#70 The Kingdom

The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg

'Welcome to the Kingdom, where 'Happily Ever After' isnt just a promise, but a rule' 



Before i begin i genuinely think this book has my favourite cover of 2019, both the US & UK editions are stunning but the US version is just gorgeous, i dont think ive ever seen a book where i have loved both covers so much even though they are very different.

This book is very light sci-fi but has mystery/thriller aspects which i found very unique.

Lets begin, so the Kingdom is a Disney inspired futuristic theme park, its basically like a very high tech Disneyland but instead of human Disney princesses you have cyborg 'fantasists'. We follow our main character Ana who is one of seven fantasists, she is an artificial intelligence programmed to entertain, guide and look after the theme park guests. There is a dual timeline in this story so you get both past and present events. From the beginning of the story we learn that Ana is on trial for murder so the past events tell us what happened leading up to the murder and the present events are leading up to and during the trial. There are quite a lot of mixed media included in this book which in my opinion really adds to the story, i loved the interview transcripts as it made the story flow really well. The story is basically about whether Ana committed the murder and if she did can she be held accountable for it as the creators state that she is not programmed to be capable of violence.

I loved the themes of this book mainly the 'what is it to be human' theme and the exploration of AI evolving by experiencing feelings, dreaming and making choices. It also lightly explores rape culture and how women are treated within society as well as masculinity issues. The fantasists are regularly sexually harassed in this story so you may want to be aware of that as it could be quite triggering for some people. There are also a lot of mentions about the environment and how many animals have become extinct so the creators have had to develop hybrids of some animals which i loved as it really modernised the futuristic element to the story. There are a few scenes regarding animal cruelty that can make for difficult reading so please be mindful of that if you are sensitive to that kind of thing.

I couldnt put this down, it reminded me so much of Irobot, it was really intricate and well written. I would love to see some novellas in this world maybe following Owen and his sister on their original visits to the Kingdom or the back story of the fantasists and how they were created, i think that would be really interesting. I loved that this was a stand alone as it was rounded off very well and left me satisfied and i felt complete at the ending, having said that i would love to read a sequel to this.