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Love Minus Eighty
The words were gentle strokes, drawing her awake.
"Hello. Hello there."
She felt the light on her eyelids, and knew that if she opened her eyes they would sting, and she would have to shade them with her palm and let the light bleed through a crack.
"Feel like talking?" A man's soft voice.
And then her mind cleared enough to wonder: who was this man at her bedside?
She tried to sigh, but no breath came. Her eyes flew open in alarm.
In the future, love is complicated. Technology moves ever forward. To be disconnected from the maze of social networking is to be an outcast.
Even death doesn't have to be the end. An impossible love story is about to unfold between a hit-and-run victim and her killer.
"Hello. Hello there."
She felt the light on her eyelids, and knew that if she opened her eyes they would sting, and she would have to shade them with her palm and let the light bleed through a crack.
"Feel like talking?" A man's soft voice.
And then her mind cleared enough to wonder: who was this man at her bedside?
She tried to sigh, but no breath came. Her eyes flew open in alarm.
In the future, love is complicated. Technology moves ever forward. To be disconnected from the maze of social networking is to be an outcast.
Even death doesn't have to be the end. An impossible love story is about to unfold between a hit-and-run victim and her killer.
433 pages, Paperback
First published June 11, 2013
63 people are currently reading
6727 people want to read
About the author
Will McIntosh
79 books449 followersWill McIntosh is a Hugo Award-winning science fiction author, and a winner or finalist of many other awards. His alien invasion novel Defenders, is currently optioned for a feature film, while his Middle Grades novel The Classmate has been optioned for a TV series by Disney/ABC.
Along with ten novels that have been translated into nine different languages, Will has published over sixty short stories in magazines such as Asimov's Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, and Lightspeed.
Will was a psychology professor before turning to writing full time. He lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, and is the father of twins. You can follow him on Twitter @willmcintoshSF.
Along with ten novels that have been translated into nine different languages, Will has published over sixty short stories in magazines such as Asimov's Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, and Lightspeed.
Will was a psychology professor before turning to writing full time. He lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, and is the father of twins. You can follow him on Twitter @willmcintoshSF.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 442 reviews
September 12, 2017
Let me be the first to say what we're all thinking: what a terrible cover.
It's not even a terrible cover, it's a cover that is an absence of a cover. Every time I look away from this cover, I forget what I just saw. I actually picked up this novel not long after it came out on the recommendation of a bookseller, and somehow it managed to languish on my shelf for nearly three years. I blame the cover. Clearly I forgot it existed every time I turned away.
Don't be like me. When you buy this book, immediately cover it with a butcher paper cover, like we used to do to our textbooks in grade school. Draw something on the front. A sad face. A popsicle. A smartphone displaying an image of either a sad face or a popsicle. Something that will say firmly: I remember this book exists and so therefore it will not take me three years to read it.
Love Minus Eighty is sort of about both sad faces and popsicles. Based on McIntosh's Hugo-winning short story, "Bridesicle," it takes place in a future New York where hot ladies in tragic accidents get frozen in a facility until a wealthy benefactor decides to invest in the expensive thawing and fixing process. These wealthy benefactors (horny rich guys)(the future is bleak) spend thousands of dollars to revive the so called bridesicles for five-minute "dates" where they decide whether or not to spend the millions of dollars to revive a hot bride.
We follow a few different characters. Mira, the longest-frozen bridesicle, who wastes her "dates" pining for her lover, Jeannette, instead of wooing her would-be saviors. Veronika, a dating coach who wastes her days pining for her vain and witty co-worker Nathan and playing interactive romance novels. Rob, a young musician who makes the mistake of his life — hitting a young woman with his car — after being publicly dumped by his social-media celebrity girlfriend.
I didn't mean to read this book in its entirety last night, but there's a certain easy pleasure in falling into McIntosh's facile and subtle world-building, watching these characters' stories slowly wind together into one story, and uncovering the slow character arcs of fictional people you never thought you'd sympathize with. This is a pessimistic book — it takes our current love of social media to a logical conclusion — and it's a dark one — bridesicles and suicide — but it's also a tender one. All of the stories are love stories, really, and even though there are a lot of fake feelings on display in it, there's also a firm belief in the real stuff.
I'd recommend this one for folks who read M.T. Anderson's Feed back when it came out, or perhaps folks who cut their teeth on Beth Revis's Across the Universe, or people who really enjoyed Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies. It would even be a good book club pairing with those who watched Passengers and had Thoughts about ethics.
Just remember to never look directly into the cover. You'll go blind.
It's not even a terrible cover, it's a cover that is an absence of a cover. Every time I look away from this cover, I forget what I just saw. I actually picked up this novel not long after it came out on the recommendation of a bookseller, and somehow it managed to languish on my shelf for nearly three years. I blame the cover. Clearly I forgot it existed every time I turned away.
Don't be like me. When you buy this book, immediately cover it with a butcher paper cover, like we used to do to our textbooks in grade school. Draw something on the front. A sad face. A popsicle. A smartphone displaying an image of either a sad face or a popsicle. Something that will say firmly: I remember this book exists and so therefore it will not take me three years to read it.
Love Minus Eighty is sort of about both sad faces and popsicles. Based on McIntosh's Hugo-winning short story, "Bridesicle," it takes place in a future New York where hot ladies in tragic accidents get frozen in a facility until a wealthy benefactor decides to invest in the expensive thawing and fixing process. These wealthy benefactors (horny rich guys)(the future is bleak) spend thousands of dollars to revive the so called bridesicles for five-minute "dates" where they decide whether or not to spend the millions of dollars to revive a hot bride.
We follow a few different characters. Mira, the longest-frozen bridesicle, who wastes her "dates" pining for her lover, Jeannette, instead of wooing her would-be saviors. Veronika, a dating coach who wastes her days pining for her vain and witty co-worker Nathan and playing interactive romance novels. Rob, a young musician who makes the mistake of his life — hitting a young woman with his car — after being publicly dumped by his social-media celebrity girlfriend.
I didn't mean to read this book in its entirety last night, but there's a certain easy pleasure in falling into McIntosh's facile and subtle world-building, watching these characters' stories slowly wind together into one story, and uncovering the slow character arcs of fictional people you never thought you'd sympathize with. This is a pessimistic book — it takes our current love of social media to a logical conclusion — and it's a dark one — bridesicles and suicide — but it's also a tender one. All of the stories are love stories, really, and even though there are a lot of fake feelings on display in it, there's also a firm belief in the real stuff.
I'd recommend this one for folks who read M.T. Anderson's Feed back when it came out, or perhaps folks who cut their teeth on Beth Revis's Across the Universe, or people who really enjoyed Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies. It would even be a good book club pairing with those who watched Passengers and had Thoughts about ethics.
Just remember to never look directly into the cover. You'll go blind.
July 21, 2019
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 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. :)
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. :)
August 19, 2013
See more reviews at http://bibliosanctum.blogspot.com
I have a confession to make: I'm a sucker for love stories. But not just any kind of love story would do, oh no, because I like my romance the same way I like my Fantasy -- gritty, transcendent, in-your-face, plus it helps if it's just a bit bizarre! Love Minus Eighty is definitely all this and more, as if you couldn't already tell from its exquisite tagline, "A novel of love and death in no particular order".
Decades from now, dwindling resources have caused cities like New York City to practically fold in and build upon itself, creating a social stratification system that's even more segregated than what we know today. No doubt, the book paints a pretty bleak view of the future, but it's especially bad if you're one of the hundreds of dead women cryogenically frozen in dating farms, awaiting your lucky day when some rich man will like you enough to pay millions for your revivification before whisking you home to be his wife.
And seriously, to think some of my friends complain about internet dating! Online dating sites have got nothing on the nightmare that are these dating farms, which charge male suitors thousands of dollars by the minute to "date" the dead women, whose consciousnesses are "awakened" for the session before the plug is pulled again and they go back to their state of non-existing. Will McIntosh expanded upon this idea from his award-winning short story "Bridesicle" (because that's what society in this world called the frozen women. Horrible, right?) for this novel, which follows a group of characters whose lives are all interconnected because of these dating farms.
What a disturbing and yet fascinating basis for a story, and it's all set before a futuristic backdrop which seems so outlandish but feels familiar enough to make you feel uncomfortable at the same time. It's a world of digital information and social media on steroids, where attention seekers can be trailed by thousands of literal "followers", their floating user screens going wherever that individual goes. People wear systems on their bodies to connect them to the network, allowing them to call up and communicate with multiple contacts at the same time. The setting was so vividly described that at times I felt like I was watching a movie (oh why oh why can't this be a movie?!)
But in spite of all the new technology, some things always stay the same. For one thing, people will still look for love, that timeless, formless, unshakeable deep connection to another soul. This makes Love Minus Eighty a sci-fi novel that's definitely more about the human story and less about the science and technology. Questions like how the dead can be brought back to life, or how these dating farms even manage to revive dead women for short periods of time aren't the point. Instead, what's important is the emotional impact of the story, and subsequently, the ethical implications of keeping women on ice and in limbo, basically according human beings who have the potential to live again less rights than what you'd give a dog in an animal shelter.
I also have to say the focus on love and dating was a nice touch, not only as it's something practically everyone can relate to, but also because it makes the characters and their motivations feel that much more poignant. It's hard to really say whose perspective was my favorite -- Rob, Veronika, Mira, and even a couple of the supporting characters -- because they each had their own experiences which I found acutely heartbreaking and intense.
Of course, this book wasn't perfect by any means, and I for one had some issues with some of the dialogue as well as the pacing, especially with the way it led up to the ending. However, the mere fact that I'm usually so persnickety about these things but was still able to overlook them meant that ultimately for me, Love Minus Eighty was all about the story and its provocative ideas. Above all, I enjoy books that make me feel (and here's where that whole "I'm a sucker for love stories" comes in), and this one was at once a very thoughtful commentary on the ways of the heart and just twisted enough for me to eat it up.
I have a confession to make: I'm a sucker for love stories. But not just any kind of love story would do, oh no, because I like my romance the same way I like my Fantasy -- gritty, transcendent, in-your-face, plus it helps if it's just a bit bizarre! Love Minus Eighty is definitely all this and more, as if you couldn't already tell from its exquisite tagline, "A novel of love and death in no particular order".
Decades from now, dwindling resources have caused cities like New York City to practically fold in and build upon itself, creating a social stratification system that's even more segregated than what we know today. No doubt, the book paints a pretty bleak view of the future, but it's especially bad if you're one of the hundreds of dead women cryogenically frozen in dating farms, awaiting your lucky day when some rich man will like you enough to pay millions for your revivification before whisking you home to be his wife.
And seriously, to think some of my friends complain about internet dating! Online dating sites have got nothing on the nightmare that are these dating farms, which charge male suitors thousands of dollars by the minute to "date" the dead women, whose consciousnesses are "awakened" for the session before the plug is pulled again and they go back to their state of non-existing. Will McIntosh expanded upon this idea from his award-winning short story "Bridesicle" (because that's what society in this world called the frozen women. Horrible, right?) for this novel, which follows a group of characters whose lives are all interconnected because of these dating farms.
What a disturbing and yet fascinating basis for a story, and it's all set before a futuristic backdrop which seems so outlandish but feels familiar enough to make you feel uncomfortable at the same time. It's a world of digital information and social media on steroids, where attention seekers can be trailed by thousands of literal "followers", their floating user screens going wherever that individual goes. People wear systems on their bodies to connect them to the network, allowing them to call up and communicate with multiple contacts at the same time. The setting was so vividly described that at times I felt like I was watching a movie (oh why oh why can't this be a movie?!)
