What do you do when world's population is soaring, the economy is tanking, and you can barely afford to start a family, let alone raise one?

In a dystopian (but not so distant) society, a company called Awakening Entertainment provides a service where you can create an AI child and raise them through VR for a monthly fee of £19.99. The same company creates a reality show called The Family Experiment, in which 6 couples compete for a lucrative cash prize and are given a chance to raise a child in the MetaVerse from the infant stage to the age of 18 in a condensed 9-month period.

This was exhilarating, Black Mirror-esque and a wild ride from start to finish. Its themes tackling the repercussions of AI with regards to job displacements, socioeconomic insecurity, ethical dilemmas, breaches of security and privacy, as well as the loss of human influence are eye-opening. 

It was a bit difficult to get into at first because the author gives an in-depth background of all the participating couples, and it was tricky to remember who's who. I struggled to connect with the characters because it was hard to keep track of all of them but my patience rewarded me. Once I got into the groove of it, I couldn't tear my eyes away from the pages. 

Every bit of this was mind blowing, it was unlike anything I've ever read. I loved all the twists and turns, and the ending was phenomenal.