K. M. Fajardo's debut novel is a romantic, sultry reimagining of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, set among a backdrop of cybernetic body-modification, New York's disastrous economic inequality, and the exploitation of the rich against the poor. Unusually for cyberpunk, Fajardo's Gatsby retelling - by necessity - focusses on the upper class, those being Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, the Buchanans, and Jordan Baker. Carraway, a Filipino-American netdiver, is sent to investigate an acquisition being made by Gatsby's corporation, Gen Wealth, but finds himself swept up into the wild, wealthy world of Jay Gatsby.

Anybody familiar with Fitzgerald's novel will be familiar with most of the storybeats in Fajardo's, and the class and origins theme of the original novel comes through well with the addition of Nick's mixed-race heritage and the consideration of working within the system versus overthrowing it.

While the themes of Gatsby are very relevant to today's questions of wealth and social inequality, it often feels as though Fajardo is held back by the retelling aspect of her work. Often, the characters felt not-entirely realised, with some aspects of personality and personal revelations stilted by the weight of their predetermined expectations. The cyberpunk elements of the novel feel a little underutilised, particularly in the realm of the posthuman. Despite this, there is no denying that Fajardo understands the themes of the original novel and brings them to life in imaginative ways. Nick's origins as an immigrant, for example, allow for an innovative consideration of the idea of "self-made". Likewise, Fajardo capitalises on the obvious queer undertones of the original, which she makes explicit in the relationship between Nick and Gatsby.

This is, overall, an exceptionally well written debut. The prose is lush and romantic, effortlessly enjoyable to read. Even though the cyberpunk elements leave much to be desired, Fajardo's characters are perfectly unlikeable, each believing their own possible redemption even as they steal it from themselves and those around them. The relationships between Nick, Gatsby, and Jordan are built up exceptionally well, with the major issue in character relations being, again, the limitations of the retelling format. It begs the question of what this author could do with the freedom to flex an entirely original narrative.

This is a novel worth reading for any fans of Gatsby, sci-fi, or dramatic narraties about the wealthy. A very accomplished debut with stunning prose by an author with a great handle on her craft.

Thank you to Net Galley and Bindery Books for the ARC. I wanted to like this, but unfortunately the story just kept jumping between scenes, making it hard to follow. It was also difficult to connect with the characters, making this a dry read. The setting descriptions were also quite repetitive.

I loved this near-future re-working of Fitzgerald's classic novel. It was so original and intriguing. The flowing writing style and current themes set in a somewhat futuristic setting really worked for me.

Local Heavens is a queer cyberpunk retelling of the Great Gatsby.
And quite frankly, the only part about this that intrigued me beforehand was the "cyberpunk" and the "queer". As for Gatsby, I only had watched the movies years back and only remembered not really understanding the whole vagueness of it.
I'm still not sure if I understand everything that's going on with Gatsby, but that's in no way this books' fault. The author painted a picture of exactly the feeling that Gatsby caused in me, but with more interesting characters and way more immersive setting.

K.M. Fajardo did a phenomenal job with the world building without over-explaining or info-dumping, with telling you exactly as much as you need to understand and envision it.
I also enjoyed the different character dynamics, they felt flawed, real, morally questionable.
The underlying yearning was palpable throughout the whole book and was what kept me going - despite the main plot just not being my jam (because it is so Gatsby and the stakes throughout the story aren't as high, except for the ending).

But the ending really made the book for me - It was hot and made me cry within the last 70 pages.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bindery Books for the eARC!

If you had asked me if I needed a Gatsby retelling I would have said no, but then I heard it’s a queer cyberpunk retelling and I had to know if it was as good as I was imagining it. Let me tell you, it is! I loved this book even after it broke my heart multiple times and I was yelling at everyone and their mothers. My cat thought I lost my mind multiple times, but my god was this book so fun and emotional! K.M. Fajardo did amazing with this book, I actually liked the characters more here than in the original book. I’m not going to spoil anything, but do have tissues ready. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to scream into the void and hopefully feel something! Thank you NetGalley and Bindery Books for this arc.

I am going to be honest, I did not enjoy this book.

It was very well written, I can definitely acknowledge that. I love the Great Gatsby which is why I wanted to read this, but I do not read sci fi very much and I was quite confused throughout this. The plot felt confusing and long and the characters fell flat for me.
I do believe that this is a good book, I just don't think it was the book for me.

Thank you for the ARC, I very much appreciate every opportunity to review books.