But in spite of all the new technology, some things always stay the same. For one thing, people will still look for love, that timeless, formless, unshakeable deep connection to another soul. This makes Love Minus Eighty a sci-fi novel that's definitely more about the human story and less about the science and technology. Questions like how the dead can be brought back to life, or how these dating farms even manage to revive dead women for short periods of time aren't the point. Instead, what's important is the emotional impact of the story, and subsequently, the ethical implications of keeping women on ice and in limbo, basically according human beings who have the potential to live again less rights than what you'd give a dog in an animal shelter.
I also have to say the focus on love and dating was a nice touch, not only as it's something practically everyone can relate to, but also because it makes the characters and their motivations feel that much more poignant. It's hard to really say whose perspective was my favorite -- Rob, Veronika, Mira, and even a couple of the supporting characters -- because they each had their own experiences which I found acutely heartbreaking and intense.
Of course, this book wasn't perfect by any means, and I for one had some issues with some of the dialogue as well as the pacing, especially with the way it led up to the ending. However, the mere fact that I'm usually so persnickety about these things but was still able to overlook them meant that ultimately for me, Love Minus Eighty was all about the story and its provocative ideas. Above all, I enjoy books that make me feel (and here's where that whole "I'm a sucker for love stories" comes in), and this one was at once a very thoughtful commentary on the ways of the heart and just twisted enough for me to eat it up.
August 1, 2017
Extrapolating social and societal trends a century forward provides a fascinating background for this interpersonal drama and romance.
In 2133 death can be cured and cryonic storage is common. As an adjunct business the local cryonic center Cryomed run a dating service for so-called bridesicles, young women with a high attractiveness index, who get selected for a second chance at life. Very rich men can have "dates" with women in cryonic storage and they can choose to pay to have them re-animated and locked into a contract marriage that the woman can't opt out of. For the dates only the woman's face comes to life and they're not sleeping between visits; they're dead.
Yep, that's about as horrible as it sounds.
The story introduces us to a wide range of characters from all over the society in this heavily stratified world. Firstly we get the point of view of Mira, the oldest stored bridesicle who gets a pretty horrific introduction to the program. Then we get Rob, a poor young musician who has been dating a wannabe social media celebrity named Lorelei. When they break up Rob makes a horrible mistake that causes the death of a woman, Winter. Winter is young and attractive so ends up as a bridesicle. Racked with guilt Rob goes to visit her and ends up doing so regularly. Also we have Nathan who is Winter's ex and his business partner Veronika who together have a dating consultancy business. Finally there is Lycan, a brilliant but depressed scientist who Veronika encounters as he commits suicide. They spark up a friendship after Lycan's company revives him.
The story has a complex web of relationships and commitments between all of these characters which provides a compelling drama with some beautiful and desperate relationship moments, but also poke at many of the things that are coming to underlay our current society. At the heart of the book is an exploration of William Gibson's classic theme of "The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed" and how that's likely to play out in a world of increasing social and financial inequality. People in this world can live very long lives and recover from untimely death ... but only if they're very, very rich.
This story is a few years old now, but these themes around health care and who pays and how much it costs are incredibly relevant at the time I was reading. Unfortunately, so are the themes of inhumanity and cruelty towards those who can't afford it.
Also on show here is the ultimate version of social media where nearly everyone of the middle and upper classes wear "systems", essentially wearable immersible realities allowing them to be hyper-connected and hyper-watchable. Lorelei is a fascinating character as she lives her life in public and wanting ever more viewers and attention. At one point she criticizes another character's desire for privacy with “What is it with you people and secrecy? If you lived your lives in the open, you’d all sleep easier at night.” Equating privacy and secrecy is a emotional step that not to many in our current world are willing to take, but it's something you can increasingly see in people who grow up with social media.
And all of that just glosses over what the book has to say about relationships and love, which is not by any means the least element of the book.
This is an incredibly important and relevant book that I heartily recommend to everyone who is following these trends in our societies. Just brilliant.
In 2133 death can be cured and cryonic storage is common. As an adjunct business the local cryonic center Cryomed run a dating service for so-called bridesicles, young women with a high attractiveness index, who get selected for a second chance at life. Very rich men can have "dates" with women in cryonic storage and they can choose to pay to have them re-animated and locked into a contract marriage that the woman can't opt out of. For the dates only the woman's face comes to life and they're not sleeping between visits; they're dead.
Yep, that's about as horrible as it sounds.
The story introduces us to a wide range of characters from all over the society in this heavily stratified world. Firstly we get the point of view of Mira, the oldest stored bridesicle who gets a pretty horrific introduction to the program. Then we get Rob, a poor young musician who has been dating a wannabe social media celebrity named Lorelei. When they break up Rob makes a horrible mistake that causes the death of a woman, Winter. Winter is young and attractive so ends up as a bridesicle. Racked with guilt Rob goes to visit her and ends up doing so regularly. Also we have Nathan who is Winter's ex and his business partner Veronika who together have a dating consultancy business. Finally there is Lycan, a brilliant but depressed scientist who Veronika encounters as he commits suicide. They spark up a friendship after Lycan's company revives him.
The story has a complex web of relationships and commitments between all of these characters which provides a compelling drama with some beautiful and desperate relationship moments, but also poke at many of the things that are coming to underlay our current society. At the heart of the book is an exploration of William Gibson's classic theme of "The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed" and how that's likely to play out in a world of increasing social and financial inequality. People in this world can live very long lives and recover from untimely death ... but only if they're very, very rich.
This story is a few years old now, but these themes around health care and who pays and how much it costs are incredibly relevant at the time I was reading. Unfortunately, so are the themes of inhumanity and cruelty towards those who can't afford it.
Also on show here is the ultimate version of social media where nearly everyone of the middle and upper classes wear "systems", essentially wearable immersible realities allowing them to be hyper-connected and hyper-watchable. Lorelei is a fascinating character as she lives her life in public and wanting ever more viewers and attention. At one point she criticizes another character's desire for privacy with “What is it with you people and secrecy? If you lived your lives in the open, you’d all sleep easier at night.” Equating privacy and secrecy is a emotional step that not to many in our current world are willing to take, but it's something you can increasingly see in people who grow up with social media.
And all of that just glosses over what the book has to say about relationships and love, which is not by any means the least element of the book.
This is an incredibly important and relevant book that I heartily recommend to everyone who is following these trends in our societies. Just brilliant.
April 23, 2013
I was fortunate to read an “ARC uncorrected proof not for sale” 402 pages, sent to me by friend Melody, who got it for free at the ALA conference. This book is due out on June 11th, 2013, which is more than 7 weeks away, so if anyone would like a chance to also read this in advance, please email me or pm me, and I’ll be happy to pass it on to you. (This is only the tenth time I’ve had an opportunity to read a book in advance of its official publication date; I think it’s really fun to read a book early.)
The premise here is fascinating. The world building is superb. I got very invested in many of the characters and their stories.
I particularly appreciated how differences in poverty and wealth affected access to all the new technology, a variety of technologies, ranging from extremely nifty to unbelievably creepy, but all plausible, and all germane as it relates to the world today.
For an uncorrected proof arc, it seemed surprisingly well done. The cover wasn’t all that appealing, but I was impressed with the lack of errors such as typos.
While there were definitely some plot holes and some too neat wrapping up, I was so engrossed I bought it all anyway. And I enjoyed how the fate of two people was left a bit up to readers’ imaginations. The story feels finished to me, but I can definitely envision sequels/a series. I wouldn’t mind finding out what happens to these characters. Overall, I’m pleased with how things worked out.
I can recommend this book to fans of speculative fiction, especially those readers who enjoy character driven books and stories about the not too distant future on earth, and those who enjoy reading books that take place in NYC, even if the NYC in the book differs significantly from that city’s present and past.
The premise here is fascinating. The world building is superb. I got very invested in many of the characters and their stories.
I particularly appreciated how differences in poverty and wealth affected access to all the new technology, a variety of technologies, ranging from extremely nifty to unbelievably creepy, but all plausible, and all germane as it relates to the world today.
For an uncorrected proof arc, it seemed surprisingly well done. The cover wasn’t all that appealing, but I was impressed with the lack of errors such as typos.
While there were definitely some plot holes and some too neat wrapping up, I was so engrossed I bought it all anyway. And I enjoyed how the fate of two people was left a bit up to readers’ imaginations. The story feels finished to me, but I can definitely envision sequels/a series. I wouldn’t mind finding out what happens to these characters. Overall, I’m pleased with how things worked out.
I can recommend this book to fans of speculative fiction, especially those readers who enjoy character driven books and stories about the not too distant future on earth, and those who enjoy reading books that take place in NYC, even if the NYC in the book differs significantly from that city’s present and past.
December 31, 2013
As a satire on the future of our ‘connected’ society, Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh seems extraordinarily prescient and quite diabolical. Wearable computers not only clothe people, but provide an instantaneous and fully-immersive link to a digital realm mediated by one’s peers. This is democracy subverted by the vox populi, where everything from popularity to attractiveness are reduced to percentages.
An interesting side-effect of this technology, the first ominous stirrings of which we are seeing with the so-called Google Glasses, is that social inequality and mundane reality can be replaced by an indistinguishable virtual utopia. Who cares if your local council is not maintaining the city infrastructure, when all it needs is a virtual overlay, the hi-tech equivalent of a lick of paint, in order to appear as good as new.
Where Love Minus Eighty falls short though is in the soft-focus love story that dominates the narrative, as our eponymous hero embarks on a valiant quest to free his ‘bridsicle’, the very woman he nearly killed in a motor car accident and who was put on ice as a result. He inexorably falls in love with her, and is determined that she be resurrected to enjoy the rest of her mortal life ... but he faces formidable challenges from penury to being ostracised.
This mawkish sub-plot – sandwiched in-between a totally unnecessary framing story of another ‘bridsicle’, a gay woman who finds herself having to bat her eyelashes at various elderly and vulgar men – sits uncomfortably with McIntosh’s satire. The ending, in particular, seems like it was imported wholesale from some Mills & Boon romance. This is a real pity, as the novel would have been far more powerful if the ending was more realistically downbeat.
An interesting side-effect of this technology, the first ominous stirrings of which we are seeing with the so-called Google Glasses, is that social inequality and mundane reality can be replaced by an indistinguishable virtual utopia. Who cares if your local council is not maintaining the city infrastructure, when all it needs is a virtual overlay, the hi-tech equivalent of a lick of paint, in order to appear as good as new.
Where Love Minus Eighty falls short though is in the soft-focus love story that dominates the narrative, as our eponymous hero embarks on a valiant quest to free his ‘bridsicle’, the very woman he nearly killed in a motor car accident and who was put on ice as a result. He inexorably falls in love with her, and is determined that she be resurrected to enjoy the rest of her mortal life ... but he faces formidable challenges from penury to being ostracised.
This mawkish sub-plot – sandwiched in-between a totally unnecessary framing story of another ‘bridsicle’, a gay woman who finds herself having to bat her eyelashes at various elderly and vulgar men – sits uncomfortably with McIntosh’s satire. The ending, in particular, seems like it was imported wholesale from some Mills & Boon romance. This is a real pity, as the novel would have been far more powerful if the ending was more realistically downbeat.
