Release Date: April 28th 2020
Publisher: Solaris
Pages: 500
Find it on: Goodreads. BookDepository. Waterstones.
Source: The publisher kindly sent me a copy of this book to review
Rating: 3.25/5 stars

Synopsis

500 YEARS IN THE FUTURE, EARTH IS A PARADISE… WITHOUT US.

The Earth was dying, and only the Erta could save it. Created to be genetically superior, hyper-intelligent and unburdened by the full range of human emotions, they succeeded by removing the cause: humans.

Now the Erta are faced with a dilemma—if they reintroduce the rebellious and violent Homo sapiens, all of their work could be undone.

They decide to raise one child: a sole human to decide if we should again inherit the Earth.

But the quiet and clinical Ima finds that there is more to raising a human than she had expected; and there is more to humanity’s history than she has been told.

Review

The Human Son is a unique and compelling tale that follows a race of people known as the Erta who, 500 years in the future, have saved the Earth from dying. Now they have a decision to make, do they reintroduce humans (who caused all the damage) or allow the human race to become extinct. Ima is tasked with raising a human child as an experiment, to decide to the fate of humanity. But as she watches the child grow, Ima finds a lot more than she expected.

This clever tale is an engaging read, one that gives the reader plenty to think about in terms of human nature and the destruction of the Earth. It was unlike anything I had read before and I thought the premise was completely fascinating. The story really tackles the idea of what it means to be human and I found it quite an engrossing topic.

The story is a very character driven one, focusing on the relationship between Ima and Reed as well as how Ima’s relationships with the other Erta change as Reed grows. We follow the two through all ages of Reed’s development and it was fascinating seeing their relationship change, how Ima changes in her role as parent. Because it was such a character driven read it is on the slower paced side, so I found some parts – particularly in the middle – harder to get through.

The Human Son is a beautifully written book, with a really compelling premise. If you love character driven science fiction, this is definitely a must read.