The book and its concept started out very strong for me. Taking the Great Gatsby's capitalist themes and making it futuristic in a cyberpunk world sounded interesting and I believe K.M. Fajardo did a wonderful job in that sense. Learning more about the concept of diving was fascinating and kept the sci-fi aspects of the book strong.
At times I had difficulty with the writing, for example, understanding certain descriptions of mods and technology as well as certain lines/prose that felt too out of place and trying hard to get a quotable sentence. At times the book felt very info-dumpy or just hard to understand some descriptions.
Additionally, I felt as though some characters were thrown into the story for no reason as we either never saw them again or they showed up only a couple more times in passing. I thought they would be more important to the story since their first scenes were so long. I tried not to expect the exact same from this book in comparison to the Great Gatsby, but perhaps more knowledge on the inspiration would have given me a different reading experience? Also, I was under the impression that Local Heavens would be different with Jay and Nick's relationship so I was not anticipating the switch up in relationships. It felt like nothing actually happened between Jay and Nick in comparison to Nick and Jordan and that car scene, which felt so random to me.

I honestly want to thank The Bindery for this ARC. It is K.M. Fajardo's first novel which is always exciting and I truly believe it's only up from here! I can't wait for how this book will be received and any future publications of hers!

mind is blown !!! i like the great gatsby and this futuristic retelling of it was everything i could never think of, the writing, the setting and the flow was incredible, it did take me a little time to get into it, but all it all an incredible book.

Perfect! Thank you thank you thank you so much for this book. The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite books, but local heavens stands completely on its own. Oh, my I’m at a lost for words. I cannot express how much I love this book without giving it away. The selling point was the book being queer, but it’s the story and landscape that keeps me hooked and loving this beautifully crafted and written book

Thank you to Netgalley & Bindery for the eArc!

A glimmering jewel of a debut novel, Local Heavens is The Great Gatsby reimagined in such a way that I often forgot it wasn't always this way. It feels so natural that these characters are in a world where technology is king, where holographic advertisements appear on every corner. I cannot wait for fellow Gatsby fans to read this and I cannot wait for Fajardo's future work.

A longer review will be provided upon publication!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bindery for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts!

Vividly immersive, "Local Heavens" perfectly achieves the aesthetic of futuristic cyberpunk with thoughtful and comprehensive world-building. At the same time, a retelling of "The Great Gatsby" cannot subsist on aesthetic alone; the overly unsubtle analysis of the original text, the characterization/plot structure relying too strongly on the original, and the inadequate understanding of plutocracy severely weakens the overall story.

The most alluring element of K. M. Fajardo's rendition of Gatsby is the technology and cultural landscape she has crafted. The concept of net-diving and the VINEs were unique and creative, perfectly conforming into the cyberpunk landscape. From the synth-food to the self-driving cars to the towering skyscrapers, the world-building felt incredibly well thought-out across so many facets, allowing readers to fully sink into the story.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book felt immensely lacking in substance. The prose continuously produces paragraphs that summarize scenes for readers in a way that implies both a mistrust in readers to infer character motivations from the scenes and also a mistrust in one's writing being able to convey a message. For example, in the scene Nick meets Tom for the first time, Tom continuous espouses the highly intellectual literature he reads, waving away Daisy's concerns about Nick's disinterest in the subject. The prose then goes on to explain that Tom see's Nick as "one of the good [Filipinos]", which spoon-feeds the context clues from their entire interaction to readers. As another example, after Nick discovers how Gatsby has centered his life around Daisy, the text spoon feeds you a paragraph about Gatsby "fashioning a name for himself to reach for the hand of this girl!" And this pattern is constantly littered throughout the story; there is no subtlety, and for a retelling that the author wants to
"stand apart from the original text," the prose constantly reiterates SparkNotes summations of the themes and motifs of the original work.

In the same vein, for those who HAVE read "The Great Gatsby," the plot structure intensely mimics the original, in a way that makes the plot incredibly predictable. The story makes an attempt to introduce queer context by inserting the build up of a relationship between Nick and Gatsby. These moments are vignettes into character yearning, and I enjoyed seeing each respective character explore the other's world; in particular, the scene where Nick takes Gatsby to a seedy bar and immerses him in Filipino culture is my favorite part of the book, delivering cultural cyberpunk elements as well as succinct and clever character building.

However, the romance between Nick and Gatsby becomes so detached from the story once Nick discovers the history between Gatsby and Daisy. If anything, the overall story begins with 15% Gatsby retelling, inserts 40% of Nick x Gatsby, and then takes a sharp u-turn back into scene-for-scene Gatsby retelling before veering back into Nick's story at the 90% mark. The retelling doesn't feel like it stands on its own as an independent story, relying far too much on the original text as a crutch for the plot structure. And with the ending introducing a slapdash heist storyline that lazily nods at taking down rich corporations, the entire structure, both in character and plot, completely falls apart. All in all, "Local Heavens" was a story that held immense promise, but unfortunately failed to deliver.