May 5, 2023
Love Minus Eighty is one of my absolute favorite books I’ve read so far this year. It’s deep, emotional, passionate, balanced and incredibly absorbing. While it’s not full of wham-bam action, it’s a study of human nature, a discourse on technology (does it empower us, or take power away from us?), the nature of privacy (does it even exist?), and how one person’s actions have the power to affect an entire world. It’s thought provoking, layered, and shockingly well developed. Honestly, I can’t say enough good about this book. Love Minus Eighty is everything I want a book to be, all packed into 432 incredibly well written pages.
Read my full review here:
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2013/08/...
Read my full review here:
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2013/08/...
May 22, 2015
The first time Rob meets Winter, he kills her.
The second time he meets her, he apologises.
The third time he meets her he begins to fall in love.
Having just been very publically dumped by his girlfriends over this future worlds social media platform, he s driving home when he hits Winter in his car. She is killed instantly, but by using the latest in cryogenic technologies, her body is repaired and held at 80 degrees below. She has become a bridesicle, a woman who is stored in a cryogenic freezer and is only allowed to waken for five minute speed dates by very rich men who have the power and the money to bring them back to life. As Rob starts to learn more about her, he is spending vast sums of cash in those five minute sessions with her. With the support of his friends, he learns that there are women there that have been held for years until the company decides that they are of no benefit as they are not providing an income. Rob’s friends, Nathan, Veronika and Lycan start to support him in his desire to have Winter revived, and to free these women held at eighty below.
Found this book to be well worth reading. It had a very original concept, and the futuristic society that he has created is utterly plausible. It has a solid plot too, not so much in the way of twists and turns, but with real depth and a chilling premise of how a corporation can hold fragile humans in its grasp. Great stuff.
The second time he meets her, he apologises.
The third time he meets her he begins to fall in love.
Having just been very publically dumped by his girlfriends over this future worlds social media platform, he s driving home when he hits Winter in his car. She is killed instantly, but by using the latest in cryogenic technologies, her body is repaired and held at 80 degrees below. She has become a bridesicle, a woman who is stored in a cryogenic freezer and is only allowed to waken for five minute speed dates by very rich men who have the power and the money to bring them back to life. As Rob starts to learn more about her, he is spending vast sums of cash in those five minute sessions with her. With the support of his friends, he learns that there are women there that have been held for years until the company decides that they are of no benefit as they are not providing an income. Rob’s friends, Nathan, Veronika and Lycan start to support him in his desire to have Winter revived, and to free these women held at eighty below.
Found this book to be well worth reading. It had a very original concept, and the futuristic society that he has created is utterly plausible. It has a solid plot too, not so much in the way of twists and turns, but with real depth and a chilling premise of how a corporation can hold fragile humans in its grasp. Great stuff.
August 10, 2017
This book!! This author! The first thing I did when I finished this was add Will McIntosh to my favourite author list and then I bought another of his novels straight away.
This is the second book that I've read recently (The Circle was the first) dealing with the dystopia caused by technology, and more creepy because it's just round the corner...where people concede their privacy in order to be part of the new connection, where drones service the citizens, where the virtual is more important than the real and where life and love can be sold to the highest bidders...
Recommended.
This is the second book that I've read recently (The Circle was the first) dealing with the dystopia caused by technology, and more creepy because it's just round the corner...where people concede their privacy in order to be part of the new connection, where drones service the citizens, where the virtual is more important than the real and where life and love can be sold to the highest bidders...
Recommended.
November 14, 2017
3.5 stars - It was really good.
The first time Rob meets Winter, he kills her.
The second time he meets her, he apologises.
The third time he meets her, he begins to fall in love.
I love that brief hook my goodreads friend, Paul, included in his review which is why I stole it and placed it here in mine as well. :)
While this novel was not without its flaws (too heavy on the romances for my personal tastes and too neat and tidy of an ending for everyone), the world building was incredibly imaginative and intriguing. A book club could spend a lovely evening debating the myriad of ethical issues presented in what was a rather thought provoking novel.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: The guaranteed cure for heartbreak: find pain that’s much, much worse.
First Sentence: The words were gentle strokes, drawing her awake.
The first time Rob meets Winter, he kills her.
The second time he meets her, he apologises.
The third time he meets her, he begins to fall in love.
I love that brief hook my goodreads friend, Paul, included in his review which is why I stole it and placed it here in mine as well. :)
While this novel was not without its flaws (too heavy on the romances for my personal tastes and too neat and tidy of an ending for everyone), the world building was incredibly imaginative and intriguing. A book club could spend a lovely evening debating the myriad of ethical issues presented in what was a rather thought provoking novel.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: The guaranteed cure for heartbreak: find pain that’s much, much worse.
First Sentence: The words were gentle strokes, drawing her awake.
December 23, 2021
Another mobile phone review...
I received Love Minus Eighty as a proof and the blurb had me hooked in an instant. What a chilling concept; dark and gritty dystopia - this book sounded right up my street!
What followed led me into a fascinating future world, which unfolded with new discoveries as the story went on. I enjoyed this, it was a clever way of keeping me turning pages. A new piece of technology was revealed every few pages or so, even towards the finale. Some real imagination has gone in to setting the scene here, it was the novel's real strength.
However, I personally feel that Love Minus Eighty lacks believable characters with realistic depth to them. I couldn't connect to any of the protagonists myself as I found them to be one dimensional and a bit forced. The dialogue is off, and doesn't feel real to me. Their emotions come across as flat and we are 'told' about themselves rather than 'shown'.
The characters that I felt were well imagined were Lorelei and Nathan, and I'm wondering if this is because we don't see things from their view point at any time; we see them through the eyes of a separate narrator(s). I think McIntosh's style is best suited to 3rd person in this respect as his writing was at its best when his characters were explaining the world and the people around them.
I feel that this book would be epic if there was more depth to the narrating protagonists, if the writing style was a little sharper, and if the Bridesicle idea had been explored even further.
As it stands, this is a decent read set in a vivid future world, that fans of dystopian fiction will probably really enjoy; particularly late teens and young adults. Once I picked the book up I could not put it down!
It ends as if there is a lot more left to tell, and I think that a sequel to Love Minus Eighty would go down really well.
If you prefer your tales plot-driven rather than character-driven then even better!
Recommended to fans of Lauren DeStefano.
I received Love Minus Eighty as a proof and the blurb had me hooked in an instant. What a chilling concept; dark and gritty dystopia - this book sounded right up my street!
What followed led me into a fascinating future world, which unfolded with new discoveries as the story went on. I enjoyed this, it was a clever way of keeping me turning pages. A new piece of technology was revealed every few pages or so, even towards the finale. Some real imagination has gone in to setting the scene here, it was the novel's real strength.
However, I personally feel that Love Minus Eighty lacks believable characters with realistic depth to them. I couldn't connect to any of the protagonists myself as I found them to be one dimensional and a bit forced. The dialogue is off, and doesn't feel real to me. Their emotions come across as flat and we are 'told' about themselves rather than 'shown'.
The characters that I felt were well imagined were Lorelei and Nathan, and I'm wondering if this is because we don't see things from their view point at any time; we see them through the eyes of a separate narrator(s). I think McIntosh's style is best suited to 3rd person in this respect as his writing was at its best when his characters were explaining the world and the people around them.
I feel that this book would be epic if there was more depth to the narrating protagonists, if the writing style was a little sharper, and if the Bridesicle idea had been explored even further.
As it stands, this is a decent read set in a vivid future world, that fans of dystopian fiction will probably really enjoy; particularly late teens and young adults. Once I picked the book up I could not put it down!
It ends as if there is a lot more left to tell, and I think that a sequel to Love Minus Eighty would go down really well.
If you prefer your tales plot-driven rather than character-driven then even better!
Recommended to fans of Lauren DeStefano.
July 18, 2014
Reviewed at Adventures in SciFi Publishing
Podcast with Will McIntosh on Love Minus Eighty andDefenders
Based off the Hugo Award Winning Best Short Story, “Bridesicle,” Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh has been on my expect-to-be-wowed list for the last year. I let a friend borrow my copy and his quick review was, good, but definitely a love story. I would say, great and it’s a love story. I am not a Romance reader, but I do enjoy seeing people fall in love. Love Minus Eighty adds enough ingenious and terrifying future technologies to trick those who don’t pursue books about love to realize that they can enjoy a story that centers on unsuspecting people falling in love.
The setting for Love Minus Eighty is a future where young women who have died are kept alive in cryogenic tubes, only to be woken up by potential suitors. Five minutes of chatting costs these suitors around $9,000. Bringing back these bridesicles costs millions. So, what we get is a disturbing kind of prostitution where women have to talk kinky and sign off on a life of sexual slavery in order to escape a possibly more horrific situation in their cryogenic stasis.
Can you imagine what it would feel like to wake up for five minutes knowing it could be your last five minutes, that when you go back to sleep it could be weeks or months before another suitor wakes you? Can you imagine what it might make you do to keep that suitor interested?
McIntosh surprised me with how chilling and heart-wrenching his scenes were concerning these women and the ones who fall for them.
McIntosh adds an interesting social society to this story, where people follow celebrities via screens that can pop up and float around anywhere not blocked by a person’s IP (in-person) privacy settings. So, one of our main characters, Rob, is introduced while his girlfriend Veronika breaks up with him in an embarrassing way in front of hundreds of her fans (who watch via their pop-up screens). Soon after, Rob suffers a financial setback that requires he give up his dream of playing his lute full-time to work at a factory where he pulls out computer chips from old machines. Yet another character McIntosh created a powerful empathy toward. I’m still affected by this sacrifice.
AISFP Podcast recently had Will McIntosh on to discuss Love Minus Eighty. Guest co-host, Sarah Chorn of Bookworm Blues discussed how this book is categorized as Social Science Fiction, a sub-genre term coined by Ursula K. Le Guin. One of the more personal elements of Love Minus Eighty’s Social SF was it’s analysis of what someone must give up for love.
I’m going to pause here for a section of spoilers. If you still aren’t sure if you should pick this up, please just do it. Every reader who enjoys future technology and understands longing for peace and companionship will find a most memorable experience in Love Minus Eighty. Do yourself a favor, read it, be moved and then join the conversation.
Okay, now to spoilers. *cracks knuckles* This is gonna be fun.
Lots of thoughts and emotions stirred up from this book. I put this review down for a couple weeks to reflect on and act on being more sacrificial for my wife and child, so it’s already affected my life in tangible ways.
Podcast with Will McIntosh on Love Minus Eighty andDefenders
Based off the Hugo Award Winning Best Short Story, “Bridesicle,” Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh has been on my expect-to-be-wowed list for the last year. I let a friend borrow my copy and his quick review was, good, but definitely a love story. I would say, great and it’s a love story. I am not a Romance reader, but I do enjoy seeing people fall in love. Love Minus Eighty adds enough ingenious and terrifying future technologies to trick those who don’t pursue books about love to realize that they can enjoy a story that centers on unsuspecting people falling in love.
The setting for Love Minus Eighty is a future where young women who have died are kept alive in cryogenic tubes, only to be woken up by potential suitors. Five minutes of chatting costs these suitors around $9,000. Bringing back these bridesicles costs millions. So, what we get is a disturbing kind of prostitution where women have to talk kinky and sign off on a life of sexual slavery in order to escape a possibly more horrific situation in their cryogenic stasis.
Can you imagine what it would feel like to wake up for five minutes knowing it could be your last five minutes, that when you go back to sleep it could be weeks or months before another suitor wakes you? Can you imagine what it might make you do to keep that suitor interested?
