Glass Domes

by Zella Faye Blanche

I was a good child. I was a good student. I was a good scientist. No, I was a great scientist. I never meant to kill anyone. All I ever wanted to know if brains could be made bigger.

And now it’s too late. It’s out there, somewhere, somehow, killing too many, killing too few. I don’t know if I should be proud or guilty. I don’t know if I want to help. I mean, I should help, right? Destroy my legacy before it destroys my world?

212 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2020

About the author

Zella Faye Blanche has experimented with various occupations: marketing, sales, engineering, scientist… and has finally settled on destroying the world one pen stroke at a time. She currently does so from her perch in the Oakland Hills, where her cat Marley takes great enjoyment in destroying his human’s productivity.

Reviews

[Tracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glass Domes is a debut novel written by Zella Faye Blanche.
It is a Physiological Thriller. It follows the story of the narrator, a scientist who created a brain disease and there is a missing vile of it out in the world.
Hoping the missing vile has been destroyed she goes on with her life until she reads a newspaper.
The story has many highs and lows, following the disease playing havoc with some unforseen people at the start.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, especialy the flashbacks to her childhood and notes regarding diseases which are very insightful and intreguing along with genuinely helping to build the story.

*I received this book as an ARC from the author Zella Faye Blanche for an honest review*

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look into the mind of an aberrant scientist. I couldn’t be sure of the main character's gender. Perhaps I missed something? Some clues led me to believe she is a woman. I found quite a few instances of unisexual characters which I thought unique. The author uses “them” when discussing the lab manager, Taylor. And the yellow blobs (scientists in hazmat suits) are also androgynous (with some later exceptions).
Quite a few chapters are the scientist's lab notes which describe various viruses and bacteria. It was somewhat depressing (and slow-moving) to read these but I suppose important to the storyline. If you are a person who is already low-spirited because of COVID, then I'd recommend you don't read this. Otherwise, it's a thought-provoking look into how a person might downward-spiral into creating a virus that could destroy human life on earth.

Everything that begins will end. The only question is which ending that beginning will have.

I hurried forward, extending my hand, hurriedly introducing myself and apologizing for my lackadaisical appearance, quickly realizing that the person standing in front of me was very androgynous and very much impossible to read.
“Taylor,” they said succinctly, looking me up and down and offering me a very firm handshake. “We’ll talk in the conference room.” I followed them across the hall and through some corridors until we reached a very large, windowless room covered floor to ceiling in white boards. They gestured…

[Marbea Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and tragically written. When the phrase "You're too smart for your own good!", is literally the theme of your life. The complexity of the main character being the antagonist and savior,goes to her fragile mindset growing up. She's destroyed the world,but don't understand truly why. She also truly doesn't know why it needs saving,but it's her job and fault it has to be done. I think she's psychotic,but not of her own making. The fact she wants help to talk and understand herself shows she's not unempathetic.

[Ryan Tang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic book, read it in a single sitting. The writing hooks you to keep reading after every chapter, and the combination of flashbacks and Notes chapters documenting the disease creation progress is extremely well done.

[Donald M Durham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun and disturbing read

Who hasn’t thought of burning it all down?

The author does a good job of relating that thought process ad the road back.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glass Domes is one of the best books I ever read. Not only it is interesting in a way that you don't want to stop reading, but also it describes a combo of an academic success and a live failure from a tiger mom's education style. I recommend the book to all the moms and daddies who are in the process of raising a child, and who want their children to be successful in their lives.

[Coco Cervantes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by its author, but believe me… my 5 stars rating has nothing to do with it; this is a timeless book, yet very ad-hoc with the times we’re living. This is what the Synopsis tells us: “I was a good child. I was a good student. I was a good scientist. No, I was a great scientist. I never meant to kill anyone. All I ever wanted to know if brains could be made bigger.” And this is how we immerse in the mind of a scientist who, at first excited for her achievement after creating a lethal virus, starts realizing life is not “black and white”. The first note for this book, after a somewhat harsh sentence was “Unapologetic”. I loved how the author did not sugar-coat what is rotten in our society, but owned it. We get excellent information about the different diseases and viruses, explained in an easy but interesting way, and it does make you wonder about the nature of the information that is released to us. For example: “One pandemic ends (Smallpox), another begins (HIV/AIDS)”. I learnt about the Wolbachia bacteria and oh how I love it when I can get a bit educated while doing one of my favorite things, reading! There is a part where the author describes the measures that the government is taking to face the pandemics, and guess what? I felt like I was reading that day’s news… My note there was “relatable”.
“There comes a moment in everyone’s life that is so completely overwhelming that instead of doing any sort of appropriate response, they simply remove themselves entirely from the situation (…)”. This is my own philosophy and I apply it every day. I read the book in less than 3 days, and if I could get at least one person to read it, I would be happy. This is a smart, well put, interesting book that needs to be known. I hope the author will keep writing, because I’m sure I’ll read whatever she releases into this world. Standing ovation*