Author: Mary Pearson

Back when I was in University, I had the opportunity to take a class called Bioethics. At the time, we were wrestling with issues such as:

“If person A donates the sperm, person B donates the egg, person C is the surrogate and persons D and E had this all setup to adopt the baby, who is the parent of this child?”

The obvious answer would be the ones who were setting up to adopt, but the ethical concern is the others involved with the scenario. What if they wanted to claim rights to the child?

What if the parents setting up to adopt, no longer want to go through with the process (which was/is happening)?

If only we could look into the future and see just how far medical research has come in such a short amount of time.

The bioethical concerns of today stretch well beyond custody issues. We are on the cusp of merging our biology with artificial… well… everything!

This is the excitement this book brings to the table in exploring a few of the issues we’re facing, focusing more on the ethical side of things. There’s also a theological discourse running through it, which you don’t need to tug too hard at my arm to appreciate.

Jenna Fox is the centre of this tale with a past she’s trying to piece together, a mystery about her current identity and a coming-of-age with decisions she must ultimately make sans the over-indulging relationship crisis authors can’t help but dwell on in their teenage protagonists.

It’s a slow moving sci-fi book with a heavy discourse on ethics and thought-provoking considerations for our future. In other words – everything I love about sci-fi.