McIntosh surprised me with how chilling and heart-wrenching his scenes were concerning these women and the ones who fall for them.
McIntosh adds an interesting social society to this story, where people follow celebrities via screens that can pop up and float around anywhere not blocked by a person’s IP (in-person) privacy settings. So, one of our main characters, Rob, is introduced while his girlfriend Veronika breaks up with him in an embarrassing way in front of hundreds of her fans (who watch via their pop-up screens). Soon after, Rob suffers a financial setback that requires he give up his dream of playing his lute full-time to work at a factory where he pulls out computer chips from old machines. Yet another character McIntosh created a powerful empathy toward. I’m still affected by this sacrifice.
AISFP Podcast recently had Will McIntosh on to discuss Love Minus Eighty. Guest co-host, Sarah Chorn of Bookworm Blues discussed how this book is categorized as Social Science Fiction, a sub-genre term coined by Ursula K. Le Guin. One of the more personal elements of Love Minus Eighty’s Social SF was it’s analysis of what someone must give up for love.
I’m going to pause here for a section of spoilers. If you still aren’t sure if you should pick this up, please just do it. Every reader who enjoys future technology and understands longing for peace and companionship will find a most memorable experience in Love Minus Eighty. Do yourself a favor, read it, be moved and then join the conversation.
Okay, now to spoilers. *cracks knuckles* This is gonna be fun.
Lots of thoughts and emotions stirred up from this book. I put this review down for a couple weeks to reflect on and act on being more sacrificial for my wife and child, so it’s already affected my life in tangible ways.
November 26, 2013
One of the best things about being connected to the reviewing community is hearing about novels that I wouldn’t otherwise have picked up on my own. Will McIntosh’s Love Minus Eighty is one of those finds I wouldn’t have made if not for social media. After seeing review after glowing review in my Twitter feed, I picked it up and set it on the top of Mount To Be Read, where it was promptly buried. It took a few months before I had time to pick it up, but I managed to devour it over the weekend, despite being fairly busy with other social obligations. I don’t normally read a lot on the weekends due to a fairly busy schedule when I’m not working, but McIntosh’s tale of love and technology just wouldn’t let go of me, so I finished it in record time. I’m happy to report that despite having a strong romantic element to its story line that Love Minus Eighty is one of the best novels I’ve read this year.
Love Minus Eighty centers around a single incident. Rob has just broken up with his attention seeking girlfriend Lorelei, who lives her life completely exposed to hundreds of virtual onlookers who follow her daily life by watching remotely via ‘screens’ that literally float in the back ground, when the trajectory of his life takes a turn for the worse.
Distracted by technology that allows him to watch Lorelei jettison his personal belongings out the window of her Hightown apartment, Rob runs over a jogger, a woman named Winter killing her instantly. Rob’s life spirals into a depression, despite being cleared of any criminal charges in the accident. He soon learns that Winter is now a bridecicle, a version of mail-order brides made up of attractive young women who lack the level of revivification insurance needed to facilitate a full revival. Rich men come to the ‘dating centers’ seeking a woman to marry, these women who can only speak try to convince these suitors to foot the exorbitant prices to bring them back to life in exchange for signing an irrevocable marriage contract that makes them little more than property. Determined to make amends, Rob applies himself to raising the money needed to visit Winter at the dating center, disconnecting himself from all but the most basic of technology in the process and finds himself connected by circumstance to Winter’s ex-boyfriend Nathan who feels mildly complicit in her fate, and his friend Veronika who both set out to help Rob gather the funds necessary to visit Winter. Driven by his guilt and a growing attraction to the woman he killed, Rob spends every dollar he can spare to visit Winter and to find a way to keep her from being recycled when her ‘dates’ fail to secure her a marriage.
McIntosh’s world building focuses on turning up the volume on certain elements of our own society. Real world issues such as the growing divide between economic classes, the growing dependence on technology, the exploitation of women and more permeate McIntosh’s tale. But rather than focus his story on the weighty issues it contains, readers are drawn into to the personal journeys of the point of view characters. Though the narrative focuses primarily on Rob’s journey to save Winter, and Veronika’s difficulties finding a stable relationship while pining after the obviously disinterested Nathan, McIntosh wisely adds a third point of view that provides the novel’s most introspective moments. These sections focus on Mia, a lesbian who finds herself mistakenly in the bridecicle program. Though short and infrequent these chapters focus almost entirely on Mia’s feelings of isolation, fear, and terror and drive home the inhumanity of her plight. While some readers may wonder why McIntosh gives Mia so little page time, I understood that brevity on the issues allows readers to reflect on the issues and draw their own conclusions, without the author needing to make the characters mouthpieces for his own views. It makes for a lighter and perhaps more enjoyable tale, at least in my own opinion.
With little to no action of the typical variety found in genre fiction, Love Minus Eighty lives and dies by the strength of the characterization, and McIntosh delivers in spades. Both Rob and Veronika exude so much normalcy in their reactions to the wild circumstances of their love lives that readers will almost instantly find themselves nodding along with their decisions and feeling their triumphs and tragedies as strongly as if they were their own. I can’t remember reading a novel where I found myself so frequently heart stabbed by the trials of the characters. If you like your science fiction rich with big ideas and reflections on our own society or are just a fan of strong character driven story telling, Love Minus Eighty is a must read.
Love Minus Eighty centers around a single incident. Rob has just broken up with his attention seeking girlfriend Lorelei, who lives her life completely exposed to hundreds of virtual onlookers who follow her daily life by watching remotely via ‘screens’ that literally float in the back ground, when the trajectory of his life takes a turn for the worse.
Distracted by technology that allows him to watch Lorelei jettison his personal belongings out the window of her Hightown apartment, Rob runs over a jogger, a woman named Winter killing her instantly. Rob’s life spirals into a depression, despite being cleared of any criminal charges in the accident. He soon learns that Winter is now a bridecicle, a version of mail-order brides made up of attractive young women who lack the level of revivification insurance needed to facilitate a full revival. Rich men come to the ‘dating centers’ seeking a woman to marry, these women who can only speak try to convince these suitors to foot the exorbitant prices to bring them back to life in exchange for signing an irrevocable marriage contract that makes them little more than property. Determined to make amends, Rob applies himself to raising the money needed to visit Winter at the dating center, disconnecting himself from all but the most basic of technology in the process and finds himself connected by circumstance to Winter’s ex-boyfriend Nathan who feels mildly complicit in her fate, and his friend Veronika who both set out to help Rob gather the funds necessary to visit Winter. Driven by his guilt and a growing attraction to the woman he killed, Rob spends every dollar he can spare to visit Winter and to find a way to keep her from being recycled when her ‘dates’ fail to secure her a marriage.
McIntosh’s world building focuses on turning up the volume on certain elements of our own society. Real world issues such as the growing divide between economic classes, the growing dependence on technology, the exploitation of women and more permeate McIntosh’s tale. But rather than focus his story on the weighty issues it contains, readers are drawn into to the personal journeys of the point of view characters. Though the narrative focuses primarily on Rob’s journey to save Winter, and Veronika’s difficulties finding a stable relationship while pining after the obviously disinterested Nathan, McIntosh wisely adds a third point of view that provides the novel’s most introspective moments. These sections focus on Mia, a lesbian who finds herself mistakenly in the bridecicle program. Though short and infrequent these chapters focus almost entirely on Mia’s feelings of isolation, fear, and terror and drive home the inhumanity of her plight. While some readers may wonder why McIntosh gives Mia so little page time, I understood that brevity on the issues allows readers to reflect on the issues and draw their own conclusions, without the author needing to make the characters mouthpieces for his own views. It makes for a lighter and perhaps more enjoyable tale, at least in my own opinion.
With little to no action of the typical variety found in genre fiction, Love Minus Eighty lives and dies by the strength of the characterization, and McIntosh delivers in spades. Both Rob and Veronika exude so much normalcy in their reactions to the wild circumstances of their love lives that readers will almost instantly find themselves nodding along with their decisions and feeling their triumphs and tragedies as strongly as if they were their own. I can’t remember reading a novel where I found myself so frequently heart stabbed by the trials of the characters. If you like your science fiction rich with big ideas and reflections on our own society or are just a fan of strong character driven story telling, Love Minus Eighty is a must read.
October 8, 2017
The guaranteed cure for heartbreak: find pain that’s much, much worse.
Sci-fi + romance = my precious
Above all this was a very good love story. The futuristic setting, all of the screens following reality tv actors around, super foods, and bringing people back from the dead are part of the future. Human beings looking for love and IP (in person) connections is what makes this story so great! I loved the science fiction element, the story felt so distant, so far away. It was in a future I can’t even imagine. But the love and friendship made it so easy to connect. I loved every minute of it.
This is a must read for all my science fiction/romance readers out there that like a little bit of drama and strong friendships.
Sci-fi + romance = my precious
Above all this was a very good love story. The futuristic setting, all of the screens following reality tv actors around, super foods, and bringing people back from the dead are part of the future. Human beings looking for love and IP (in person) connections is what makes this story so great! I loved the science fiction element, the story felt so distant, so far away. It was in a future I can’t even imagine. But the love and friendship made it so easy to connect. I loved every minute of it.
This is a must read for all my science fiction/romance readers out there that like a little bit of drama and strong friendships.
December 31, 2013
I was not expecting to read this all in one day - the fastest I've read a book since I was a kid. Incredible! I loved the characters, the plot line...the romance wasn't cheesy, it was heartfelt and just....oh. Lovely. Very clever, too, and so much grief! Damn, was it a bleak tale for most of it.
The only problem is...I'm pretty sure my Kindle has the wrong last line. The last line...just doesn't seem to make sense? I'm beyond upset about this! I guess I'll have to hope my local bookstore has this in stock so I can check!
The only problem is...I'm pretty sure my Kindle has the wrong last line. The last line...just doesn't seem to make sense? I'm beyond upset about this! I guess I'll have to hope my local bookstore has this in stock so I can check!
June 9, 2013
This is an original love story set a hundred years in the future, in a world where the dead can be revived, but only the extremely rich can afford the procedure. This is a world where you can pay insurance to be stored on ice at minus eighty, in the hope someone will bring you back. It’s a world where technology is king, where people prefer to interact with each other through floating screens and you can choose to live your life on full public view. It’s also a world where dead beautiful woman are put on ice in dating centres in the hope that billionaires will revive these ‘Bridesicles’, although the dating procedure is extremely cruel. Usually they only have five minutes with prospective grooms for each date in the centre – with only their faces activated – before being turned off again.
Mira has been on ice in the dating centre for more than 80 years, and the reader feels her despair each time she is woken by another perverted old man. She misses her partner, but yearns to be ‘revived’ rather than the nothingness of being on ice. But then she is visited by Lycan, a young man who seems genuinely kind, and he may be her opportunity for living again...
Meanwhile a tragic accident puts another young woman, Winter, in the dating centre. She was out jogging when she was hit by a car. Rob, the person who killed her, is filled with remorse. His girlfriend Lorelei had just broken up with him in front of hundreds of people on screen and he hadn’t been concentrating when he was driving. He vows to make things right and gives up his dream of being a musician to do manual work so he can earn the $9,000 required for a five minute session. He wants to apologise to her – and after that, he promises to come back. Meanwhile Vernika works as a dating coach, but secretly has a crush on another dating coach, Nathan. All of these lives – the dead and the living – are soon to collide in surprising and thought-provoking ways, against a backdrop of protest about the ‘Bridescicle’ programme.