How appropriate that this cyber-punk futuristic retelling of The Great Gatsby come out the year the famous novel turns 100 years old. The characters and world that author have built are hazy, mysterious, rich and sticky - blurring the lines between physical and virtual realities in a way that make the whole novel feel like a dream. The pages are packed with a slow burn tension that takes a long time to explode, but the meander of the first 3/4 of the novel are anything but boring as we learn what a futuristic New York might be like 50 years into the future. True to the messages and meaning of the original, Local Heavens imagines what human ambition and exploitation might look like as we fast forward through time. If you are a fan of the original Gatsby, and want to experience a familiar story in a completely wild, creative and surprising new world, Local Heavens is a must read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely stunned by this polished, thoughtful and immersive retelling of The Great Gatsby, set in a near-future dystopian America. You don't need to have read the original, and if you like cyberpunk definitely pick this up. If you have read the original, think Gatsby meets Black Mirror.

I knew in the first 10% of the book that this was something special. The prose is delightful, told in first-person perspective and set in a believable near future dystopia that somehow mirrors the 1920s vibes from the original. Local Heavens touches on wealth inequality, bisexuality (LOVE to see the rep! to note there is some spice), race/name bias and code-switching related to all three of those things. The tech is also really cool and lends itself perfectly to the dystopian/social decay vibes. It's not too heavy or too dry and it's really well paced. It doesn't read like a debut at all, and I absolutely could not put this down. Author is instantly a must-read for me!

With a delicate balance of originality and faithfulness to the original, Fajardo has really outdone herself. One of the easiest 5* ratings I've ever given.

Thanks to Bindery Books (Inky Phoenix imprint) for giving me an advance copy as part of a giveaway!

I'm gonna be honest, I had my reservations going into this. I'm not much of a SciFi reader (yet) and not a fan of the Great Gatsby either but I've followed the author on youtube long before the book release so I was eager to give it a shot and man, am I glad I did it. There are so many chores that didn't get done because I was reading this book. What a wonderful concept, what a stunning writing style. The way things clicked into place until the very last page was truly *chef's kiss*. I gasped. I cried. I clutched my pearls. Please, K. M. Fajardo, write faster. I need more.

At first I was a bit skeptical about another reimaging of a classic, I was worried it would just be another morally grey retelling that I have seen all too many times before. However, Fajardo's adaptation sets a precedent! Local Heavens offers a compelling and refreshing take on The Great Gatsby that feels relevant for the world we are in now.

The world building unfolds naturally, prose is engaging and carries the story with beauty. The core themes of the original- Class, Moral ambiguity and human relationships are still present in this story. But have been twisted in a way that speaks more to the technology attuned audience.

I felt the pace needed some work, momentum would build only for it to fall a little flat.

Overall, I would give Local Heavens an easy 4.5/5. It is a thought-provoking reimagining that deserves to be studied in classrooms and discussed for years to come. I am excited to see how Fajardo continues to evolve and grow as a writer. I would not be surprised to see their name on a classics list

Thank you to Net Galley, Bindery Books and Kris for the opportunity to read this early <3

Huge thank you to the publisher for this opportunity. I’ll sadly be DNF’ing Local Heavens. I absolutely love The Great Gatsby and I have been following the author for a while, but at this point in time, this read just isn’t for me. Fajardo certainly isn’t a bad writer, however the writing style wasn’t my personal taste and sadly just didn’t pull me in from the beginning. I felt a bit lost from the start. Perhaps I’ll pick this book up once it is officially released and give it another try, but for now it is a DNF.

A futuristic dystopian cyberpunk reimagining of The Great Gatsby!? Yes PLEASE! Not only does the author capture the heart of the original while making it entirely new and entirely her own, she does so with gorgeous, lyrical writing that pays homage to Fitzgerald without coming anywhere near imitation. As important as Gatsby was when it was written, Local Heavens is today, similarly calling attention to the peril of substituting shine for substance, of striving to be part of an elite never satisfied by the riches already possessed. From a massive Fitzgerald fan who doesn’t normally go for sci-fi, please hear me when I say read it! You won’t regret it!

To echo K.M. Fajardo’s Author’s Note, some may wonder ‘why’ we need another retelling of The Great Gatsby, and Fajardo’s take on the classic enthusiastically affirms that we do. Beyond the initial sells for me (queer and cyberpunk) Fajardo skillfully weaves in those elements in a profit-driven world on the precipice of an apocalypse that is entirely her own, while also inserting her Filipino heritage. What resonated most for me was Fajardo’s version of Nick Caraway, who we see struggle to come to terms with his own identity and what he stands for in a in that will never truly accept him. This retelling is not only entertaining (and very queer, yay!) but also so moving, as much of its content is topical to our current socio-political climate.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books for the ARC!

I unfortunately couldn't even make it halfway through this book. I had no idea what was going on. There was no explanation of anything, which meant I was left confused on what was happening in the plotline or with the characters. There was a lack of worldbuilding of of explaning the author's tech-infused futuristic setting.

This was a fantastic read breath of fresh air something new that it gave to this genre I loved it wow thank you so much