What do you think?
Rate this book
The Human Son
Solaris Spring 2020 Lead Title from critically acclaimed author, Adrian J. Walker
A startling, emotional, beautiful (and at times funny) book – one that feels like the best sort of science fiction, a book that should be enjoyed widely, a book that speaks of what it is to be human, a parent, and a child.
It is 500 years in the future and Earth is no longer populated by humans.
The new guardians of Earth, the genetically engineered Erta, have reversed climate change. They are now faced with a dilemma; if they reintroduce the rebellious and violent Homo Sapiens, all of their work will be undone.
They decide to raise one final child; a sole human to help decide if humanity should again inherit the Earth.
But the quiet and clinical Ima finds that there is more to raising a human than she had expected; and there is more to humanity’s history than she has been told.
A startling, emotional, beautiful (and at times funny) book – one that feels like the best sort of science fiction, a book that should be enjoyed widely, a book that speaks of what it is to be human, a parent, and a child.
It is 500 years in the future and Earth is no longer populated by humans.
The new guardians of Earth, the genetically engineered Erta, have reversed climate change. They are now faced with a dilemma; if they reintroduce the rebellious and violent Homo Sapiens, all of their work will be undone.
They decide to raise one final child; a sole human to help decide if humanity should again inherit the Earth.
But the quiet and clinical Ima finds that there is more to raising a human than she had expected; and there is more to humanity’s history than she has been told.
473 pages, Paperback
First published April 28, 2020
178 people are currently reading
1416 people want to read
About the author
Adrian J. Walker
15 books430 followersAdrian J Walker was born in the bush suburbs of Sydney, Australia in the mid '70s. After his father found a camper van in a ditch, he moved his family back to the UK, where Adrian was raised.
His second novel, The End of the World Running Club, is a post-apocalyptic running fable about hope, love and endurance. It is being published by Del Rey UK, in May 2016.
His third novel, Colours, is the first part in a dystopian sci-fi trilogy and is available now.
His second novel, The End of the World Running Club, is a post-apocalyptic running fable about hope, love and endurance. It is being published by Del Rey UK, in May 2016.
His third novel, Colours, is the first part in a dystopian sci-fi trilogy and is available now.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 202 reviews
November 1, 2023
500 YEARS IN THE FUTURE, EARTH IS A PARADISE....WITHOUT US.
Humanity no longer exists. Instead, Earth is populated by approximately 11,111 Erta.
Erta was created by humans in order to try to help save the world.
However the Erta realise that the way for Earth to survive is to allow humans to die out, and then they can go about saving the planet.
Once everything is complete, one Erta points out that they should reintroduce humans to Earth; the majority disagree because of humanity's destructive nature and the threat of the planet being destroyed once again - making all of their work in saving the planet pointless.
They decide to create a single human life as a test subject, an Erta has been given the responsibility of raising the child, and the story follows her development through his life. From seeing him as a test subject to realising that she loves him as she struggles through the various aspects of parenting.
•
•
This one is beautifully written with complex characters, I can see it being a future classic.
There's a few bits where it slows down due to 'scientific' stuff, and I put it down, but I kept going back to it, and I'm glad I did because I loved it!
I can’t recommend this highly enough!
Humanity no longer exists. Instead, Earth is populated by approximately 11,111 Erta.
Erta was created by humans in order to try to help save the world.
However the Erta realise that the way for Earth to survive is to allow humans to die out, and then they can go about saving the planet.
Once everything is complete, one Erta points out that they should reintroduce humans to Earth; the majority disagree because of humanity's destructive nature and the threat of the planet being destroyed once again - making all of their work in saving the planet pointless.
They decide to create a single human life as a test subject, an Erta has been given the responsibility of raising the child, and the story follows her development through his life. From seeing him as a test subject to realising that she loves him as she struggles through the various aspects of parenting.
•
•
This one is beautifully written with complex characters, I can see it being a future classic.
There's a few bits where it slows down due to 'scientific' stuff, and I put it down, but I kept going back to it, and I'm glad I did because I loved it!
I can’t recommend this highly enough!
April 29, 2020
The Human Son is the initial instalment in a proposed new speculative science fiction series set against the backdrop of near-future Earth and a time in which humanity has become extinct with the planet now under the patronage of the Erta, a genetically engineered race who have managed to reverse the indescribable damage humans had done via climate change. Both homo sapiens’ proclivity to engage in wars for financial and/or political gain or work towards imperialistic objectives hold negative connotations when it comes to the Erta deciding whether to place another human on the planet. But not only do they lack critical information when it comes to the recent history of the homo sapiens but they realise that we can teach them such a lot about a multitude of topics and about what it really means to be a “human being”.
Given the situation we as a planet and species currently find ourselves, this is a genuinely terrifying, thought-provoking and all-too-real narrative; for some this will cut a little too close to the bone as it successfully gets under your skin and very much warps your psyche, but that is precisely what makes it work so fantastically well. In parts, it is wickedly funny, full of wit and insight, and emotionally resonant throughout. It explores ubiquitous hot-button topics in a way that doesn't feel like preaching or self-serving. This is a book I recommend to all of those who value ”human nature” and our uniqueness in this vast universe.
An entertaining and richly-imagined tale, it is cleverly plotted and stunningly perceptive about our species. The cast of characters is made up of those who are engaging and beautifully developed penned with a sense of urgency and purpose in sparkling prose. Very much a philosophical and experimental piece. It’s no wonder Stephen King has praised it. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Solaris for an ARC.
Given the situation we as a planet and species currently find ourselves, this is a genuinely terrifying, thought-provoking and all-too-real narrative; for some this will cut a little too close to the bone as it successfully gets under your skin and very much warps your psyche, but that is precisely what makes it work so fantastically well. In parts, it is wickedly funny, full of wit and insight, and emotionally resonant throughout. It explores ubiquitous hot-button topics in a way that doesn't feel like preaching or self-serving. This is a book I recommend to all of those who value ”human nature” and our uniqueness in this vast universe.
An entertaining and richly-imagined tale, it is cleverly plotted and stunningly perceptive about our species. The cast of characters is made up of those who are engaging and beautifully developed penned with a sense of urgency and purpose in sparkling prose. Very much a philosophical and experimental piece. It’s no wonder Stephen King has praised it. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Solaris for an ARC.
January 25, 2020
3.5/5
Before we get to the review, you need to know a few things about me. I dislike children. I have a low opinion of humanity in general. I hope for a sustainable future but I doubt we’ll get there. The Human Son’s idealization of human imperfections doesn’t sit well with me. And yet I enjoyed the book and found it well-written, thoughtful, and immersive.
In 2031, climate change had already taken hold of the planet and was on the brink of being irreversible. To mend a broken planet, scientists created Erta. They resemble humans, except they’re larger, stronger, faster and more robust. Thanks to immune systems enhanced by swarms of self-replicating nanomites trained to destroy illness, they live much longer.
Their behavior and actions stem from cold logic and they remain calm and unemotional most of the time.
In few decades Erta replaced humans. But there was a deal. After repairing the planet, Erta were supposed to bring back humanity. Not all of them feel the need to do so but the deal is the deal. They create one human-child and approach its upbringing as an experiment. Ima, tasked with the child, grows fond of it whereas other Erta find it irritating, clumsy and loud.
The story covers almost two decades of the experiment. Page by page, Walker ups the ante for his confused and sympathetic protagonist. Each day Ima discovers new emotions and gets to learn new things about herself and the world she lives in. At the same time she discovers that Erta’s past and history may contain false data and missing pieces.
I’m not sure how to rate this book. It contains plenty of cheap, obvious thoughts I’m sure many readers will highlight and relate to (“Looking after something that is not you is the most wonderful thing. It frees you from yourself”. “This is what sex is: the exorcism of pleasure’s shadow”). But it also contains many passages with a strong emotional and intellectual load I appreciated.
Parts of the conflict feed on a dangerous assumption that logic thinking hinders innovation and creativity. Separating logical and creative thinking is dangerous stereotyping because it skews our understanding of creativity. I won’t delve into neuroscience here, but a lot of the conflict in the book stems from the flawed assumptions.