This is a riveting read. At first glance it’s a light book, but the further you delve into this world, the more interesting the themes that relate to our own time that question love, technology and mortality. Highly recommended for an innovative plot, a scarily imaginable world and wonderful characters.
Mira has been on ice in the dating centre for more than 80 years, and the reader feels her despair each time she is woken by another perverted old man. She misses her partner, but yearns to be ‘revived’ rather than the nothingness of being on ice. But then she is visited by Lycan, a young man who seems genuinely kind, and he may be her opportunity for living again...
Meanwhile a tragic accident puts another young woman, Winter, in the dating centre. She was out jogging when she was hit by a car. Rob, the person who killed her, is filled with remorse. His girlfriend Lorelei had just broken up with him in front of hundreds of people on screen and he hadn’t been concentrating when he was driving. He vows to make things right and gives up his dream of being a musician to do manual work so he can earn the $9,000 required for a five minute session. He wants to apologise to her – and after that, he promises to come back. Meanwhile Vernika works as a dating coach, but secretly has a crush on another dating coach, Nathan. All of these lives – the dead and the living – are soon to collide in surprising and thought-provoking ways, against a backdrop of protest about the ‘Bridescicle’ programme.
This is a riveting read. At first glance it’s a light book, but the further you delve into this world, the more interesting the themes that relate to our own time that question love, technology and mortality. Highly recommended for an innovative plot, a scarily imaginable world and wonderful characters.
July 23, 2014
I picked up this book purely by chance, and while I don't think it is without fault, it doesn't quite fit four stars. Let's call it 4.5.
I had heard nothing about this book before reading it, and sometimes it's just nice to read a book without a lot of hype behind it. Though I do think this book deserves more hype than it has currently. I don't know, maybe I'm just out of the loop.
There were a couple of things that bothered me throughout the book, such as the author's overuse of the phrase "looked to be" (a phrase that bothers me at the best of times), and in one instance used it twice within as many sentences. Luckily, by that stage, I was 182 pages in, and committed to finding out what was going to happen. I had already seen use of it about three times in the 180 pages before that.
The technology of the world takes a while to work out, as a person not living in 2133 - someone not used to this technology, but I think the author handled it in the best way possible. I'd rather be thrown into the deep end and have to work it out than be spoon fed the history, any day.
I loved the characters. At the start of the book, I just wanted to read more of Mira's chapters, which were so few and far between, but over time I grew to love Rob, Veronika, and the other people who play major parts in their lives.
No one character was the main focus of this novel, but each had their parts to play. The author didn't go out of his way to manufacture a happy existence for all of the characters, but managed to leave the reader satisfied that the events had run their course. This book reminded me so much of the real world, of a weird, messy, love dodecahedron, with things not always matching up how they do in fiction.
I also loved the allusion the author made to one of his other titles, "Soft Apocalypse", which I have not yet read, but plan on doing so in the near future.
Will McIntosh doesn't write a book that leaves you feeling all warm and gooey inside, but challenges you to think about how you would cope in these situations. He explores the idea from different points of view, which all manage to connect in some way, giving us a well rounded, compelling picture.
I had heard nothing about this book before reading it, and sometimes it's just nice to read a book without a lot of hype behind it. Though I do think this book deserves more hype than it has currently. I don't know, maybe I'm just out of the loop.
There were a couple of things that bothered me throughout the book, such as the author's overuse of the phrase "looked to be" (a phrase that bothers me at the best of times), and in one instance used it twice within as many sentences. Luckily, by that stage, I was 182 pages in, and committed to finding out what was going to happen. I had already seen use of it about three times in the 180 pages before that.
The technology of the world takes a while to work out, as a person not living in 2133 - someone not used to this technology, but I think the author handled it in the best way possible. I'd rather be thrown into the deep end and have to work it out than be spoon fed the history, any day.
I loved the characters. At the start of the book, I just wanted to read more of Mira's chapters, which were so few and far between, but over time I grew to love Rob, Veronika, and the other people who play major parts in their lives.
No one character was the main focus of this novel, but each had their parts to play. The author didn't go out of his way to manufacture a happy existence for all of the characters, but managed to leave the reader satisfied that the events had run their course. This book reminded me so much of the real world, of a weird, messy, love dodecahedron, with things not always matching up how they do in fiction.
I also loved the allusion the author made to one of his other titles, "Soft Apocalypse", which I have not yet read, but plan on doing so in the near future.
Will McIntosh doesn't write a book that leaves you feeling all warm and gooey inside, but challenges you to think about how you would cope in these situations. He explores the idea from different points of view, which all manage to connect in some way, giving us a well rounded, compelling picture.
February 12, 2015
worth reading
I really enjoyed the conversation this booked sparked within me and my book club. I found myself loving/hating all the characters at some point. The writing is not the best and can be choppy at times, but very interesting, creative, and thought provoking. I found myself wanting to read more.
I really enjoyed the conversation this booked sparked within me and my book club. I found myself loving/hating all the characters at some point. The writing is not the best and can be choppy at times, but very interesting, creative, and thought provoking. I found myself wanting to read more.
July 9, 2013
Really, really beautiful. I picked it up to read a chapter, but I couldn't stop until I'd read the whole thing. Thoughtful, making statements about both technology and interpersonal relationships without sacrificing character to do it.
June 18, 2013
In the future, love is complicated and death is not necessarily the end. Love Minus Eighty follows several interconnected people in a disquieting vision of romantic life in the century to come. In this daring and big-hearted novel based on the Hugo-winning short story, the lovelorn navigate a world in which technology has reached the outer limits of morality and romance.
Author Will McIntosh’s new novel, Love Minus Eighty, is the book you give to your friends in hopes of igniting a passion for science fiction. With its focus on deeply connected interpersonal relationships, the novel draws in the literary fiction reader and with its ever-present science fictional elements it also holds a strong attraction for fans of genre fiction.
Worldbuilding? This world is already built. With a deft touch Will McIntosh has imagined a highly-interactive future that is built so solidly on the foundation of our present internet-driven, social-media-obsessed culture that it succeeds in being both imaginative and accessible. The oft-despised info dump is non-existent. This future and the characters who inhabit it are initially quite shallow, but as circumstances stir the waters McIntosh plumbs the depths of several interesting characters. The reader will find themselves having conflicting emotions regarding various characters as the story unfolds, making the act of reading Love Minus Eighty an engaging experience.
In my review of the January 2013 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction I mentioned that Will McIntosh was “fast becoming one of those short story authors whose name on the cover will make me buy a magazine”. Love Minus Eighty has made me want to read everything the author has ever written.
If you appreciate novels about the complexity of relationships, featuring a variety of interesting characters–and just so happen to get excited about slick technological advances–Love Minus Eighty will not disappoint.
9/10 stars (I gave this a 5-star Goodreads rating although a 4.5 would be more accurate. My one complaint, mentioned below, is niggling at best. This is a wonderful book).
What follows is an entirely non-spoiler review. If you haven’t already rushed off to your favorite internet site or local bookstore to purchase a copy of Love Minus Eighty, I would caution you to avoid the temptation to read the cover copy or any description of the book. The opening quote for this review was culled from the Amazon description, heavily edited to remove anything that would spoil reading experience.
In Will McIntosh’s future, those rich enough and/or fortunate enough to have good insurance can pay to have themselves revived after death, time and time again. While this medical advancement does not lead to immortality, it does extend life for a very long time. This future Earth is no less dominated by big corporations than our present, and one company in particular has capitalized on this advancement by creating a service whereby women who meet a certain level of attractiveness, but cannot afford to have themselves revived, can opt for a second chance at life by being a part of an expensive dating service. Unaffectionately dubbed the “bridesicle” program, woman are kept cryogenically frozen, their minds and faces awoken to consciousness for brief windows of time when rich men and women can afford to pay to “date” them in order to determine compatibility. If a bridesicle is lucky enough, she will find herself revived by her new spouse.
Will McItosh’s future also showcases the advancement of technology to the point where those who can afford to do so wear fully interactive systems which overlay the mundane world and allow the wearer full access to the world at large. Imagine being able to have your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. audience and all the internet access that you could want surrounding you at all times and you will get some idea of the immersion of our lives into technology that McIntosh has imagined. It sounds both exciting and horrifying, doesn’t it? Will McIntosh plays with these feelings throughout the novel to create an inspired view of the future that is both fanciful and plausible at the same time.
What makes Love Minus Eighty such a treat is that those tantalizing science fictional elements are fully present throughout the story while allowing the majority of the novel to focus on the characters, which hearkens back to earlier comments about spoilers. Love Minus Eighty follows the alternating viewpoints of three main characters, one of whom is part of the bridesicle program. We experience this future through the eyes of Rob, Veronika and Mina but at the same time we are introduced to several other characters all of whom become more real and tangible as the story unfolds. Early on in the story Rob is involved in a life-changing event that is the catalyst for everything that happens afterward and descriptions I have read quickly point out that event. As it happens early in the novel it might be argued that this is not a “spoiler”, but for my money I enjoyed going into the novel with no clue where it would lead.
Though each chapter is revealed through the eyes of one of these three main protagonists, the larger cast of Love Minus Eighty is drawn into a complex web of relationships that bring them into contact with one another. This creates the interesting phenomenon of seeing the characters through different eyes, allowing the reader to form and re-form opinions about each character as their lives intersect. Often throughout the story the reader will find their opinions of characters challenged. You might be rooting for someone one minute and then writing them off as hopelessly self-obsessed the next. In a novel about relationships it is not surprising that hopes and expectations will arise as to which characters may end up together when all is said and done and it is a credit to the storytelling ability of Will McIntosh that those expectations grow and change throughout the novel.
The only complaint to be leveled at Love Minus Eighty is a feeling that things were rushed at the end. At a little over 400 pages, there is adequate space to tell an involved, fully-realized story and Will McIntosh does this, leaving the reader with a good deal of closure. There is no feeling of being cheated at the end. However, the climactic events read as if there was some hurry to bring things to a close with no apparent reason as to why this would be the case. Please do not misunderstand. This is not one of those novels that surges ahead with great promise only to see the wheels come off at the end. There is no doubt that Will McIntosh knew where he wanted to take the story and he brought it there intact. It is simply this reviewer’s opinion that a little more time could have been taken with the climax and denouement.
Love Minus Eighty comes highly recommended. You will care about these characters, or at the very least some of these characters, and will find your imagination stimulated by Will McIntosh’s vision of the future. There are books that you pick up and do not want to put down. Love Minus Eighty is one of those books.
Feel free to come chat more about the story on my website:
www.stainlesssteeldroppings.com
Author Will McIntosh’s new novel, Love Minus Eighty, is the book you give to your friends in hopes of igniting a passion for science fiction. With its focus on deeply connected interpersonal relationships, the novel draws in the literary fiction reader and with its ever-present science fictional elements it also holds a strong attraction for fans of genre fiction.
Worldbuilding? This world is already built. With a deft touch Will McIntosh has imagined a highly-interactive future that is built so solidly on the foundation of our present internet-driven, social-media-obsessed culture that it succeeds in being both imaginative and accessible. The oft-despised info dump is non-existent. This future and the characters who inhabit it are initially quite shallow, but as circumstances stir the waters McIntosh plumbs the depths of several interesting characters. The reader will find themselves having conflicting emotions regarding various characters as the story unfolds, making the act of reading Love Minus Eighty an engaging experience.
