Disclaimer: I received an e-book ARC in exchange for my review by Tenebrous Press.

This story explores a pregnant woman’s life in a near-future world as she faces the decision to either enroll in a near-precedented medical trial once her daughter is born (there have been two or three previous attempts) or give up the therapeutical neurological implant she has been using to deal with her depression and anxiety as she’s not allowed to keep it as a single mother.
We learn some things about this new world, which both seem better at points (there’s a basic universal income), but also worse (people only live in cities, as the landscape outside was destroyed and turned toxic). People can earn money through watching advertisements and others again are looking for a quick adrenaline boost racing through the streets, lost in the world their neural implants portray for them. There is a very clear class divide as well, with the rich living underground in crystal caves, where the air is non-polluted, while the poor cannot leave their houses without wearing masks. But mostly this story focusses on Valya, the main character, as she realizes that her use of the Casual had helped her repress her past and what this will mean for her and her daughter’s future.
Since we spend so much time with Valya, my favorite parts where her interior life and the relationships she forms with others. I found her to be an incredibly compelling character and loved following her journey, uncovering her past alongside her. If you like detailed character studies, then this is certainly a book I can advise you to check out. I also really liked all the other details added to the worldbuilding, which I felt made this story feel very real.
All in all, this is a great story exploring autonomy, motherhood and mental health and one of the best explorations of repressed trauma I’ve read in a while. I really, really enjoyed it.

TW: abusive relationship, addiction, anxiety, csa, depression, experimental technology, medical procedures, panic attacks, pregnancy, ptsd, rape, repressed trauma, self-harm