Beyond the debatable aspects of the plot, however, the layers to this novel are deep and thoughtful, forcing readers to look at humanity from a different perspective. The writing and the strong narrative voice kept me engaged in the story and I’m sure parents will relate to Ima’s emotional struggles and discoveries associated with raising a human child.
ARC through NetGalley
Before we get to the review, you need to know a few things about me. I dislike children. I have a low opinion of humanity in general. I hope for a sustainable future but I doubt we’ll get there. The Human Son’s idealization of human imperfections doesn’t sit well with me. And yet I enjoyed the book and found it well-written, thoughtful, and immersive.
In 2031, climate change had already taken hold of the planet and was on the brink of being irreversible. To mend a broken planet, scientists created Erta. They resemble humans, except they’re larger, stronger, faster and more robust. Thanks to immune systems enhanced by swarms of self-replicating nanomites trained to destroy illness, they live much longer.
Their behavior and actions stem from cold logic and they remain calm and unemotional most of the time.
In few decades Erta replaced humans. But there was a deal. After repairing the planet, Erta were supposed to bring back humanity. Not all of them feel the need to do so but the deal is the deal. They create one human-child and approach its upbringing as an experiment. Ima, tasked with the child, grows fond of it whereas other Erta find it irritating, clumsy and loud.
The story covers almost two decades of the experiment. Page by page, Walker ups the ante for his confused and sympathetic protagonist. Each day Ima discovers new emotions and gets to learn new things about herself and the world she lives in. At the same time she discovers that Erta’s past and history may contain false data and missing pieces.
I’m not sure how to rate this book. It contains plenty of cheap, obvious thoughts I’m sure many readers will highlight and relate to (“Looking after something that is not you is the most wonderful thing. It frees you from yourself”. “This is what sex is: the exorcism of pleasure’s shadow”). But it also contains many passages with a strong emotional and intellectual load I appreciated.
Parts of the conflict feed on a dangerous assumption that logic thinking hinders innovation and creativity. Separating logical and creative thinking is dangerous stereotyping because it skews our understanding of creativity. I won’t delve into neuroscience here, but a lot of the conflict in the book stems from the flawed assumptions.
Beyond the debatable aspects of the plot, however, the layers to this novel are deep and thoughtful, forcing readers to look at humanity from a different perspective. The writing and the strong narrative voice kept me engaged in the story and I’m sure parents will relate to Ima’s emotional struggles and discoveries associated with raising a human child.
ARC through NetGalley
May 28, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a lovely story of rejuvenation, acceptance and just being.
The story is well written and philosophically told in a manner that is not preachy or presumptuous. The story reads as a warm atmospheric look into "what if".
The Erta are a race of long living, stronger, faster, genetically altered human-like beings, devised by humans. Their purpose is to try to find a way to save the Earth, which is on the brink of being destroyed through climate change, litter, etc. The Erta are logical and precise. Humans must go.
Now it is 500 years later, the Earth is again pristine and a human child is born, through technology, as an experiment to determine whether the human race should and could live on Earth and not repeat their mistakes.
This is a funny, heartfelt, interesting and tender story of a logical being raising a child when a child has not been seen on Earth for 500 years.
Following almost two decades of "data collection", the story centres on the human's growth and development of beginning afresh in a fresh World.
The story is well written and philosophically told in a manner that is not preachy or presumptuous. The story reads as a warm atmospheric look into "what if".
The Erta are a race of long living, stronger, faster, genetically altered human-like beings, devised by humans. Their purpose is to try to find a way to save the Earth, which is on the brink of being destroyed through climate change, litter, etc. The Erta are logical and precise. Humans must go.
Now it is 500 years later, the Earth is again pristine and a human child is born, through technology, as an experiment to determine whether the human race should and could live on Earth and not repeat their mistakes.
This is a funny, heartfelt, interesting and tender story of a logical being raising a child when a child has not been seen on Earth for 500 years.
Following almost two decades of "data collection", the story centres on the human's growth and development of beginning afresh in a fresh World.
February 6, 2022
What a gorgeous and unique story.
Long after humans have destroyed the planet and become extinct, a manmade species called Erta try to fix things and bring humanity back to life.
They decide on their course by engineering a single baby, a boy. His actions and behaviour will decide whether they will continue with their plan or whether humanity’s nature to destroy is embedded deeply within our DNA.
Ima is the Erta who takes on the task of bringing up Reed, the human boy who she seems is just an experiment. As he grows and changes she realises she loves her child, and will do almost anything to protect him.
A story that revolves around a mothers love, a species destroyed, a planet redeemed and remade. I really loved this one, and feel as though this will stick with me for a while 🌍
Long after humans have destroyed the planet and become extinct, a manmade species called Erta try to fix things and bring humanity back to life.
They decide on their course by engineering a single baby, a boy. His actions and behaviour will decide whether they will continue with their plan or whether humanity’s nature to destroy is embedded deeply within our DNA.
Ima is the Erta who takes on the task of bringing up Reed, the human boy who she seems is just an experiment. As he grows and changes she realises she loves her child, and will do almost anything to protect him.
A story that revolves around a mothers love, a species destroyed, a planet redeemed and remade. I really loved this one, and feel as though this will stick with me for a while 🌍
August 31, 2022
Sweet and engrossing, individual's examination of human existence and the experience of compassion. Droll and heartwarmingly intimate domesticity, reminiscent of the perceptive and guardedly sympathetic tones of Matt Haig and David Gerrold, with some fantastically devised societal level stakes, corresponding to works akin to Childhood's End.
Precious and profound.
(Some highlights in the reading updates below.)
Precious and profound.
(Some highlights in the reading updates below.)
Read
May 15, 2024I’m finally giving up at 14%. I just cannot get into this book. The narrator is not human (not that there’s anything wrong with that! 😄), and the way she thinks and processes bores me to tears. I wanted to love this, but I keep doing other things except reading this because I’m finding it tedious.
I’m not giving it a rating in here, since I DNF’d.
It *is* well-written, and I’m convinced that other people probably will like it.
I received an advance copy from NetGalley and Solaris Nova (thank you!). All opinions are my own.
I’m not giving it a rating in here, since I DNF’d.
It *is* well-written, and I’m convinced that other people probably will like it.
I received an advance copy from NetGalley and Solaris Nova (thank you!). All opinions are my own.
June 16, 2020
This ended up having some thematic overlap with Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler, which I'm also currently reading! An introspective look at what happens when those who fixed the world decide whether or not humans should return to live in it.
November 13, 2021
I’m late to the game with Adrian J. Walker’s writing. I read his fantastic novel ‘The End of the World Running Club’ not that long ago, and really, really enjoyed it. I wanted to check out more of his work, and ‘The Human Son’ was the novel that really seemed to leap out and speak to me the most.
One thing I often find interesting, to my reading brain at least, is that 99% of what I read is typically what I’d deem ‘hard horror.’ The other 1% is filled with the other genres that have my interest – sci-fi, some non-fiction, the occasional thriller and once in a while the releases considered speculative fiction. I’m not great with the genre labels, but ‘The Human Son’ does seem to sit firmly in the dystopian/speculative/sci-fi realm.
The story picks up roughly 500 years after the last human on earth has died. Now, a collection of Ertlings, human-like inhabitants that were created by the humans to return the earth to a livable/inhabitable condition are nearing the end of their time. They’ve achieved their tasks and are setting the stage for Transcendence, when they’ll leave this realm and travel somewhere else.
What I liked: With a synopsis like that I was intrigued to see what Walker would do with it and where he’d take the story. The part that really got me intrigued was as these Ertlings were planning to leave, they decided to create a single human, a boy, and see if this boy would grow and prosper and make different decisions than the humans who destroyed the world.
This book tackles a huge scope of ideas and real world issues. Climate change, hierarchy of residents, stereotypes, social stigma’s, race and gender roles and even what truly determines if someone is someone’s parent. The book has so many seemingly innocent moments that broke my heart. It’s the journey of a parent watching their child grow up and coming to the realization that they won’t always be there to protect their loved one. As the father of a five year old (at the time of this review) I see this in so many things. Of his growing independence, his developing of friends which will soon lead to less time for me, and even just in how he’s developing and getting smarter and smarter. Infinitely proud but also filled with a sorrow that soon our time that we share together won’t be the same. Soon, he’ll move away and only call sporadically.
