House of Liars

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for proving me with this book to review.

Probably 2.5 stars. Unfortunately this just didn't end up being for me.

To start off with what I did enjoy, this was a very interesting set up and a very readable plot. I flew through this and was entertained basically the whole time. I didn't love the flashback chapters, but they were probably necessary for the overall plot to work. I think it was a bit of a mistake presenting this as a mystery. For most of this book, there is only barely a mystery. I think if the marketing of this and the summary had been different, I would have maybe enjoyed this more. Really this is a reflection on AI and motherhood, not a mystery.

That was part of what didn't work for me. show more This book is About AI and About motherhood. It's all text and no subtext anywhere. Everything is over-explained to the reader, which makes for a more boring, less fulfilling reading experience. In the flashback chapters, when our main character is working to build an AI model (which I found to also be very strange considering she was a writer with really no apparent tech expertise), she literally says stuff "... we were ignoring basic human questions like: Does this nourish us?" Does this nourish us???? This is so clunky and annoying to read. Let me decide how I feel about the themes your presenting.

The dialogue was generally unrealistic and clunky. There is one character in particular, Qelema, who basically talks like a collection of stereotypes and internet posts. She's a young Black woman and an immigrant who tells people to watch their privileged and says things like "I don't adhere to Western linearity." There is absolutely no depth to her character, despite some attempts to insert some. I could not tell if the author wanted me to make fun of this character or respect that she had principles because he actual dialogue is just so unrealistic.

The ending was interesting but did feel very disjointed from the rest of the book. It was like the first 75% was a litfic about writers reckoning with AI and the last 25% was a techno-thriller. The author needed to decide what lane she wanted to occupy and go from there. I think there is a lot of potential to this book, I think it just needed maybe a bit more developmental editing before publication to clarify who the characters were and how to connect the elements of the plot more cohesively. show less