In my review of the January 2013 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction I mentioned that Will McIntosh was “fast becoming one of those short story authors whose name on the cover will make me buy a magazine”. Love Minus Eighty has made me want to read everything the author has ever written.
If you appreciate novels about the complexity of relationships, featuring a variety of interesting characters–and just so happen to get excited about slick technological advances–Love Minus Eighty will not disappoint.
9/10 stars (I gave this a 5-star Goodreads rating although a 4.5 would be more accurate. My one complaint, mentioned below, is niggling at best. This is a wonderful book).
What follows is an entirely non-spoiler review. If you haven’t already rushed off to your favorite internet site or local bookstore to purchase a copy of Love Minus Eighty, I would caution you to avoid the temptation to read the cover copy or any description of the book. The opening quote for this review was culled from the Amazon description, heavily edited to remove anything that would spoil reading experience.
In Will McIntosh’s future, those rich enough and/or fortunate enough to have good insurance can pay to have themselves revived after death, time and time again. While this medical advancement does not lead to immortality, it does extend life for a very long time. This future Earth is no less dominated by big corporations than our present, and one company in particular has capitalized on this advancement by creating a service whereby women who meet a certain level of attractiveness, but cannot afford to have themselves revived, can opt for a second chance at life by being a part of an expensive dating service. Unaffectionately dubbed the “bridesicle” program, woman are kept cryogenically frozen, their minds and faces awoken to consciousness for brief windows of time when rich men and women can afford to pay to “date” them in order to determine compatibility. If a bridesicle is lucky enough, she will find herself revived by her new spouse.
Will McItosh’s future also showcases the advancement of technology to the point where those who can afford to do so wear fully interactive systems which overlay the mundane world and allow the wearer full access to the world at large. Imagine being able to have your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. audience and all the internet access that you could want surrounding you at all times and you will get some idea of the immersion of our lives into technology that McIntosh has imagined. It sounds both exciting and horrifying, doesn’t it? Will McIntosh plays with these feelings throughout the novel to create an inspired view of the future that is both fanciful and plausible at the same time.
What makes Love Minus Eighty such a treat is that those tantalizing science fictional elements are fully present throughout the story while allowing the majority of the novel to focus on the characters, which hearkens back to earlier comments about spoilers. Love Minus Eighty follows the alternating viewpoints of three main characters, one of whom is part of the bridesicle program. We experience this future through the eyes of Rob, Veronika and Mina but at the same time we are introduced to several other characters all of whom become more real and tangible as the story unfolds. Early on in the story Rob is involved in a life-changing event that is the catalyst for everything that happens afterward and descriptions I have read quickly point out that event. As it happens early in the novel it might be argued that this is not a “spoiler”, but for my money I enjoyed going into the novel with no clue where it would lead.
Though each chapter is revealed through the eyes of one of these three main protagonists, the larger cast of Love Minus Eighty is drawn into a complex web of relationships that bring them into contact with one another. This creates the interesting phenomenon of seeing the characters through different eyes, allowing the reader to form and re-form opinions about each character as their lives intersect. Often throughout the story the reader will find their opinions of characters challenged. You might be rooting for someone one minute and then writing them off as hopelessly self-obsessed the next. In a novel about relationships it is not surprising that hopes and expectations will arise as to which characters may end up together when all is said and done and it is a credit to the storytelling ability of Will McIntosh that those expectations grow and change throughout the novel.
The only complaint to be leveled at Love Minus Eighty is a feeling that things were rushed at the end. At a little over 400 pages, there is adequate space to tell an involved, fully-realized story and Will McIntosh does this, leaving the reader with a good deal of closure. There is no feeling of being cheated at the end. However, the climactic events read as if there was some hurry to bring things to a close with no apparent reason as to why this would be the case. Please do not misunderstand. This is not one of those novels that surges ahead with great promise only to see the wheels come off at the end. There is no doubt that Will McIntosh knew where he wanted to take the story and he brought it there intact. It is simply this reviewer’s opinion that a little more time could have been taken with the climax and denouement.
Love Minus Eighty comes highly recommended. You will care about these characters, or at the very least some of these characters, and will find your imagination stimulated by Will McIntosh’s vision of the future. There are books that you pick up and do not want to put down. Love Minus Eighty is one of those books.
Feel free to come chat more about the story on my website:
www.stainlesssteeldroppings.com
November 8, 2018
This is a masterpiece, and in my opinion McIntosh's best book. The characters are quirky but immensely likable, and the personal drama intense. The story does what SF does best: it takes a technology, in this case the ability to bring back the dead (but only at an insanely high price), and examines what such a technology might affect people and society. It does so brilliantly, from the perspectives of several people affected in different ways, and gives the reader a lot to contemplate about both love and mortality.
When this novel was released, its publisher was in the middle of a dispute with Amazon, who refused to sell their books. As a result, what ought to be considered one of the best SF books of the decade is not well known. Do yourself a favor and give it a try.
When this novel was released, its publisher was in the middle of a dispute with Amazon, who refused to sell their books. As a result, what ought to be considered one of the best SF books of the decade is not well known. Do yourself a favor and give it a try.
August 20, 2013
I imagine it's never easy to take a well-known and loved short story and turn it into a novel. Bits that worked in one format don't in the other. Favourite characters are subtly, or not so subtly, altered, whether out of necessity or because hindsight makes the author reckon that this way would be better. Will McIntosh's Love Minus Eighty suffers a little from this rewriting. The main character of his short story, Mira, becomes a bit player in the novel, which is probably a clever device to give him some free rein in the book, but does take a bit of getting used to if you're familiar with the original.
McIntosh also pulls one very interesting aspect of his technologically and medically advanced future and adds in a different one. In the short story, dead relatives can be invited to take up residence in people's heads and thereby live on and Mira spends much of her time thinking about her mother, who was not a welcome visitor. The moral and social implications of such an existence, as well as the guilt felt by Mira about not wanting her mother in her head and the anger that she let herself be talked into it, are only sketched in the short story and would have been fascinating to explore more deeply.
However, this kind of reincarnation is completely missing from Love Minus Eighty. Instead, the great technological advances are a sort of social media/Big Brother mash-up, where folks live all their lives in intimate contact with other people - friends or fans or both - and, of course, the revivification of cryogenically frozen people.
For the first, every level of connectedness is explored in the novel, from those who want to be constantly plugged in to the system, living their lives in front of an audience, all the way through to people who don't want to be connected at all. This isn't untrodden ground for a technologically-advanced world, but McIntosh steps lightly with his characters and never gives us the impression that any of the ways they live their lives are the "right" ones. Neither social climbing always-on Lorelei, part-time user Rob nor regular plug-ins Veronica and Nathan are ever portrayed as anything other than the usual mix of good and bad intentions that make up every human being, none are evil or wrong for their relationship to their technology.
The moralising is reserved for the results of the central technology of the book, the practice of bridesicles - young women who can afford the insurance to be frozen - or are chosen to be frozen because of their looks - but can't afford to be revived and put back together again. For these women, the only hope lies in an excessively wealthy "date" deciding to spend the money to bring them back to life as their wife. The pure horror of such an existence comes through even more strongly in the book than the short story and the social contract of beauty for money is brought down to a brutish exchange that leaves neither side unsullied.
Although the morality of bridesicles is well explored, it is lacking a little in detail. The future of the book is not a utopia, but it's not a dystopia either and there's very little explanation given for why it is the way it is. We know there's been some kind of turmoil, known as the nanopocalypse, but we don't know what that was. We know that the technology to revive and fix people after they're dead exists, but not how it works or why it has always been and remains so expensive. Although the police show up once or twice, there's not much mention of the government, so it's difficult to figure out why there seems to be a strong grassroots campaign to get rid of bridesicles, but no protest at all about the fact that people who need certain healthcare to live are denied it.
That such a situation exists is not unfathomable - after all, you could argue that the same thing happens today, but that no-one has anything to say about it seems a bit strange. At one point, two characters share a nod of understanding when one explains that his mother died of terminal cancer when her family was unable to raise the cash to save her - there's no railing against the powers that be over this, just unhappy acquiescence. While no-one wants all sci-fi books to be about the attempt to defeat a totalitarian, dystopian government, some context for such a society would be nice.
This isn't a book about the rampant capitalist depravity of a society that allows its poorer members to die unnecessarily, but it is a book about love and it's here the novel shines. McIntosh makes the case for love of all shapes and sizes, with plenty of sympathy even for those lonely desperate people who visit the bridesicle centre in the hopes that they can buy what they haven't been able to find or keep in the real world. Once again, there is no right or wrong, just people loving or trying to love as best they can - and it's this that lifts the novel from an intriguing premise and a few interesting characters to a warm, life-filled story.
McIntosh also pulls one very interesting aspect of his technologically and medically advanced future and adds in a different one. In the short story, dead relatives can be invited to take up residence in people's heads and thereby live on and Mira spends much of her time thinking about her mother, who was not a welcome visitor. The moral and social implications of such an existence, as well as the guilt felt by Mira about not wanting her mother in her head and the anger that she let herself be talked into it, are only sketched in the short story and would have been fascinating to explore more deeply.
However, this kind of reincarnation is completely missing from Love Minus Eighty. Instead, the great technological advances are a sort of social media/Big Brother mash-up, where folks live all their lives in intimate contact with other people - friends or fans or both - and, of course, the revivification of cryogenically frozen people.
For the first, every level of connectedness is explored in the novel, from those who want to be constantly plugged in to the system, living their lives in front of an audience, all the way through to people who don't want to be connected at all. This isn't untrodden ground for a technologically-advanced world, but McIntosh steps lightly with his characters and never gives us the impression that any of the ways they live their lives are the "right" ones. Neither social climbing always-on Lorelei, part-time user Rob nor regular plug-ins Veronica and Nathan are ever portrayed as anything other than the usual mix of good and bad intentions that make up every human being, none are evil or wrong for their relationship to their technology.
The moralising is reserved for the results of the central technology of the book, the practice of bridesicles - young women who can afford the insurance to be frozen - or are chosen to be frozen because of their looks - but can't afford to be revived and put back together again. For these women, the only hope lies in an excessively wealthy "date" deciding to spend the money to bring them back to life as their wife. The pure horror of such an existence comes through even more strongly in the book than the short story and the social contract of beauty for money is brought down to a brutish exchange that leaves neither side unsullied.
Although the morality of bridesicles is well explored, it is lacking a little in detail. The future of the book is not a utopia, but it's not a dystopia either and there's very little explanation given for why it is the way it is. We know there's been some kind of turmoil, known as the nanopocalypse, but we don't know what that was. We know that the technology to revive and fix people after they're dead exists, but not how it works or why it has always been and remains so expensive. Although the police show up once or twice, there's not much mention of the government, so it's difficult to figure out why there seems to be a strong grassroots campaign to get rid of bridesicles, but no protest at all about the fact that people who need certain healthcare to live are denied it.
That such a situation exists is not unfathomable - after all, you could argue that the same thing happens today, but that no-one has anything to say about it seems a bit strange. At one point, two characters share a nod of understanding when one explains that his mother died of terminal cancer when her family was unable to raise the cash to save her - there's no railing against the powers that be over this, just unhappy acquiescence. While no-one wants all sci-fi books to be about the attempt to defeat a totalitarian, dystopian government, some context for such a society would be nice.