The story is told through the perspective of Ima, an Ertling who’d previously been in charge with repairing the sky and the air on earth. Now that her purpose is complete, she volunteers to raise the human son and determine if he is capable of change and if the human race should be reintroduced to the planet.
I loved seeing the may Ima changed over time and went from a data collector who only cared about analysis to a caring, empathetic and emotional being.
Walker does a great job of keeping tension throughout a book that on its surface, really shouldn’t have that much tension. I absolutely HAD to know what happened next and it didn’t take long before I was pushing my other books I’m reading to the side to solely focus on this one.
Lastly, the ending of this book is both spectacular and had me bawling my eyes out. Beautiful, poignant and heartbreaking, but also filled with so much hope.
What I didn’t like: To be upfront, I’m not sure how well this book will resonate or connect with people who’re not parents of any kind – be it kid or animal. I fear that some parts may come off as tedious, repetitive and boring, but wow did these moments bring me back to the early days of raising my son and going through all of that.
Why you should buy this: This is one of the reasons why speculative fiction can work so very well and this book both posits so many questions but also tries to give us some answers. This is accessible sci-fi, accessible dystopian fiction and the bonus was, we get a book that isn’t filled with war and violence and death. Walker is a true master and this book just hits so many highs that it’s a shame that I had to finish it. Well done, and a world I’ll never forget.
One thing I often find interesting, to my reading brain at least, is that 99% of what I read is typically what I’d deem ‘hard horror.’ The other 1% is filled with the other genres that have my interest – sci-fi, some non-fiction, the occasional thriller and once in a while the releases considered speculative fiction. I’m not great with the genre labels, but ‘The Human Son’ does seem to sit firmly in the dystopian/speculative/sci-fi realm.
The story picks up roughly 500 years after the last human on earth has died. Now, a collection of Ertlings, human-like inhabitants that were created by the humans to return the earth to a livable/inhabitable condition are nearing the end of their time. They’ve achieved their tasks and are setting the stage for Transcendence, when they’ll leave this realm and travel somewhere else.
What I liked: With a synopsis like that I was intrigued to see what Walker would do with it and where he’d take the story. The part that really got me intrigued was as these Ertlings were planning to leave, they decided to create a single human, a boy, and see if this boy would grow and prosper and make different decisions than the humans who destroyed the world.
This book tackles a huge scope of ideas and real world issues. Climate change, hierarchy of residents, stereotypes, social stigma’s, race and gender roles and even what truly determines if someone is someone’s parent. The book has so many seemingly innocent moments that broke my heart. It’s the journey of a parent watching their child grow up and coming to the realization that they won’t always be there to protect their loved one. As the father of a five year old (at the time of this review) I see this in so many things. Of his growing independence, his developing of friends which will soon lead to less time for me, and even just in how he’s developing and getting smarter and smarter. Infinitely proud but also filled with a sorrow that soon our time that we share together won’t be the same. Soon, he’ll move away and only call sporadically.
The story is told through the perspective of Ima, an Ertling who’d previously been in charge with repairing the sky and the air on earth. Now that her purpose is complete, she volunteers to raise the human son and determine if he is capable of change and if the human race should be reintroduced to the planet.
I loved seeing the may Ima changed over time and went from a data collector who only cared about analysis to a caring, empathetic and emotional being.
Walker does a great job of keeping tension throughout a book that on its surface, really shouldn’t have that much tension. I absolutely HAD to know what happened next and it didn’t take long before I was pushing my other books I’m reading to the side to solely focus on this one.
Lastly, the ending of this book is both spectacular and had me bawling my eyes out. Beautiful, poignant and heartbreaking, but also filled with so much hope.
What I didn’t like: To be upfront, I’m not sure how well this book will resonate or connect with people who’re not parents of any kind – be it kid or animal. I fear that some parts may come off as tedious, repetitive and boring, but wow did these moments bring me back to the early days of raising my son and going through all of that.
Why you should buy this: This is one of the reasons why speculative fiction can work so very well and this book both posits so many questions but also tries to give us some answers. This is accessible sci-fi, accessible dystopian fiction and the bonus was, we get a book that isn’t filled with war and violence and death. Walker is a true master and this book just hits so many highs that it’s a shame that I had to finish it. Well done, and a world I’ll never forget.
May 1, 2020
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
This book... it spoke to me, okay? Not only about what it means to be a human being, but what it means to be a parent. And this isn't to say you won't love it if you aren't one, but it just made it extra special for me, I think. In this story, a species of lab-grown Erta are tasked with restoring Earth to its pre-human state. They've succeeded, but now have a decision to make: Does humanity deserve a second shot at existence?
How do they decide this? By grabbing a human embryo out of the lab, and growing it, of course! Ima is a scientist through and through; she assumes she will have no issues at all unbiasedly raising said human child. All Erta have been engineered to take out the "worst" of human traits, and are both genetically built and trained from birth to forgo emotion and respond to logic. Ima has done this for centuries, and doesn't see this being a problem.
But as every parent knows, Ima is wrong. And we, the reader, get to undertake this incredible journey with her. Not only is the child not hers biologically, he isn't even her species. Ima and the rest of the Erta are about to find out how very little that matters.
This book attempts (and I think does an incredible job) of defining humanity. What makes us who we are, as both a whole and individually? Are we doomed to fight and pollute and kill? Or are we more than that? I won't be telling you anymore about this book, because you need to discover these answers for yourself. But you can be assured that you will find an incredibly powerful, emotive story. It's beyond morally gray, and will examine both Erta and human history and politics. How we're different, how we aren't at all. And, it has a ton of fun, light-hearted moments that are such a perfect balance for the grittier bits.
Bottom Line: I fell completely in love with this book, with heart seeping out of every page. Gorgeous writing, complex characters, and a very dynamic world made this one of the best books of the year.
This book... it spoke to me, okay? Not only about what it means to be a human being, but what it means to be a parent. And this isn't to say you won't love it if you aren't one, but it just made it extra special for me, I think. In this story, a species of lab-grown Erta are tasked with restoring Earth to its pre-human state. They've succeeded, but now have a decision to make: Does humanity deserve a second shot at existence?
How do they decide this? By grabbing a human embryo out of the lab, and growing it, of course! Ima is a scientist through and through; she assumes she will have no issues at all unbiasedly raising said human child. All Erta have been engineered to take out the "worst" of human traits, and are both genetically built and trained from birth to forgo emotion and respond to logic. Ima has done this for centuries, and doesn't see this being a problem.
But as every parent knows, Ima is wrong. And we, the reader, get to undertake this incredible journey with her. Not only is the child not hers biologically, he isn't even her species. Ima and the rest of the Erta are about to find out how very little that matters.
This book attempts (and I think does an incredible job) of defining humanity. What makes us who we are, as both a whole and individually? Are we doomed to fight and pollute and kill? Or are we more than that? I won't be telling you anymore about this book, because you need to discover these answers for yourself. But you can be assured that you will find an incredibly powerful, emotive story. It's beyond morally gray, and will examine both Erta and human history and politics. How we're different, how we aren't at all. And, it has a ton of fun, light-hearted moments that are such a perfect balance for the grittier bits.
Bottom Line: I fell completely in love with this book, with heart seeping out of every page. Gorgeous writing, complex characters, and a very dynamic world made this one of the best books of the year.
March 10, 2020
The Human Son is an entertaining yet thought provoking tale, highly imaginative but with a lot of insight within.
In a world that humans have destroyed, the Erta are created to bring the planet back to its former glory once the last of us dies out. Later one human child is born, a kind of experiment- but some have a different agenda and the child's "mother" is about to get a whole lot of life lessons...
I really enjoyed this, it was beautifully layered and unexpectedly compelling. The "what is it to be human " question is asked a lot in fiction and The Human Son offers something a little different in that regard. It is an intelligent speculative novel that is a delight to read and leaves you with a fair few emotions to sort through.
Recommended.
In a world that humans have destroyed, the Erta are created to bring the planet back to its former glory once the last of us dies out. Later one human child is born, a kind of experiment- but some have a different agenda and the child's "mother" is about to get a whole lot of life lessons...
