."Is it even possible to really copy someone? if someone tried their hardest to mimic another person, their unique life experiences and skills would still yield completely different results." 18%

Dahl explained that it was a kindness not to see what you couldn't acquire. Those who had less would be free from tyranny of desire, and those who had more would be free of their guilt. 25%

What an unbelievable scam it is to get everything you've ever been told to want. 47%

The public needs to be shocked and reminded of their own feelings, which everything else in the world seeks to numb. 55%

All my life, I've choked on the bitterness of having a mind that doesn't feel equipped to do what my soul wants. 79%

Have you ever worked on something you love? Something you pour everything of yourself into, only to have it be taken away and mass-produced? 90%

Unless her art is one of visual vulnerability, positioning herself as a victim of men or the church, or something erring towards sensationalism, people are not interested. 91%

Rating: 3.5 stars

Take Black Mirror, blend it with a fever dream, and add a toxic female friendship and you might land somewhere near where this story takes you. The codependent relationship between artists Enka and Mathilde is really the heart of this story. Their bond is intense and unhealthy from the outset and only gets worse as their lives and careers diverge. Their story alone would have been interesting to read, but is complicated by the near-future technology woven throughout the novel. The art world in which they circle around each other is heavily impacted by AI and other related tech, changing the way people create and want to experience art. Mathilde is able to withstand these changes with seemingly endless creativity and talent, and is lavished by praise. While Enka languishes, feeling unable to create anything original. This drives intense envy and jealousy on Enka's side. When a new technology allows Enka to inhabit Mathilde's mind, their obsessive friendship reaches new, more extreme heights. At no point was I ready for where this book was going. The toxicity levels, the morally grey characters, the technology, it's all intense and fraught with tension. I found that I did not end up loving any of the characters or even rooting for any of them really, but I did love the drama. Thank you to Dutton Books for the e-arc for review!

haunting is certainly an apt descriptor for this book; i haven't stopped thinking about it since i finished it. Enka's relationship with Mathilde was as complex as it was fascinating. at times toxic, at others deeply nurturing - and always obsessive. i love any media that speculates about the effects that technology might one day have on our lives, and this novel does that brilliantly. it was so interesting to read about the way that these advancements in technology impacted both Enka's artistic endeavors as well as her interpersonal relationships. the discussions around AI art are very relevant today, making the setting of the book seem not so far away...

i do wish that certain aspects had been a little more fleshed out, but i can also acknowledge that the author may have kept descriptions surrounding the two castes purposefully vague. i just wanted more! ultimately, however, i enjoyed this one just as much as, if not more than, the author's debut, "natural beauty".

it comes out next Tuesday, 5/13! fans of black mirror should definitely pick this one up. 💫💫💫💫

At art school, Enka struggles to find her place. Unlike most of her classmates, she grew up with less: less access to art education, less access to technology. When she meets Mathilde, she's blown away by her brilliance and focus. Despite a budding jealousy, the women become close friends.
When loosely-governed AI technology begins to drive art, emptying the school, Mathilde digs even deeper to develop awe-inspiring masterpieces. Enka struggles to make art that matters, to give the world something as good, as successful. Her marriage to a billionaire tech mogul brings her into the spotlight. But when Mathilde suffers from a life-threatening breakdown after a devastating loss, Enka sees an opportunity to draw Mathilde closer, then closer.

I was amazed by this book. Huang has imagined a means by which one person could ride on another's consciousness, with little regard to ethical implications. But that's just a small piece of what she's done here. The world her characters inhabit is one in which the very rich have a fearsome amount of control over personal freedom. Technocrats have the ability to make sweeping changes with little regard to individual rights, and because Enka has joined the world of the rich, she has the means to manipulate outcomes in her favor. The book is ultimately about the insidious nature of envy, and how power corrupts. I was reminded of Yellowface, by R.F. Kuang, when thinking about the ways we justify our actions to do the things we do.
This book provides a feast of food for thought.

My thanks to Dutton and NetGalley for the advanced copy. I am not compensated for my review.

If Yellowface was an episode of Black Mirror, it would be this book. I really enjoyed following Enka as she developed through this book. Loved the body horror and scifi elements.