July 27, 2016

The Many Selves of Katherine North - Emma Geen


Bloomsbury Publishing, June 2, 2016.



Five Stars



Kit is nineteen years old, and she has been working for the research department of the Shen Corporation for seven years. Her research is conducted by projecting her consciousness into the bodies of lab-grown animals, and her youth is valued in the industry because she is more flexible at adapting to these animal bodies. She has had the opportunity to experience many different lives, seeing the world through the eyes of an octopus, an elephant and a spider, to name a few – but her most powerful connection has been to her fox self. When the fox body she inhabits is hit by a car and killed, Kit’s entire career is called into question.


Kit is a Phenomenaut, and she enters an animal body – called a ResExtenda, or Ressy – through a neurological interface. When she is inRessy, her only connection to the “real” world is her Neuro, named Buckley, who is able to communicate with her throughout the experience. He is her most trusted friend, the voice that guides her through her projections, so when she begins to doubt him, her whole world is called into question. Suddenly, Kit finds it hard to engage with her real body and begins to relinquish her humanity, becoming more animalistic in her behavior. The feeling that her original body is no longer hers feels like “insidious, chronic doubt.” (Loc. 1732) If she can’t trust Buckley, the voice that’s always inside her head, then she can no longer trust herself.


After the death of her fox Ressy, Kit is moved from research to tourism – the Shen Corporation is branching out, and they want to profit from sending regular people inRessy, for a very high price. Kit knows it isn’t right, but she has no choice. She feels that her purpose as a Phenomenaut is to study ecology and preserve endangered species, encouraging empathy for those who can’t speak for themselves. She compares Phenomenautism to reading fiction because it is “like wearing another skin,” and understanding how others think and feel. The corporate bureaucrats say tourism will create empathy too, but they have taken something almost magical and disguised it with double-speak.


If you are able to suspend disbelief of the Phenomenaut technology, this becomes a really intriguing, philosophical story, exploring many ethically ambiguous issues. Because the Ressy bodies are essentially printed in a giant 3D printer, the next step becomes the printing of human bodies, which is morally questionable but somehow seems completely possible. I really appreciated that the author didn’t go overboard explaining the technology in detail – she gives us just enough to imagine the possibilities. She cleverly uses a classroom of children who are touring the facility to explain the Ressy experience – the science is dumbed down for the reader without interrupting the narrative flow. In my opinion, that’s what makes this speculative fiction instead of sci-fi – there is not as much science/world-building, but instead it is more of a framework used to express philosophical ideas about a potential future world.


Kit’s voice is so well developed that it easily carries her character seamlessly through each animal body – she is sharp, caustic and edgy, but at the same time her mind is thoughtful and authentic. She expresses herself with a maturity beyond her age, but it makes sense because she experiences so much empathy for her animal host bodies. The sections where Kit is inRessy are incredible – it’s hard to believe that the author hasn’t had these experiences herself. Seeing the world through the eyes of these diverse creatures is amazing, and I felt like I was completely immersed in their worlds.


This is such a strong story in every way, especially for a debut novel. I could really see this as a movie in the same vein as “The Hunger Games” – it is young/new adult writing with a serious edge. Either way, I can’t wait to read whatever Emma Geen does next. She finishes the novel with a great disclaimer, reminding the reader that she is not a scientist, but that her research was extensive. She writes that “[s]cience permits only one truth, one reality. But what if there are other valid ways of knowing? What if the world is not one, but multitude, with as many ways of being as there are beings? What if literature were the opportunity to glimpse such refractions, thrown by the world as though from a diamond?” (Loc. 3789) This is the true purpose of literature, I think, and that is why this novel spoke to me so clearly.


I received this novel from Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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