This isn't a book about the rampant capitalist depravity of a society that allows its poorer members to die unnecessarily, but it is a book about love and it's here the novel shines. McIntosh makes the case for love of all shapes and sizes, with plenty of sympathy even for those lonely desperate people who visit the bridesicle centre in the hopes that they can buy what they haven't been able to find or keep in the real world. Once again, there is no right or wrong, just people loving or trying to love as best they can - and it's this that lifts the novel from an intriguing premise and a few interesting characters to a warm, life-filled story.
November 6, 2014
This was an unusual book for me. This isn’t a bad thing, but it’s certainly a point I’ve been thinking a lot about since I finished reading it. It was unusual because it’s a story about love, or relationships, with a science-fiction setting. This simply isn’t something I’d read a lot of before now, so what kept me reading was as much simple curiosity about the concept as it was fascination with seeing how it all turned out.
As for the rest, it made for a lovely reading experience, and I mean that utterly sincerely. This was a beautiful story. It was a deeply unnerving one, and there was more than one instance of finding certain characters irritating enough to deserve a sense-inducing slap, but in its own way that’s a good thing, too! It was well worth reading simply for the experience of feeling so deeply invested in what was happening, and the people it was happening to.
Take the bridesicles – because if there’s any one example to point to and call the focus here, it’s that concept, as well as the characters to whom that ‘name’ applies. Cryogenic dating centres, where the ‘brides’ are kept frozen when they’re not being visited. Think about that idea for half a second and I’m sure you’ll find it as creepy as I did. To make matters worse, the only way most of these women (and it is only women who are kept in the centre, which is explained briefly but succinctly, and ought to be a point to bear in mind…) ever get out of the centre is to be chosen by someone rich enough to afford them – and this is a purchase, plain and simple. There’s marriage involved, but it’s by contract, and that contract is iron-clad. For the bride, there is literally no legal way out of it. She’ll be owned for the rest of her life, because she was just that expensive.
‘Creepy’ barely covers it…
One of the bridesicles (and I hate that word as much as some of the characters here do) finds herself in just such a situation, and this was, I suppose, the other focal point of the story. She’s in the programme after being accidentally run over, and the driver responsible resigns himself to a life of poverty in order to be able to afford to visit her regularly afterward. The visits begin out of guilt on his part, but a connection is quickly formed between these two, and explored as the book goes on. I won’t give away how it ends, but for me it was the perfect heartwarmer.
What I also want to highlight, though, is the part of the story that belongs to Veronika, another of the characters followed in the book. She’s a dating coach whose own social life is in kind of a sorry state, not least because of her unrequited feelings for her best friend, Nathan. Veronika is the one I wanted to slap, but that in itself speaks pretty highly of the way Will McIntosh writes his characters…
Neither Veronika nor Nathan is particularly likeable in my view, both seeming (note I said seeming) as shallow and self-involved as each other, but as with Rob and Winter (and if that’s not the most apt name for a bridesicle ever, I don’t know what is; smell the dark humour?) I really wanted a happy ending for her. When the turning point in her personal journey came, I may or may not have fist-pumped…
Taken collectively, what I really enjoyed about all of these characters – even the social media-obsessed drama queen Lorelei – is that there is more beneath their surface than there seems. They all gave me something to think about, and even now, days after I’ve put the book down, it’s still in my head, still giving me chills, but still making me think about the ideas it puts forth.
Not least of those ideas (and also the chills) is down to the author’s take on where social media might end up – and as futuristic as it seems, it also seems like a pretty likely direction. It also makes many of the bystanders, or the ‘viewers’, in this book part of the reason I found it so creepy. These are people who are apparently so interested in what others are doing that they’ll stand around and watch a man commit suicide, just because it gets pinged on their feeds. Privacy is really, truly a rare commodity in this version of the future, and that is very possibly just as disturbing as brides on ice.
It might be difficult to see how a book with premises like those could be described as beautiful, but trust me – somehow, Will McIntosh pulls it off. It could well be down to the ending, and for my part I think it mostly was, but however creepy the ideas got, the imagery that helps to get them across is indeed pretty breathtaking. By the time he was describing the city where this book is set, I knew I was hooked – and by the time I closed this book, there was no question that I wanted more of his work.
Good thing I’ve got Defenders sitting on my shelves, then!
As for the rest, it made for a lovely reading experience, and I mean that utterly sincerely. This was a beautiful story. It was a deeply unnerving one, and there was more than one instance of finding certain characters irritating enough to deserve a sense-inducing slap, but in its own way that’s a good thing, too! It was well worth reading simply for the experience of feeling so deeply invested in what was happening, and the people it was happening to.
Take the bridesicles – because if there’s any one example to point to and call the focus here, it’s that concept, as well as the characters to whom that ‘name’ applies. Cryogenic dating centres, where the ‘brides’ are kept frozen when they’re not being visited. Think about that idea for half a second and I’m sure you’ll find it as creepy as I did. To make matters worse, the only way most of these women (and it is only women who are kept in the centre, which is explained briefly but succinctly, and ought to be a point to bear in mind…) ever get out of the centre is to be chosen by someone rich enough to afford them – and this is a purchase, plain and simple. There’s marriage involved, but it’s by contract, and that contract is iron-clad. For the bride, there is literally no legal way out of it. She’ll be owned for the rest of her life, because she was just that expensive.
‘Creepy’ barely covers it…
One of the bridesicles (and I hate that word as much as some of the characters here do) finds herself in just such a situation, and this was, I suppose, the other focal point of the story. She’s in the programme after being accidentally run over, and the driver responsible resigns himself to a life of poverty in order to be able to afford to visit her regularly afterward. The visits begin out of guilt on his part, but a connection is quickly formed between these two, and explored as the book goes on. I won’t give away how it ends, but for me it was the perfect heartwarmer.
What I also want to highlight, though, is the part of the story that belongs to Veronika, another of the characters followed in the book. She’s a dating coach whose own social life is in kind of a sorry state, not least because of her unrequited feelings for her best friend, Nathan. Veronika is the one I wanted to slap, but that in itself speaks pretty highly of the way Will McIntosh writes his characters…
Neither Veronika nor Nathan is particularly likeable in my view, both seeming (note I said seeming) as shallow and self-involved as each other, but as with Rob and Winter (and if that’s not the most apt name for a bridesicle ever, I don’t know what is; smell the dark humour?) I really wanted a happy ending for her. When the turning point in her personal journey came, I may or may not have fist-pumped…
Taken collectively, what I really enjoyed about all of these characters – even the social media-obsessed drama queen Lorelei – is that there is more beneath their surface than there seems. They all gave me something to think about, and even now, days after I’ve put the book down, it’s still in my head, still giving me chills, but still making me think about the ideas it puts forth.
Not least of those ideas (and also the chills) is down to the author’s take on where social media might end up – and as futuristic as it seems, it also seems like a pretty likely direction. It also makes many of the bystanders, or the ‘viewers’, in this book part of the reason I found it so creepy. These are people who are apparently so interested in what others are doing that they’ll stand around and watch a man commit suicide, just because it gets pinged on their feeds. Privacy is really, truly a rare commodity in this version of the future, and that is very possibly just as disturbing as brides on ice.
It might be difficult to see how a book with premises like those could be described as beautiful, but trust me – somehow, Will McIntosh pulls it off. It could well be down to the ending, and for my part I think it mostly was, but however creepy the ideas got, the imagery that helps to get them across is indeed pretty breathtaking. By the time he was describing the city where this book is set, I knew I was hooked – and by the time I closed this book, there was no question that I wanted more of his work.
Good thing I’ve got Defenders sitting on my shelves, then!
July 9, 2013
Will McIntosh was a psychology professor until he won a Hugo Award for his novella titled Bridesicle, a story about dating in a futuristic age where it is possible to revive people frozen at the moment of death -- for a lot of money. He now churns out books like there is no tomorrow, and so far all of them have been really gripping. Love Minus Eighty is a completely new take on the same subject as Bridesicle, a lively story about how looking for love continues to be as messed up, dysfunctional, problematic, and irresistible as ever, even in an age where people use gliding shoes to get from point a to point b, interactive holographic romances to live out their deepest romantic wishes, and, yes, can take the dating scene to the morgue.
In spite of all the futuristic glamor, the novel really is grounded deeply in the way that people are. The need to find a companion, even when, or especially when the world is collapsing all around you seems to be one of McIntosh's trademark themes. We get to experience what that need would look like if our technology advanced just enough for humanity to cheat death -- at least for a little while. Being suspended and frozen in ice seems for most to be a better alternative then cremation or burial. This basic human fear, the chilling terror of the unknown, is much of the driving motivation behind most characters here, some who are trapped in a stasis between life and death in a Cryogenic facility that revives them only for an exclusive, high-browed clientele of unimaginably rich people who can afford to throw millions away for a "bridesicle," a dating service that matches millionaires with dead women who may yet be revived for a last chance at life.
The premise is dreary, but most of the novel is both humorous and light hearted, probably because most of the characters that we follow are so perfectly lovable. My favorite was Veronika: a neurotic, too-smart-for-her-own-good, sassy yet shy dating coach who, in spite of having an unparalleled talent for setting up her clients with the loves of their lives, she is completely incapable of getting over her crush with Mr. Wrong. Then there is Lycan, a neuroscientist genius with zero social skills who won't even be allowed the dignity of committing suicide without his employer interference.
In the end, this is a story about love, about friendship and about the things most of us would be willing to put ourselves through if we had a chance to take back or make up for our worst mistake.
As with other McIntosh novels, this is a breezy, fast read, the kind of book that you look forward to sneaking away with on your lunch break. And yet the novel leaves you with so much more than just an imaginative and fast paced story. McIntosh is such an astute observer of human character that you'll feel like he was lurking in your closet, spying on you and on all your best friends when he created these lively and so true-to life characters. Scary. But all in a good way.
A definite A plus plus.
In spite of all the futuristic glamor, the novel really is grounded deeply in the way that people are. The need to find a companion, even when, or especially when the world is collapsing all around you seems to be one of McIntosh's trademark themes. We get to experience what that need would look like if our technology advanced just enough for humanity to cheat death -- at least for a little while. Being suspended and frozen in ice seems for most to be a better alternative then cremation or burial. This basic human fear, the chilling terror of the unknown, is much of the driving motivation behind most characters here, some who are trapped in a stasis between life and death in a Cryogenic facility that revives them only for an exclusive, high-browed clientele of unimaginably rich people who can afford to throw millions away for a "bridesicle," a dating service that matches millionaires with dead women who may yet be revived for a last chance at life.
The premise is dreary, but most of the novel is both humorous and light hearted, probably because most of the characters that we follow are so perfectly lovable. My favorite was Veronika: a neurotic, too-smart-for-her-own-good, sassy yet shy dating coach who, in spite of having an unparalleled talent for setting up her clients with the loves of their lives, she is completely incapable of getting over her crush with Mr. Wrong. Then there is Lycan, a neuroscientist genius with zero social skills who won't even be allowed the dignity of committing suicide without his employer interference.
In the end, this is a story about love, about friendship and about the things most of us would be willing to put ourselves through if we had a chance to take back or make up for our worst mistake.
As with other McIntosh novels, this is a breezy, fast read, the kind of book that you look forward to sneaking away with on your lunch break. And yet the novel leaves you with so much more than just an imaginative and fast paced story. McIntosh is such an astute observer of human character that you'll feel like he was lurking in your closet, spying on you and on all your best friends when he created these lively and so true-to life characters. Scary. But all in a good way.
