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Mo(ther) Na(ture).
Mona is poised to delete Earth. Can human's capacity for love persuade her otherwise? Mo(ther) Na(ture) is a YA GameLit coming of age story that explores sisterly bonds and the human capacity for love. Fans of Sophie Kinsella and Rainbow Rowell will love this heartwarming story about sisterhood, love, and what it means to be human.
When two sisters quarrel, humanity is on the brink of extinction. Mona, the logical scientist and creator of Earth, has been caught trying to destroy humankind yet again. Her sister Penny, the passionate and impulsive creator behind humans, challenges her to live in a human's shoes and experience their emotions before she carries out her plans to delete the human race forever.
For eons, mankind has exploited the Earth, heedless of the consequence of their actions. Fueled by a desperate needed to safeguard her creation, and with a bit of glitter, Mona uploads into her first human meat sack - a teenage girl - and quickly learns what it's like to feel loathing, desire, and friendship. But as she delves deeper into human history and their cruelty towards each other and Earth, she decides they're not worth saving. Overwhelmed by emotions, Mona is torn between wiping the entirety of Earth with the push of a button and fulfilling her bargain with Penny.
Her to understand the profound depth of human emotions, and discover whether humanity possesses the capacity to heal the wounds they have inflicted upon the world. Can she learn to be human, even with all their faults?
When two sisters quarrel, humanity is on the brink of extinction. Mona, the logical scientist and creator of Earth, has been caught trying to destroy humankind yet again. Her sister Penny, the passionate and impulsive creator behind humans, challenges her to live in a human's shoes and experience their emotions before she carries out her plans to delete the human race forever.
For eons, mankind has exploited the Earth, heedless of the consequence of their actions. Fueled by a desperate needed to safeguard her creation, and with a bit of glitter, Mona uploads into her first human meat sack - a teenage girl - and quickly learns what it's like to feel loathing, desire, and friendship. But as she delves deeper into human history and their cruelty towards each other and Earth, she decides they're not worth saving. Overwhelmed by emotions, Mona is torn between wiping the entirety of Earth with the push of a button and fulfilling her bargain with Penny.
Her to understand the profound depth of human emotions, and discover whether humanity possesses the capacity to heal the wounds they have inflicted upon the world. Can she learn to be human, even with all their faults?
414 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 24, 2023
946 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 12, 2024
I loved this book! First of all, the author NAILED the Bellingham of it all, which was super exciting for me, as I miss that place ALL the time (especially the food). I also enjoyed the nuances of Mona learning more about how people speak as the story went on. There was a lot going on in this book—sibling dynamics, grief, aging, the definition of love and how it’s expressed, not to mention the most overarching question of whether humanity is good for the earth.
There’s a chapter that takes place in a library that manages to be traumatic, funny, and poignant simultaneously, which is not an easy feat.
The narrator for the audiobook was really great. She did a lovely job of making Penny and Mona’s voices unique, and I really loved how she brought the other characters to life too.
There’s a chapter that takes place in a library that manages to be traumatic, funny, and poignant simultaneously, which is not an easy feat.
The narrator for the audiobook was really great. She did a lovely job of making Penny and Mona’s voices unique, and I really loved how she brought the other characters to life too.
October 2, 2023
Mother Nature is upset with humanity and what we have done with her creation. Shes ready to end us all when her sister steps in and offers a deal, live amongst the humans, experience it and then, if you still hate them, go ahead and destroy them.
February 13, 2024
Gosh, I really WANTED to like this book more! I had a lovely chat with the author at a local market where I purchased my copy. The cover art is gorgeous and I love the matte texture, and the paper inside feels high quality. But the story itself, and the editing especially, didn't hit the mark.
I'll talk about the editing issues first - I love to support small presses and I think Rainbow Quartz can have a great future. But there were dozens of spelling and punctuation errors, including extra sets of quotation marks in dialogue and homonyms being substituted for the intended word. There were also numerous instances of tense mixing, where the verb tense would switch from present to past in contexts where it just didn't make sense. The copy needed another pass before going to print.
As for the story, I thought there were some great themes explored here - environmental degradation, empathy, shared humanity, sisterhood, and the beauty of embodied experience. Unfortunately, the plot started out strong but seemed to reach its emotional climax too soon, then fizzled out for the last third of the book. The characters felt shallow and the dialogue same-y. Our protagonist Mona came off as whiny and entitled, and I didn't feel like she had endeared herself to me by the end of the book. A world building note: I wish I knew more about the world Mona and Penny come from, and the significance of the word "Zion/Sion" (it's spelled both ways in the text).
On to some good points: Again, I love the cover, and the formatting of the text is consistent and attractive. The font is large and easy to read. The (spoilers!!) clairvoyant little boy Oliver is a highlight with his funny and insightful comments on life. There's a nice moral dilemma presented when Mona cures a woman with dementia of her memory problems. I also enjoyed the humor and irony in the library scene, when Mona loses her cool over the "murder" of all the trees used to make the paper the books are printed on (after all, I read this as a physical book)!
Ultimately, I think this author and this publisher can do great things, but this offering is rough around the edges. Still, I'll give my copy to a friend or a Little Free Library and hope it makes its way to the right reader! There's a reader for every book after all :)
I'll talk about the editing issues first - I love to support small presses and I think Rainbow Quartz can have a great future. But there were dozens of spelling and punctuation errors, including extra sets of quotation marks in dialogue and homonyms being substituted for the intended word. There were also numerous instances of tense mixing, where the verb tense would switch from present to past in contexts where it just didn't make sense. The copy needed another pass before going to print.
As for the story, I thought there were some great themes explored here - environmental degradation, empathy, shared humanity, sisterhood, and the beauty of embodied experience. Unfortunately, the plot started out strong but seemed to reach its emotional climax too soon, then fizzled out for the last third of the book. The characters felt shallow and the dialogue same-y. Our protagonist Mona came off as whiny and entitled, and I didn't feel like she had endeared herself to me by the end of the book. A world building note: I wish I knew more about the world Mona and Penny come from, and the significance of the word "Zion/Sion" (it's spelled both ways in the text).
On to some good points: Again, I love the cover, and the formatting of the text is consistent and attractive. The font is large and easy to read. The (spoilers!!) clairvoyant little boy Oliver is a highlight with his funny and insightful comments on life. There's a nice moral dilemma presented when Mona cures a woman with dementia of her memory problems. I also enjoyed the humor and irony in the library scene, when Mona loses her cool over the "murder" of all the trees used to make the paper the books are printed on (after all, I read this as a physical book)!
Ultimately, I think this author and this publisher can do great things, but this offering is rough around the edges. Still, I'll give my copy to a friend or a Little Free Library and hope it makes its way to the right reader! There's a reader for every book after all :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews