maybe 3.5 stars - interesting story, but a little haven't-I-read-this-before feeling. Take out some of the modern details about (introductions come with pronouns, family situations), and change the main element of the story to a different technology, and this becomes lots of older stories about the dangers of technology and its effect on society. ( )

DNF at about 65%. Not feeling it. Long and meandering. Never got to the point where I cared about any of the characters. Liked the premise, just didn't think she pulled it off. ( )

Surprisingly engaging.
An exploration of human augmentation on it's good, bad and unexpected aspects. ( )

A tantalizing but narrowly focussed look at how a new brain-implant technology affects a single family. It's interesting to follow the developments with each family member but I could do with it opening out more to see the wider social impacts. ( )

Balkenhol’s Pilot, a brain enhancing implant, test the ties between a close-knit family. Teenaged David successfully lobbies his mothers to get a Pilot; however, epilepsy prevents Sophie, David’s sister, from the possibility of getting an implant. Their parents are likewise divided: Julie succumbs to the lure of accomplish more with her time, while Val resists “elective brain surgery”. As the children grow into adulthood, Pinker and Dunne quietly unwind a cautionary tale firmly rooted in current reality with just a whiff of cyberpunk futurism. Dunne slips the listener into each character’s perspective as chapters alternate between family members. Against the family drama, deep issues of access, discrimination, and corporate responsibility are addressed. Dunne rachets the tension to the boiling point as the family starts to unravel. Filled with moments of heart-wrenching introspection and thought-provoking realism, We Are Satellites is perfect for discussion.

The improved review was published in Booklist for August 2021. ( )