A definite A plus plus.
June 24, 2013
In the future Rob’s girlfriend breaks up with him, with a crowd of followers watching. Instead of taking the bait he leaves. Upset he goes for a drive, all the while watching her throw out his stuff on a screen. He doesn’t see the jogger until it’s too late. In this future story women who are attractive enough and lack insurance can go into the bridesicle program. There they stay on ice. They go on dates where their heads are revived for someone with enough money. The jogger is entered into the program, and Rob works very hard to visit her.
Love Minus Eighty is centered on Rob, Veronika and Mira. It’s a futuristic story that focuses on social media, but the story itself is centered on the relationships of the main characters. It’s a romantic story that is both realistic and insightful.
The story opens with Mira in the prologue. The prologue isn’t very long, and it has to be one of the best openings to a story I’ve ever read. It’s clean, heartfelt and straight to the point. It pushes the reader right into the pages. Mira herself kept me reading. She is the oldest bridesicle, and while her chapters aren’t very long, they’re enough to keep you wondering how the story will end. Mira’s short chapters were very emotionally charged.
Veronika is a dating-coach. She makes profiles, is hired to feed lines to people on dates, and helps bring people together. She’s in love with another dating-coach, Nathan. Nathan is her connection to Rob. Nathan dated Winter, the jogger, before she died. Because of this Rob and Nathan end up meeting one another, and the three become friends. Though Rob killed someone, both Nathan and Veronika see him as a kind of saint. When he tells them he is saving all he can to keep visiting Winter, they both agree to help. Veronika, who isn’t the happiest person in the world, discovers she has a knack for helping other people who are unhappy.
Through Veronika and Mira we end up meeting Lycan. He’s a sort of genius. Despite his genius he is also very lonely. He isn’t that good with people and is very shy. He ends up making a few mistakes that puts him in Veronika’s path.
I don’t want to give too much of the story away. If you’ve never gave science fiction a go, or thought it was all about guns shooting laser beams, robots, and galactic ship wars, I highly encourage you to pick Love Minus Eighty up. While it’s set in a futuristic world it’s an interesting one that focuses on social media. The characters are highly flawed making them seem realistic. McIntosh does a great job of making the story and world come alive for this reader.
Love Minus Eighty is an easy read. Time slid by while I sat engrossed in its pages. It can also be an emotional roller coaster that gives the reader a visceral new environment to explore. This was the first book I’ve read by McIntosh, and I look forward to reading many others.
- Beth
Love Minus Eighty is centered on Rob, Veronika and Mira. It’s a futuristic story that focuses on social media, but the story itself is centered on the relationships of the main characters. It’s a romantic story that is both realistic and insightful.
The story opens with Mira in the prologue. The prologue isn’t very long, and it has to be one of the best openings to a story I’ve ever read. It’s clean, heartfelt and straight to the point. It pushes the reader right into the pages. Mira herself kept me reading. She is the oldest bridesicle, and while her chapters aren’t very long, they’re enough to keep you wondering how the story will end. Mira’s short chapters were very emotionally charged.
Veronika is a dating-coach. She makes profiles, is hired to feed lines to people on dates, and helps bring people together. She’s in love with another dating-coach, Nathan. Nathan is her connection to Rob. Nathan dated Winter, the jogger, before she died. Because of this Rob and Nathan end up meeting one another, and the three become friends. Though Rob killed someone, both Nathan and Veronika see him as a kind of saint. When he tells them he is saving all he can to keep visiting Winter, they both agree to help. Veronika, who isn’t the happiest person in the world, discovers she has a knack for helping other people who are unhappy.
Through Veronika and Mira we end up meeting Lycan. He’s a sort of genius. Despite his genius he is also very lonely. He isn’t that good with people and is very shy. He ends up making a few mistakes that puts him in Veronika’s path.
I don’t want to give too much of the story away. If you’ve never gave science fiction a go, or thought it was all about guns shooting laser beams, robots, and galactic ship wars, I highly encourage you to pick Love Minus Eighty up. While it’s set in a futuristic world it’s an interesting one that focuses on social media. The characters are highly flawed making them seem realistic. McIntosh does a great job of making the story and world come alive for this reader.
Love Minus Eighty is an easy read. Time slid by while I sat engrossed in its pages. It can also be an emotional roller coaster that gives the reader a visceral new environment to explore. This was the first book I’ve read by McIntosh, and I look forward to reading many others.
- Beth
August 9, 2014
I very much enjoyed this one. So much so, that I put the author’s other book Soft Apocalypse on my library list because such a thing was mentioned by one of the characters in this book and I am eager to read more.
In this story we follow a group of people who become more entwined as things unfold. Rob, Mira, Winter, Veronika, Nathan, Lycan & Lorelei. They inhabit a future world where mathematically beautiful women who’ve died before their time are basically put on ice until such time as some wealthy man will have them repaired and resurrected. There’s a technology that allows them to be awakened for “dates” in brief intervals but they’re immobile and confined to their coffin at the creche. It’s quite the morbid & cruel set up. Mira, is one of the “bridesicles” and as if it’s not bad enough that she’s long dead, she’s stuck going on “dates” with men in hopes of being reanimated though she’s gay. It seems no one checked that out before dropping her in at CryoMed & all she wants is to see her love, Jeanette. I was so invested in her story & her’s had me sad there was no epilogue at the end. I’ve read that Mira is the main character of the short story that spawned this full length novel, so I’m glad I got to meet her & Jeanette here.
Rob, Winter, Veronika, Nathan, Lycan & Lorelei were interesting to follow with varying degrees of rootability. Though I was never much a fan of Nathan or Lorelei their endings felt honest and real. Rob, Winter, Veronika & Lycan were most interesting in watching how their stories crossed paths with each other & evolved. They were the most transformed characters and I was very satisfied with their endings.
Overall, this is an almost-favorite for me. The only thing keeping me from giving it five stars is that I’ll likely not read it again but this will remain with me for quite some time & I am a little regretful that I borrowed this one from the library & so don’t own a copy. I enjoyed it that much. 4.5 stars.
In this story we follow a group of people who become more entwined as things unfold. Rob, Mira, Winter, Veronika, Nathan, Lycan & Lorelei. They inhabit a future world where mathematically beautiful women who’ve died before their time are basically put on ice until such time as some wealthy man will have them repaired and resurrected. There’s a technology that allows them to be awakened for “dates” in brief intervals but they’re immobile and confined to their coffin at the creche. It’s quite the morbid & cruel set up. Mira, is one of the “bridesicles” and as if it’s not bad enough that she’s long dead, she’s stuck going on “dates” with men in hopes of being reanimated though she’s gay. It seems no one checked that out before dropping her in at CryoMed & all she wants is to see her love, Jeanette. I was so invested in her story & her’s had me sad there was no epilogue at the end. I’ve read that Mira is the main character of the short story that spawned this full length novel, so I’m glad I got to meet her & Jeanette here.
Rob, Winter, Veronika, Nathan, Lycan & Lorelei were interesting to follow with varying degrees of rootability. Though I was never much a fan of Nathan or Lorelei their endings felt honest and real. Rob, Winter, Veronika & Lycan were most interesting in watching how their stories crossed paths with each other & evolved. They were the most transformed characters and I was very satisfied with their endings.
Overall, this is an almost-favorite for me. The only thing keeping me from giving it five stars is that I’ll likely not read it again but this will remain with me for quite some time & I am a little regretful that I borrowed this one from the library & so don’t own a copy. I enjoyed it that much. 4.5 stars.
August 8, 2013
most harrowing opening you'll ever read, hands down.
and it goes on well from there. the story follows six (or maybe seven, depending on how you count) people through love and disappointment, with the added shrieker that two of them were dead, but now aren't quite, but might be again.
it's a great (if kind of nauseating) premise: pretty dead young women are frozen and might get to live again if some rich guy can pay enough to revive them, plus fees and taxes. remembering that this is a post-apocalyptic world may get you past some of the immediate legal issues that spring to mind; if not, just roll with it, because McIntosh's examination of love and power is quite worth the ride.
most excellently done, in my opinion, are the dating coaches. yup, i can see it, in a few years.
the story falls apart a bit at the end--i get a definite feeling that in the case of at least two of the protagonists, McIntosh sort of pulled their fates out of his you-know-what, to keep it all moving along. but still worth reading.
and it goes on well from there. the story follows six (or maybe seven, depending on how you count) people through love and disappointment, with the added shrieker that two of them were dead, but now aren't quite, but might be again.
it's a great (if kind of nauseating) premise: pretty dead young women are frozen and might get to live again if some rich guy can pay enough to revive them, plus fees and taxes. remembering that this is a post-apocalyptic world may get you past some of the immediate legal issues that spring to mind; if not, just roll with it, because McIntosh's examination of love and power is quite worth the ride.
most excellently done, in my opinion, are the dating coaches. yup, i can see it, in a few years.
the story falls apart a bit at the end--i get a definite feeling that in the case of at least two of the protagonists, McIntosh sort of pulled their fates out of his you-know-what, to keep it all moving along. but still worth reading.
June 10, 2013
There are certain short stories that feel almost uncomfortably compressed, so full of interesting concepts and characters that the material just begs to be explored further. In this case, “uncomfortably compressed” is a good thing, by the way—the exact opposite of a bloated novel that takes a few hundred pages to develop the same rich level of depth.
One example of such hyper-efficient compression was “Bridesicle” by Will McIntosh, originally published in Asimov’s in 2009. It was one of that year’s most memorable short stories, deservedly winning the Hugo for Best Short Story as well as the Asimov’s Readers’ Award. Will McIntosh must have agreed that the story’s starting concept was too good, and its emotional resonance too strong, to leave it unexplored further.
Read my review of the novel that was based on this short story on my site Far Beyond Reality!
One example of such hyper-efficient compression was “Bridesicle” by Will McIntosh, originally published in Asimov’s in 2009. It was one of that year’s most memorable short stories, deservedly winning the Hugo for Best Short Story as well as the Asimov’s Readers’ Award. Will McIntosh must have agreed that the story’s starting concept was too good, and its emotional resonance too strong, to leave it unexplored further.
Read my review of the novel that was based on this short story on my site Far Beyond Reality!
July 5, 2013
Wow, this was a wild and engrossing story. The worldbuilding was seamless, the characters strong, and the ending delightful in its ambiguity. At first, I was caught up in the horror of the poor bridesicles' plight and I had to keep putting the book down and walking away. But as I got further into the book and got to know the characters, I couldn't put it back down till I found out what happened.
I loved the way McIntosh connected all the threads together in the book, and I really enjoyed the ride. Recommended.
I got this ARC at ALA.
I loved the way McIntosh connected all the threads together in the book, and I really enjoyed the ride. Recommended.
I got this ARC at ALA.
January 15, 2014
Here is my review.
I'm one of the few people who weren't drawn in by the cover. But some dear internet friends kept pushing the book until I gave in.
This was a wonderful story with so many layers. I loved every aspect of it, the characters, the world-building, the plot. McIntosh has some damn insight into the human mind and how we work (or don't work) when we're in love.
Can't wait to read his other books.
I'm one of the few people who weren't drawn in by the cover. But some dear internet friends kept pushing the book until I gave in.
This was a wonderful story with so many layers. I loved every aspect of it, the characters, the world-building, the plot. McIntosh has some damn insight into the human mind and how we work (or don't work) when we're in love.
Can't wait to read his other books.
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