Will McIntosh

For a book that is pretty much all a romance, it's full of great science, tech, and outright horror. The titular theme refers to corpse dating. It's kinda like a half-way point for necrophiliacs, old-rich-geezers, and tortured musicians to pine over pretty dead women. And when I mean pretty, I mean pretty. Only the beautiful get selected for possible reanimation and if they don't have special insurance and they don't get picked to be a bride-like-a-slave, they get defrosted and dumped in a show more landfill.

The rub? These women are brought back in a speed-dating nightmare, fresh from death, only let to live for five minutes as some rich creep tries to find out if you're "the one". Just think about it. Your afterlife will be spent trying to do everything you can to debase yourself and be the perfect mate JUST SO YOU CAN COME BACK TO LIFE. It's a special kind of hell to be caught in desperate speed-dating for the sake of your very existence.

*shiver*

But, yes, this IS a romance, and every part of it is wonderful. Hard, depressing, hopeful, loving, and wonderful. I even grew to love all of Rob's friends. :)

I can't say whether this is my favorite Will McIntosh book, but it damn-near perfect for all that. Romance, interesting tech-based horror, a future dystopia for the dead and recently un-dead, and a massive condemnation on us. You'll see. It's totally worth reading. :) show less

One word: Bridesicles. Yep. The premise you have to accept (without much examination) is that in this future, 100 or so years hence, cryogenics works, but is devilishly expensive. Also you can revive just the brain and face as often as you like, so you can be visited, at $9000 for five minutes. You can be kept frozen for as long as you can afford to buy a plan for - 500 or 1000 years - but the catch is you won't get unfrozen because that costs millions. The comfort in it, is that you COULD show more be unfrozen, which puts you in a not-quite-dead headspace.... ok.... but the cryogenics facility came up with the idea to preserve really beautiful women so that really rich desperate loser types could ask them if they would be a contract bride. Sounds terrible, but embedded in this story are wonderful characters full of heart and pluck, tons of romance, and some original imaginings about what the future could be like.
All my sf/romance/future friends this is a big winner! A sleeper! *****1/2 show less

Burning Midnight came to me as an unsolicited review copy. When I was looking at it to determine whether it was something I wanted to read, it did not strike me as a novel that would blow my mind. In fact, I thought it sounded only somewhat intriguing but mostly forgettable. Still, it was young adult, and it was science fiction; I am willing to put up with a rather boring synopsis for a good YA sci-fi. So, with a “What the hell” and a shrug, I dived into it and hoped for the show more best.

Yeah.

You know that little voice that tells you when something is a bad idea? In the case of Burning Midnight, I really should have listened to that voice. I know what McIntosh was trying to do, but he did not quite succeed in hitting his targets. By the time the truth behind the mysterious spheres reveals itself in a moment so eye-roll worthy as to risk eye strain, you just want to forget you ever read it.

Sully is so earnest and just too gullible for the world in which he lives. In fact, he is something of a wimp, believing what he wants to believe even when the truth is staring him in the face. I know he is the good guy, but it is almost as if he is TOO good. Alex Holliday double-crosses him badly in a life-changing transaction, something that would turn most people into complete cynics, but Sully continues to believe that everyone he encounters tells the truth and has his best interest at heart. It’s an unsettling outlook given everything he experiences. Hunter is his exact opposite, but at least her backstory explains her prickliness. In fact, I admire her more because she has learned life’s hard lessons and learned them well. Sully continues to get knocked down by them but refuses to accept what he learns. In a word, his naivety is rather pathetic.

Then there are the magical spheres. Seriously, this is the part that just makes you laugh. And laugh. And laugh again. They aren’t supposed to be humorous, but there is nothing about the story of the spheres which is not utterly ridiculous, highly predictable, and therefore totally laughable. Magic, indestructible balls that mysteriously appear one day that just happen to grant superpowers to those who use them, and NO ONE thinks that using them might be a bad idea? The people in Sully’s world must not be science fiction fans because there is nothing about this scenario which indicates it will end well. Shady, power-granting objects are never going to result in a happily-ever-after, for anyone. That is why the moment Sully and Hunter unveil what the spheres are, all you can do is sit back and just enjoy the stupidly silly ride. Because that is all it becomes at that point in time.

I have no one to blame but myself for reading this one. I could have stopped reading it at any point in time. I should have stopped reading it. Yet, Burning Midnight is like the accident away from which you cannot tear your eyes. It is one of those books that is just so ridiculous that you have to keep reading it because you want to see just how far it will go. It is almost so bad, it is good. The key word there is almost. show less

(Author’s original title, and title of original short story in Asimov’s: “Bridesicle.”) In a grim future, the dead can be cryogenically frozen and brought back to life—for a price, leading to an industry where dead women are revived for quick “dates” where they must convince their rich suitors to choose them for resurrection. This book made me think about questions like what is love and what is life and why we die and why we fear it, without ever swerving away from being a show more cracking good science fiction story. Also you don’t usually encounter well-written lesbian characters in science fiction by men, but here you do. And it had the coolest cover! show less