Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase takes place in some far future Botswana. The world is practically a crime free utopia for men – thanks to a lack of privacy and misogyny. And with body hopping technology, people can practically live forever. The setup is like Minority Report meets Altered Carbon. I think. I’ve only seen part of one of those.
Nelah is a successful and kinda famous architect with a seemingly supportive husband, a seemingly supportive secret lover, and a criminally prone body. (I appreciated the non-divorce of the mind-body connection. You slide into a new body, but the body is not just a used suit.) With Nelah’s body’s criminal history, she’s under heavy surveillance. Her husband can see inside her mind and any crimes will be caught before they happen.
Except not.
She’s having an affair. She and her boyfriend get super high, hit a woman with a car, and bury her in a shallow grave. And they get away with it.
The surveillance is flawed.
Lucky for karmic justice, the woman they killed returns as a vengeful ghost and targets Nelah’s loved ones. Although it seems like the only one on the hitlist that Nelah really loves is her unborn daughter.
And then the story becomes a political conspiracy surveillance thriller. There’s enough foreshadowing and clues to figure out where the story goes, but it’s not all predictable.
I love science fiction, thrillers, and social commentary that has the subtlety of a tornado. Theoretically, I love everything about this book. In reality, I didn’t. It felt like it was one or two drafts away from what it should have been. But I liked it enough to keep an eye out for Tsamaase’s next work. Which also looks exactly like the sort of book I’d love.