I really enjoyed this, it was beautifully layered and unexpectedly compelling. The "what is it to be human " question is asked a lot in fiction and The Human Son offers something a little different in that regard. It is an intelligent speculative novel that is a delight to read and leaves you with a fair few emotions to sort through.
Recommended.
August 27, 2020
**I was gifted a copy of this book by Rebellion Publishing in exchange for an honest review**
The Human Son is speculative/science fiction story set in the distant future where humanity is now extinct, and a genetically engineered and enhanced species known as the Erta have been working to restore the earth to its natural pre-human condition.
Their purpose has now been met, the earth is fixed and so the big questions arise – what do the Erta do now and should human life be reintroduced to the planet?
As a species designed without emotions and established to follow logic the Erta make the decision to conduct an experiment – raise a human child as a means to decide whether or not humanity is worth saving.
Through the voice of Ima, the Erta who volunteered to raise the child, Walker narrates a 16 year period of ‘parenthood’ as though it is being recounted for the child to hear. I loved how this gave the story an air of timelessness - of being told a tale from long ago despite being set way into the future. This also helped to create a sense of familiarity with the protagonist.
I personally liked Ima’s character from the point she stepped onto the page. Her rational attitude towards everything, along with being slightly comical, did well to depict how challenging and alien bringing up a new-born initially seems. Her journey of opening up to compassion and an understanding beyond logic, of learning that not everything in life adds up to a quantifiable value or equation, was engrossing. As was reading about how the Erta as a species overall were affected by the new variables being added to their customary way of life.
Quite different from your average post-apocalyptic story, this book paints an imaginative vision of the future as well as a thought-provoking discourse on humanity and I really enjoyed it.
Final Rating - 4/5 Stars
The Human Son is speculative/science fiction story set in the distant future where humanity is now extinct, and a genetically engineered and enhanced species known as the Erta have been working to restore the earth to its natural pre-human condition.
Their purpose has now been met, the earth is fixed and so the big questions arise – what do the Erta do now and should human life be reintroduced to the planet?
As a species designed without emotions and established to follow logic the Erta make the decision to conduct an experiment – raise a human child as a means to decide whether or not humanity is worth saving.
Through the voice of Ima, the Erta who volunteered to raise the child, Walker narrates a 16 year period of ‘parenthood’ as though it is being recounted for the child to hear. I loved how this gave the story an air of timelessness - of being told a tale from long ago despite being set way into the future. This also helped to create a sense of familiarity with the protagonist.
I personally liked Ima’s character from the point she stepped onto the page. Her rational attitude towards everything, along with being slightly comical, did well to depict how challenging and alien bringing up a new-born initially seems. Her journey of opening up to compassion and an understanding beyond logic, of learning that not everything in life adds up to a quantifiable value or equation, was engrossing. As was reading about how the Erta as a species overall were affected by the new variables being added to their customary way of life.
Quite different from your average post-apocalyptic story, this book paints an imaginative vision of the future as well as a thought-provoking discourse on humanity and I really enjoyed it.
Final Rating - 4/5 Stars
January 20, 2024
Wow. Did not expect to like this, not really in to fantasy but I do love Adrian Walkers other books so wanted to chance it and thank god I did. It was thought provoking, and so well written that I could actually imagine it. I never wanted to stop reading and am sad it had to end. Great book, definitely worth the read.
February 13, 2023
Nice stuff. Are humans human because we all want to create art or because we're all going die lol
October 28, 2022
I didn't think that Adrian Walker could write a book as good as The Last Dog On Earth but this was an absolute JOY!!! I laughed, a lot. I teared up, also. Possibly my favourite book of the year.
January 24, 2020
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.
It's 500 years in the future and the humanity is gone. The Earth's inhabitants and guardians are genetically engineered beings, called the Erta, created with the purpose of stabilize and heal the planet. Now that their purpose is achieved they have to decide what to do: resurrect the Homo sapiens like they promised they would and risk the planet's health again or let the humanity vanish for good. They decide to raise one child, an experiment, to see if humanity is worth saving.
Ima, an Erta that was responsible for the atmosphere's health, is chosen as his "mother". But the logical and rational Erta finds herself with a challenge she didn't thought would be so bigger, bringing her to question her life and beliefs.
The Human son is a sci-fi story, told in first person by Ima, who spent all her existence believing in equations, rules, agreement, purpose and that sees her whole life disrupted by her "son' " existence.
Unbelievably funny are her memories about Reed's first days of life and years, her inability to know why he cried so much, why an infant would wake up so many times at night, how to feed him, why he needed so much time and space. From being an important member of her community in Fane, a scientist, the atmosphere's hero, alone on her balloon, Reed's presence pushes her away from other Erta, who can't understand (or won't) her "project" and start to see her as an unusual Erta, alienating her.
Told by her POV, the reader follows Ima and Reed as they grow, as they discover they love and care for each other, as Reed starts to talk, to walk, to discover the world around him, as Jorne begins to be an important part of both Reed's and Ima's life, as Ima starts to question the truths she always believed in.
As Ima discovers the Sundra's way of life, Jorne and follows Reed's curiosity about the world, becoming more and more "human", detatching herself from her old beliefs and truths, so the Erta start to become different from what they were and disagreement and violence spread, while they try to escape the Earth, using the trascendence.
The human son is a wonderful sci-fi book, a tale of love, growth, truth and humanity. Seen from an "alien" (so to speak, since Ima isn't human) it shows the damage inflicted on Earth by humans and their greed and indifference, so it's a book with strong themes and messages about what it means to be human, to love, to care, to protect.
I found this book beautiful and captivating. I was fascinated by Ima and the Erta and I liked her relationship with Reed, reading its development, from being her "project" to her son.
The relationship between Ima and Reed is one of the most strong and important in The Human son, but the one with Jorne is important too, because through his help and presence, Ima starts to see Reed as son, to ask herself question, to try to discover the truth.
I devoured this book, because it was fluid, but in some parts there was too much scientific prose and processes explained, so it slowed the book, almost stalling my reading.
But it's a negligible detail, because the story is moving, funny. The Human son is almost a love letter from a mother to a son, talking about what it means to be human, to love, to see another being grow and change.
It's 500 years in the future and the humanity is gone. The Earth's inhabitants and guardians are genetically engineered beings, called the Erta, created with the purpose of stabilize and heal the planet. Now that their purpose is achieved they have to decide what to do: resurrect the Homo sapiens like they promised they would and risk the planet's health again or let the humanity vanish for good. They decide to raise one child, an experiment, to see if humanity is worth saving.
Ima, an Erta that was responsible for the atmosphere's health, is chosen as his "mother". But the logical and rational Erta finds herself with a challenge she didn't thought would be so bigger, bringing her to question her life and beliefs.
The Human son is a sci-fi story, told in first person by Ima, who spent all her existence believing in equations, rules, agreement, purpose and that sees her whole life disrupted by her "son' " existence.
Unbelievably funny are her memories about Reed's first days of life and years, her inability to know why he cried so much, why an infant would wake up so many times at night, how to feed him, why he needed so much time and space. From being an important member of her community in Fane, a scientist, the atmosphere's hero, alone on her balloon, Reed's presence pushes her away from other Erta, who can't understand (or won't) her "project" and start to see her as an unusual Erta, alienating her.
Told by her POV, the reader follows Ima and Reed as they grow, as they discover they love and care for each other, as Reed starts to talk, to walk, to discover the world around him, as Jorne begins to be an important part of both Reed's and Ima's life, as Ima starts to question the truths she always believed in.
As Ima discovers the Sundra's way of life, Jorne and follows Reed's curiosity about the world, becoming more and more "human", detatching herself from her old beliefs and truths, so the Erta start to become different from what they were and disagreement and violence spread, while they try to escape the Earth, using the trascendence.
The human son is a wonderful sci-fi book, a tale of love, growth, truth and humanity. Seen from an "alien" (so to speak, since Ima isn't human) it shows the damage inflicted on Earth by humans and their greed and indifference, so it's a book with strong themes and messages about what it means to be human, to love, to care, to protect.
I found this book beautiful and captivating. I was fascinated by Ima and the Erta and I liked her relationship with Reed, reading its development, from being her "project" to her son.
