J.S. Morrison

It was sometimes a bit confusing, and I was left wondering if this book would be as good as I initially thought, but I liked it. The characters were interesting, with complete backstories, sometimes even returning to their childhood. I was a bit slow to understand the world and what was happening, but it was explained reasonably well as I read. I love characters fighting bleak futures, and this was quintessentially that. I was able to place myself in the book since the scenes were explained, at times, almost too well. Overall this was good, and I would recommend it to people who love realistic science fiction.
… (meer)

I received a free copy of this book from Early Reviewers https://www.librarything.com/er/list

I thought the description of this book sounded intriguing and possibly entertaining - genetic engineering, male/female roles, diverse characters. I was a bit wary of requesting another book from the very generous people at Black Rose Writing though - I have found that some of their books needed some serious editing.

I found J. S. Morrison's writing style easy to read, however the story did seem to jump around a bit, and I expect there are large chunks of the story either in the author's head that were never written down, or sitting in the recycle bin on his or his editor's computer. I had to fill in some gaps myself (some from the description given on Early Reviewers) and there were some other gaps that I never figured out (for example, what was going on with Berky and the business with Nadia's feet? Was that really necessary?).

I wasn't quite sure if The Perfection of Fish was meant to be an entertaining romp, or a well-researched and thought provoking novel about sexism and genetic engineering. The author gives a good list of inspirations and references in the acknowledgements, so perhaps the latter?

I found The Perfection of Fish to have lots and lots of intriguing ideas, but it didn't quite hit the spot for me.… (meer)