The relationship between Ima and Reed is one of the most strong and important in The Human son, but the one with Jorne is important too, because through his help and presence, Ima starts to see Reed as son, to ask herself question, to try to discover the truth.
I devoured this book, because it was fluid, but in some parts there was too much scientific prose and processes explained, so it slowed the book, almost stalling my reading.
But it's a negligible detail, because the story is moving, funny. The Human son is almost a love letter from a mother to a son, talking about what it means to be human, to love, to see another being grow and change.
October 11, 2021
I honestly don't know how to describe this book. In my head it's an odd combination of 1 part Children of Men, 1 part I, Robot, some Left Hand of Darkness, and some C.J. Cherryh, all mixed in with a coming of age story, but which character is coming of age?
Let's start with the good... the writing itself it excellent; literary without falling into pretentiousness, crisp and concise but still skirting the edges of poetic when called upon. The world building is fantastic for a book of modest length. We are exposed to such a small geographical area of the world and a relatively short period of time (considering the general scale of the story's timeline), and yet I feel like I have a firm grasp on where the novel's people and environment are currently at, as well as how they got there. The character development is also quite remarkable on both fronts; Reed and Ima develop in such different ways, and both are masterfully told.
I find this type of book difficult to recommend though, which (along with the character development) is primarily why I think of C.J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union Universe. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and can easily talk about what I think Walker did well, but just not a lot happens. For someone who shares my exact reading preferences, I know this won't be an issue, but so many people are looking for action and adventure, plot driven stories, and THS just doesn't fit in that category. The plot is important, but only in the way that it drives the character arcs. Plot as a secondary focus is not what drives page turning or book sales, and for so many who only read sparingly, character development just doesn't do enough.
I guess what I'm trying to say is: there is a lot to like about this book, and I really enjoyed it... but I'm not sure if you will. I think you have to know yourself as a reader. Are you looking for a sci-fi action romp? or are you satisfied with a more literary and philosophical work, using science fiction as the setting/vehicle? Can you appreciate the craftmanship of the writing rather than simply yearn for a thrilling plot? And are you happy to be driven to thought by what you read? or are you hoping for a mindless diversion while sitting on the beach? 1 set of answers would suggest to me that you should give THS a shot. The other... maybe skip this one.
Let's start with the good... the writing itself it excellent; literary without falling into pretentiousness, crisp and concise but still skirting the edges of poetic when called upon. The world building is fantastic for a book of modest length. We are exposed to such a small geographical area of the world and a relatively short period of time (considering the general scale of the story's timeline), and yet I feel like I have a firm grasp on where the novel's people and environment are currently at, as well as how they got there. The character development is also quite remarkable on both fronts; Reed and Ima develop in such different ways, and both are masterfully told.
I find this type of book difficult to recommend though, which (along with the character development) is primarily why I think of C.J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union Universe. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and can easily talk about what I think Walker did well, but just not a lot happens. For someone who shares my exact reading preferences, I know this won't be an issue, but so many people are looking for action and adventure, plot driven stories, and THS just doesn't fit in that category. The plot is important, but only in the way that it drives the character arcs. Plot as a secondary focus is not what drives page turning or book sales, and for so many who only read sparingly, character development just doesn't do enough.
I guess what I'm trying to say is: there is a lot to like about this book, and I really enjoyed it... but I'm not sure if you will. I think you have to know yourself as a reader. Are you looking for a sci-fi action romp? or are you satisfied with a more literary and philosophical work, using science fiction as the setting/vehicle? Can you appreciate the craftmanship of the writing rather than simply yearn for a thrilling plot? And are you happy to be driven to thought by what you read? or are you hoping for a mindless diversion while sitting on the beach? 1 set of answers would suggest to me that you should give THS a shot. The other... maybe skip this one.
July 13, 2020
I quite enjoyed this book. The premise of a genetically modified superior race, the Erta, repairing the mess humanity has made of the earth and then debating whether or not to bring humans back intrigued me. One Erta is chosen to raise a human as an experiment.
There is a lot of humor in the early years as the child's "mother," Ima faces the perplexities common to all parents of newborns. Ima is very stiff and brittle at the beginning. The main body of the story is focused on the changes she undergoes as the care-giver of Reed, the titular human son. There is a lot of conflict between Ima and the rest of the Erta over the practicality of her experiment which is exacerbated by the desire to "transcend," or move on as a race now that their task on earth is complete.
I enjoyed the character growth seen in Ima and Reed as the story unfolds. It was like watching two children grow, rather than one. Ima's journey of self discovery made the book very enjoyable as a whole. Recommended.
There is a lot of humor in the early years as the child's "mother," Ima faces the perplexities common to all parents of newborns. Ima is very stiff and brittle at the beginning. The main body of the story is focused on the changes she undergoes as the care-giver of Reed, the titular human son. There is a lot of conflict between Ima and the rest of the Erta over the practicality of her experiment which is exacerbated by the desire to "transcend," or move on as a race now that their task on earth is complete.
I enjoyed the character growth seen in Ima and Reed as the story unfolds. It was like watching two children grow, rather than one. Ima's journey of self discovery made the book very enjoyable as a whole. Recommended.
May 20, 2020
Great premise but I found myself bored throughout and think the book was a bit too long. The ending was underwhelming.
February 8, 2021
I interviewed the author and talked at length about this book.
Check it out:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...
https://youtu.be/KEc_1lq0Yug
At the risk of sound hyperbolic, The Human Son is a beautiful example of powerful, thoughtful, and carefully crafted speculative fiction. It is kind of impossible not to think of this novel without taking massive swings at the nature of humanity, parenthood, and the existence of the species itself. On the surface, this novel is CLI-FI set five and a half centuries from now after the last breath of a single human was taken in Sweden.
Don’t be too sad about it this happening, it was the plan, besides you and I are not exactly doing enough to prevent this future. Are we?
The Human Son is the third novel I have read by Adrian Walker who I discovered like many other people - when Stephen King tweeted that he had a great find at the Toronto airport. That book was Walker’s novel End of the World Running Club. It is a nerve-racking suspense-filled novel that feels like a journey for the reader as much as the characters. The book is almost 500 pages but it is a quick read and the story cooks. Once the main characters take off on their run that drives the story, the journey not only explores survival but themes of family and the limits of endurance.
I also read Last Dog on Earth which I liked but I had a hard time with large sections of the book being in a dog’s first-person narrative. It pushed my suspension of disbelief a little too far. That said Walker won my attention fully with Running Club. Also, the elevator pitch of A Dog’s Purpose meets The Road is pretty crazy awesome.
Walker really enjoys the end of the world. Those first two novels are more fun suspense-driven but here Walker delivered a thoughtful masterpiece of Sci-fi. What Walker brings is narratives that are driven by deeply felt emotional moments. In Running Club, this really invested the reader. This story doesn’t have the action and suspense driving it, however, that doesn’t matter I was fully engaged. It could be that the themes hit my buttons but I was still very invested in the characters. The theme of family biological or otherwise appears to be the thread that ties Walker’s work together.
I do come to this book from a weird angle. In many ways, The Human Son is about parenthood, and environmentalism, as a person who did choose not to have children in part because of ecological reasons this book hit me differently than most. It is about parenthood and in that sense, I can intellectually understand but I am sure some of that feeling is lost. I think the balance of frustrations and joy that are the yin and yang experience of growing a human is a huge part of this story.
The majority of the characters are from a subhuman species the Erta who was genetically engineered by some of the last humans with the purpose of rehabbing the earth to make it livable again. The Erta is hyper-intelligent, strong, and don’t have to deal with as many emotions and hangs as we do. They specialize and over their long lives, they accomplished their goals.
For 500 years they lived in a small community in Sweden and managed to fix the climate crisis and now they have a dilemma. Should they reintroduce the human race? The test will be Reed one human boy and he will be raised by an Erta Ima. Her specialty was cleaning the sky, and now her work is done. After years of traveling by Balloon, her new purpose raises the lone human.
Thus begins a journey of motherhood that is at times both alien and very relatable. There are moments of very natural parental reaction. The conflict of the final act is unavoidable. Despite being predictable but since I was invested and into the story it still worked perfectly for me. Of course, some of Erta objects to the human child. After seeing the paradise earth has become it is not a surprise that some of Erta don’t see the value in the human race. Not to say there is not a twist or surprises but the path there is clear.
On a technical level, the prose of this novel is tricky, slipping naturally from second person to first person and back and forth. The reason is Ima is writing this book for Reed. Normally I am not a huge fan of first-person and one of those reasons is a bit of a problem here. We know Reed and Ima survive for her to write and for him to read it. That said the way the story is told to Reed and the reader by proxy is so wonderful I fell into the flow of the novel easily.
The debate over Reed bubbles up on page 336 when Benedikt who is Erta admits that the child was engineered with challenges that made failure more likely. Ima experiences the challenges most parents feel when their child faces natural challenges. The differences between the Erta and flawed humans because the basis of the debate.
“Don’t you see Ima? It had to be this way. You and I were born in clear tanks with clear minds and a clear purpose. Reed’s species crawled from the mud into a world that wanted to kill them, and no idea how to live in it. Utopia is no place for them to prove themselves.”
Every parent wants their children to have everything they want and need. The pain of seeing your kids struggle is hard. Walker also faced the trouble of how do you set a story in a utopia, well it has to fall. It is a sad narrative reality but Reed had to be the oil poisoning the clear water. With their mission done there is no place for Reed in the future of Erta who plans to leave earth and Transcend. The question is do humans deserve to live?
“I have spent my life planning transcendence, five centuries planning our escape from this rock. We don’t belong here, Ima, not in this place of beasts or hurricanes. But they do. This is where they thrive in dark places.”
There is a heartbreaking moment that is a bit of a spoiler so you might want to avoid this comment if you don’t want to know. In the last pages of the book (428) Reed learns that some of the Erta is determined not to let him survive. Early in the book, we know that the humans mostly agreed to the extinction in hopes the Erta would bring them back. That was the plan. One of the most heartbreaking moments is when Reed faced the end pleads with Ima that some humans must have survived, or hidden.
“What about underground? Or high in the mountains? Space? They had rockets. Maybe a different planet.”
“It is not possible.”
“It must be. I can’t be alone.”
All Ima can do at that point is say is that she is sorry.
The Human Son is a great example of cli-fi and an important entry in the subgenre. It is a novel about parenthood but also the weight of choice to have children in an overpopulated and resource stressed world. I don’t know if that was Walker’s intention but it felt that way to me.
“Like it or not Reed you are human.”
“I don’t feel human,” You sat up and pointed at the projector. “I’ve seen them on that thing. They were monsters. All those bombs and guns, all those wars.”
“All the fighting you mean?” Your eyes found a cornerin which to sulk. I walked to the window and pulled the blinds. “Anyway, that’s not the only thing they did.”
I could be wrong but it seems this debate is at the heart of this novel's mission statement. It walks the line like a tightrope between dystopia and utopia. At the heart is Science fiction at its best. Making us think deeply about the world today through the lens of tomorrow. Great stuff. Read it, please.
Check it out:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...
https://youtu.be/KEc_1lq0Yug
At the risk of sound hyperbolic, The Human Son is a beautiful example of powerful, thoughtful, and carefully crafted speculative fiction. It is kind of impossible not to think of this novel without taking massive swings at the nature of humanity, parenthood, and the existence of the species itself. On the surface, this novel is CLI-FI set five and a half centuries from now after the last breath of a single human was taken in Sweden.
Don’t be too sad about it this happening, it was the plan, besides you and I are not exactly doing enough to prevent this future. Are we?
The Human Son is the third novel I have read by Adrian Walker who I discovered like many other people - when Stephen King tweeted that he had a great find at the Toronto airport. That book was Walker’s novel End of the World Running Club. It is a nerve-racking suspense-filled novel that feels like a journey for the reader as much as the characters. The book is almost 500 pages but it is a quick read and the story cooks. Once the main characters take off on their run that drives the story, the journey not only explores survival but themes of family and the limits of endurance.
I also read Last Dog on Earth which I liked but I had a hard time with large sections of the book being in a dog’s first-person narrative. It pushed my suspension of disbelief a little too far. That said Walker won my attention fully with Running Club. Also, the elevator pitch of A Dog’s Purpose meets The Road is pretty crazy awesome.
Walker really enjoys the end of the world. Those first two novels are more fun suspense-driven but here Walker delivered a thoughtful masterpiece of Sci-fi. What Walker brings is narratives that are driven by deeply felt emotional moments. In Running Club, this really invested the reader. This story doesn’t have the action and suspense driving it, however, that doesn’t matter I was fully engaged. It could be that the themes hit my buttons but I was still very invested in the characters. The theme of family biological or otherwise appears to be the thread that ties Walker’s work together.
I do come to this book from a weird angle. In many ways, The Human Son is about parenthood, and environmentalism, as a person who did choose not to have children in part because of ecological reasons this book hit me differently than most. It is about parenthood and in that sense, I can intellectually understand but I am sure some of that feeling is lost. I think the balance of frustrations and joy that are the yin and yang experience of growing a human is a huge part of this story.
The majority of the characters are from a subhuman species the Erta who was genetically engineered by some of the last humans with the purpose of rehabbing the earth to make it livable again. The Erta is hyper-intelligent, strong, and don’t have to deal with as many emotions and hangs as we do. They specialize and over their long lives, they accomplished their goals.
For 500 years they lived in a small community in Sweden and managed to fix the climate crisis and now they have a dilemma. Should they reintroduce the human race? The test will be Reed one human boy and he will be raised by an Erta Ima. Her specialty was cleaning the sky, and now her work is done. After years of traveling by Balloon, her new purpose raises the lone human.
Thus begins a journey of motherhood that is at times both alien and very relatable. There are moments of very natural parental reaction. The conflict of the final act is unavoidable. Despite being predictable but since I was invested and into the story it still worked perfectly for me. Of course, some of Erta objects to the human child. After seeing the paradise earth has become it is not a surprise that some of Erta don’t see the value in the human race. Not to say there is not a twist or surprises but the path there is clear.
On a technical level, the prose of this novel is tricky, slipping naturally from second person to first person and back and forth. The reason is Ima is writing this book for Reed. Normally I am not a huge fan of first-person and one of those reasons is a bit of a problem here. We know Reed and Ima survive for her to write and for him to read it. That said the way the story is told to Reed and the reader by proxy is so wonderful I fell into the flow of the novel easily.
The debate over Reed bubbles up on page 336 when Benedikt who is Erta admits that the child was engineered with challenges that made failure more likely. Ima experiences the challenges most parents feel when their child faces natural challenges. The differences between the Erta and flawed humans because the basis of the debate.
“Don’t you see Ima? It had to be this way. You and I were born in clear tanks with clear minds and a clear purpose. Reed’s species crawled from the mud into a world that wanted to kill them, and no idea how to live in it. Utopia is no place for them to prove themselves.”
Every parent wants their children to have everything they want and need. The pain of seeing your kids struggle is hard. Walker also faced the trouble of how do you set a story in a utopia, well it has to fall. It is a sad narrative reality but Reed had to be the oil poisoning the clear water. With their mission done there is no place for Reed in the future of Erta who plans to leave earth and Transcend. The question is do humans deserve to live?
“I have spent my life planning transcendence, five centuries planning our escape from this rock. We don’t belong here, Ima, not in this place of beasts or hurricanes. But they do. This is where they thrive in dark places.”
There is a heartbreaking moment that is a bit of a spoiler so you might want to avoid this comment if you don’t want to know. In the last pages of the book (428) Reed learns that some of the Erta is determined not to let him survive. Early in the book, we know that the humans mostly agreed to the extinction in hopes the Erta would bring them back. That was the plan. One of the most heartbreaking moments is when Reed faced the end pleads with Ima that some humans must have survived, or hidden.
“What about underground? Or high in the mountains? Space? They had rockets. Maybe a different planet.”
“It is not possible.”
“It must be. I can’t be alone.”
All Ima can do at that point is say is that she is sorry.
The Human Son is a great example of cli-fi and an important entry in the subgenre. It is a novel about parenthood but also the weight of choice to have children in an overpopulated and resource stressed world. I don’t know if that was Walker’s intention but it felt that way to me.
“Like it or not Reed you are human.”
“I don’t feel human,” You sat up and pointed at the projector. “I’ve seen them on that thing. They were monsters. All those bombs and guns, all those wars.”
“All the fighting you mean?” Your eyes found a cornerin which to sulk. I walked to the window and pulled the blinds. “Anyway, that’s not the only thing they did.”
I could be wrong but it seems this debate is at the heart of this novel's mission statement. It walks the line like a tightrope between dystopia and utopia. At the heart is Science fiction at its best. Making us think deeply about the world today through the lens of tomorrow. Great stuff. Read it, please.
April 3, 2025
3.5 stars.
An adult Erta raises a human boy from infancy, learning much about humans in the process, but also about herself, and her fellow beings.
Hundreds of years earlier, the Earth was falilng apart due to depletion of its resources and polluting of its skies and oceans, as well as big and unpredictable changes to its climate. A call was issued to anyone on Earth who might have ideas to address the problems, and a genetic engineer/transhumanist in Sweden, Dr. Nystrom, answered, by creating Erta, a heavily modified new species started from humans, but diverting heavily from the seed stock. The Erta was tasked with cleaning up and stabilizing the climate, and humanity was sterilized so that the species would go extinct.
The story picks up centuries after this, and the Earth seems stable and repaired, and there is great debate about whether or not to reintroduce humanity to Earth. Ima is tasked with raising a baby human, and asked to report on her findings: is the human rational?, can humans be trusted?, Should more be made?
Ima is confident raising a baby to adulthood will be easy peasy, as she has successfully cleaned up the atmosphere over centuries. She very, very quickly learns just how difficult, physically and mentally, to keep a baby alive and healthy, and we follow her adventures, so to speak, in parenthood, and the stresses this places on her, and her immediate neighbours, other erta in the small settlement she lives in. Everyone is frankly horrified by the constant noise and mess, and Ima is isolated, but also refuses help from anyone, until she finally gives in and begins relying on Jorne, another Nystrom-modified being that was made to do the hard manual labour and the like for the erta.
The pacing is very slow and it took me till about a third of the way into the story to really get into it. Ima's initial arrogance and misunderstanding about caring for a helpless baby were so funny; conversely, author Adrian J. Walker captured her exhaustion, frustration, and the sheer repetitiveness of her early months well.
As the years pass, Ima notices that the normally placid Erta, who are excited that their work is done and are looking forward to trancendence (moving beyond a physical existence), are beginning to exhibit anger, strife, and violence, something unheard of in all their previous years of life.
Walker proposes a future that, for all the successes achieved by the Erta, kind of grim, where the Erta must decide whether humans can be trusted to treat their planet well. The Erta make good arguments against reintroducing homo sapiens, whose propensity for war and greed have brought our planet to the mess it is in now.
At the same time, the Erta have prejudices against humans, such that some of the things that make our species so interesting (the creation of art in all its forms) are not considered in their decisions.
I wish the pacing had been tighter, as I found the book took a long time to get engaging, but once it did, I was hooked. Ima is conflicted about her project, while also wholeheartedly falling in love with her young charge, whose curiosity and imagination show her that the Erta should not be too quick to dismiss the species.
The ending was good, and I loved the writing of the last few paragraphs, in particular, which left me in tears.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Solaris for this ARC in exchange for my review.
An adult Erta raises a human boy from infancy, learning much about humans in the process, but also about herself, and her fellow beings.
Hundreds of years earlier, the Earth was falilng apart due to depletion of its resources and polluting of its skies and oceans, as well as big and unpredictable changes to its climate. A call was issued to anyone on Earth who might have ideas to address the problems, and a genetic engineer/transhumanist in Sweden, Dr. Nystrom, answered, by creating Erta, a heavily modified new species started from humans, but diverting heavily from the seed stock. The Erta was tasked with cleaning up and stabilizing the climate, and humanity was sterilized so that the species would go extinct.
The story picks up centuries after this, and the Earth seems stable and repaired, and there is great debate about whether or not to reintroduce humanity to Earth. Ima is tasked with raising a baby human, and asked to report on her findings: is the human rational?, can humans be trusted?, Should more be made?
Ima is confident raising a baby to adulthood will be easy peasy, as she has successfully cleaned up the atmosphere over centuries. She very, very quickly learns just how difficult, physically and mentally, to keep a baby alive and healthy, and we follow her adventures, so to speak, in parenthood, and the stresses this places on her, and her immediate neighbours, other erta in the small settlement she lives in. Everyone is frankly horrified by the constant noise and mess, and Ima is isolated, but also refuses help from anyone, until she finally gives in and begins relying on Jorne, another Nystrom-modified being that was made to do the hard manual labour and the like for the erta.
The pacing is very slow and it took me till about a third of the way into the story to really get into it. Ima's initial arrogance and misunderstanding about caring for a helpless baby were so funny; conversely, author Adrian J. Walker captured her exhaustion, frustration, and the sheer repetitiveness of her early months well.
As the years pass, Ima notices that the normally placid Erta, who are excited that their work is done and are looking forward to trancendence (moving beyond a physical existence), are beginning to exhibit anger, strife, and violence, something unheard of in all their previous years of life.
Walker proposes a future that, for all the successes achieved by the Erta, kind of grim, where the Erta must decide whether humans can be trusted to treat their planet well. The Erta make good arguments against reintroducing homo sapiens, whose propensity for war and greed have brought our planet to the mess it is in now.
At the same time, the Erta have prejudices against humans, such that some of the things that make our species so interesting (the creation of art in all its forms) are not considered in their decisions.
I wish the pacing had been tighter, as I found the book took a long time to get engaging, but once it did, I was hooked. Ima is conflicted about her project, while also wholeheartedly falling in love with her young charge, whose curiosity and imagination show her that the Erta should not be too quick to dismiss the species.
The ending was good, and I loved the writing of the last few paragraphs, in particular, which left me in tears.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Solaris for this ARC in exchange for my review.
April 28, 2020
Introspective post-apocalyptic sci-fi with a finger on the pulse of what it means to be a parent.
Several centuries into Earth's future and the planet is no longer populated with humans. The Erta, genetically engineered by the previous colonisers, have spent hundreds of years reversing the damage done by humans. Now, as they prepare to leave, their work done ("do not multiply more than you can sustain, do not consume more than you need, do not create more than is necessary"), the decision must be made as to whether they reintroduce people to the planet, potentially to make the same mistakes twice. A single human baby is generated, with Ima volunteering to raise him, very different to her centuries spent in the skies (I have spent my life studying and manipulating the chemistry of the atmosphere"). She will be dispassionate, logical and neutral in her assessments of the growing human. Taking care of his needs will be systematic and uninvolved, and a decision can be taken when he reaches manhood.
The story arcs through Ima's whole experience of taking the small bundle back to her abode soon after his birth and follows her experiences as a 'parent', whilst also showing how those inside and outside of child-rearing view it.
Walker brings a huge amount of empathy and understanding to the details of the nurturing investigation. Any adult who has gone through this will feel a huge amount of sympathy and also a little schadenfreude for the complacency of Ima, the logical and rather cold being whose whole life and way of looking at the world drastically alters.
Swaddled inside the larger story is this one of a parent and child, both learning together. This is a human story. The world-wide plot, of Etra's society, values and future is the science fiction side, and I loved picturing the abodes, the look of the Etra, how members fit together in their roles and eventually finding out the history of humans and their creations.
Watching the human child grow up felt very familiar, as a parent with two of my own boys, and seeing him reach the age of questioning, of change, was movingly conveyed. It all gave pause for thought, with a plot that felt close to home and certainly less improbable than you might like. And there were some laughs to be had along the way, especially with some early-on parenting mistakes/lessons that a lot of readers will find familiar.
Really poignant, intriguing and compassionate story and characters. Highly recommended.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.
Several centuries into Earth's future and the planet is no longer populated with humans. The Erta, genetically engineered by the previous colonisers, have spent hundreds of years reversing the damage done by humans. Now, as they prepare to leave, their work done ("do not multiply more than you can sustain, do not consume more than you need, do not create more than is necessary"), the decision must be made as to whether they reintroduce people to the planet, potentially to make the same mistakes twice. A single human baby is generated, with Ima volunteering to raise him, very different to her centuries spent in the skies (I have spent my life studying and manipulating the chemistry of the atmosphere"). She will be dispassionate, logical and neutral in her assessments of the growing human. Taking care of his needs will be systematic and uninvolved, and a decision can be taken when he reaches manhood.
The story arcs through Ima's whole experience of taking the small bundle back to her abode soon after his birth and follows her experiences as a 'parent', whilst also showing how those inside and outside of child-rearing view it.
Walker brings a huge amount of empathy and understanding to the details of the nurturing investigation. Any adult who has gone through this will feel a huge amount of sympathy and also a little schadenfreude for the complacency of Ima, the logical and rather cold being whose whole life and way of looking at the world drastically alters.
Swaddled inside the larger story is this one of a parent and child, both learning together. This is a human story. The world-wide plot, of Etra's society, values and future is the science fiction side, and I loved picturing the abodes, the look of the Etra, how members fit together in their roles and eventually finding out the history of humans and their creations.
Watching the human child grow up felt very familiar, as a parent with two of my own boys, and seeing him reach the age of questioning, of change, was movingly conveyed. It all gave pause for thought, with a plot that felt close to home and certainly less improbable than you might like. And there were some laughs to be had along the way, especially with some early-on parenting mistakes/lessons that a lot of readers will find familiar.
Really poignant, intriguing and compassionate story and characters. Highly recommended.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.
May 11, 2020
I read this book in two days, and it came at a very apt time in two ways. It was mother’s day yesterday and also the current virus roaming the world. There are only mentions of a ‘virus’ in this dystopia(of sorts), but there are parallels many of our idle minds would most certainly draw. The motherhood, however, is a central theme.
The story begins in a forced utopia. A new species was created for the sole purpose of guiding our planet to safety when climate change and the ensuing destruction completely wreck our system. What begins as a hopeful enterprise turns into something else. To stick to their purpose, the Erta set the planet into balance again. Every other species but that of humans was allowed to come back and populate Earth, the skies and waters were cleared up, and all that remains now is the big question of what happens next. I may look like I am revealing a lot of the plot, but this book was about none of those things I just mentioned. It is the background and the ‘function’ of the narrative, but it is mainly about one Erta-Ima. Ima is an Erta who thrives on data and needs to compute emotions or even fundamental interactions until she starts to foster a human baby. A lot rides on this experiment, but the gradual change that comes over Ima is the life of the book.
There is a raw, primal description of what Ima feels for this extremely ‘weak’ species as time passes. This is in the form of a letter to the son, and we can see how the story unfolds. One of the intense thought processes tackled here includes the purposefulness of life and what happens ‘after’. It is written in an engrossing manner, and it captured my attention. Being a quick read also helped with how I felt. I would highly recommend it to readers of the sci-fi genres who lookout for more introspection and heart in the stories. The content leans more towards the mind and questions than actual physical violence between any two feuding parties.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.
The story begins in a forced utopia. A new species was created for the sole purpose of guiding our planet to safety when climate change and the ensuing destruction completely wreck our system. What begins as a hopeful enterprise turns into something else. To stick to their purpose, the Erta set the planet into balance again. Every other species but that of humans was allowed to come back and populate Earth, the skies and waters were cleared up, and all that remains now is the big question of what happens next. I may look like I am revealing a lot of the plot, but this book was about none of those things I just mentioned. It is the background and the ‘function’ of the narrative, but it is mainly about one Erta-Ima. Ima is an Erta who thrives on data and needs to compute emotions or even fundamental interactions until she starts to foster a human baby. A lot rides on this experiment, but the gradual change that comes over Ima is the life of the book.
There is a raw, primal description of what Ima feels for this extremely ‘weak’ species as time passes. This is in the form of a letter to the son, and we can see how the story unfolds. One of the intense thought processes tackled here includes the purposefulness of life and what happens ‘after’. It is written in an engrossing manner, and it captured my attention. Being a quick read also helped with how I felt. I would highly recommend it to readers of the sci-fi genres who lookout for more introspection and heart in the stories. The content leans more towards the mind and questions than actual physical violence between any two feuding parties.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.
January 21, 2022
I loved the idea of this book, humans have all died out and a superior race has came along to fix the world back to its natural state- it sounded so cool and interesting. one of my favourite things was how relatable they made it, it was actually kind of scary. It spoke about how the human world ended as they over consumed, polluted, allowed social media to distort their minds and ended up selfish- and I think if you take a look at our current issues, they relate a lot to the topics mentioned throughout this book. It definitely makes you stop and thinking, reflecting on what you know.
my biggest issue (and its not an issue with the author) is that im a character/plot driven type of person, and excessive world building can be boring to me sometimes, and this is what this book was. the world was interesting and I loved hearing about how humans died out, but there were parts where entire chapters were pure world building and nothing happened. It just kind of dragged for me in certain parts.
I love the characters, i loved the overall plot and the dining was shocking- there were just too many parts I didn’t really enjoy.
my biggest issue (and its not an issue with the author) is that im a character/plot driven type of person, and excessive world building can be boring to me sometimes, and this is what this book was. the world was interesting and I loved hearing about how humans died out, but there were parts where entire chapters were pure world building and nothing happened. It just kind of dragged for me in certain parts.
I love the characters, i loved the overall plot and the dining was shocking- there were just too many parts I didn’t really enjoy.
January 31, 2020
I really enjoyed this story of a world where humans have been eradicated, the planet has been brought back from the brink of total destruction and all is monitored by a powerful species of Ertas. Though it seems they have no flaws, the cracks begin to show amongst the Erta when a human is created as a test to determine if the human race should have another chance at occupying Earth - an Earth that they very nearly destroyed centuries earlier. This one has heart, humor, a lot of science, and quite a few philosophical twists. The ending confused me and some parts seemed overly long, but I loved the message of the story.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
October 23, 2021
Asked for this as a Christmas gift as I really enjoy the authors work. Set in the future after humanity has succumbed to extinction and the planet has healed, now only having a population of approximately 11,111 Erta. The story follows Ima and Reed, an Erta and a human, given as a trial to see if humanity could be returned to the Earth.
I enjoyed this on multiple different levels. We had just the trials and tribulations of a boy growing up and a mother trying to care for her, but all throughout there were little side plots still relating to Reed that built into the overall story and added suspense.
A thoroughly enjoyable and breathtaking read.
I enjoyed this on multiple different levels. We had just the trials and tribulations of a boy growing up and a mother trying to care for her, but all throughout there were little side plots still relating to Reed that built into the overall story and added suspense.
A thoroughly enjoyable and breathtaking read.
January 12, 2023
I'm a big fan of speculative fiction and dystopian novels, and The Human Son is an excellent example of these genres! Ima, the main character and narrator, is an Erta - a genetically designed humanoid created to clean up the Earth after mankind destroys the environment through climate change. Erta are created to be more intelligent, stronger, faster, and more healthy than humans. They are bred to NOT have what are considered human failings, like compassion, fear, and other human emotions. They were each engineered to have a purpose in restoring Earth - but the plan goes awry when the Erta decide to end the human race entirely. In the end, it is humanity, in all it's messy emotional complexity that bring about the end of the Erta and the resurgence of the human race. My first 5 star book of the year!
August 24, 2024
A really intriguing science fiction read. From the beginning, the brief blurb had me hooked. It really is an interesting plot and the characters are great. The idea that there is a superior race to fix our world back to its "proper natural state" is interesting and some parts felt really close to some current societal issues. My main issue was that it felt a little long, I think there are some parts that definitely could have been trimmed down. And similar to that, there was a lot of world building, I think that bogged down the plot and flow a bit for me. Overall, a solid sci-fi read.
January 25, 2020
The Human Son by Adrian J Walker. Original and quirky premise. Mr Walker tells a story that at times is amusing or thought provoking of Ima and her emotional struggles and discoveries and everyday trials in raising a human child.
Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.
Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.
May 29, 2020
Wow! Fantastic post-apocalyptic book. The author did such an amazing job in crafting this story. Loved it from the first few chapters, and couldn't put it down till I was finished. This was picked for an online book club, and thought I would give it a try. I'm kinda hoping for a sequel to this. I'm definitely going to read this author's other titles.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 202 reviews