Sarah Lahey

It's 2050, and the world is in serious trouble. Before she disappeared, Quinn's scientist mother unlocked the secret to time travel. To find her and save her planet—and, hopefully, her love life—Quinn must follow the clues she left behind.

The Heartless Series, Book Two

Nostalgia Is Heartless

Kaitee Tredway

A depressed super AI meerkat. Gotta say that meerkat-Mori is, hands down, my favorite thing about this book. (There is also a not-meerkat-Mori who is decidedly less awesome. But for the sake of brevity, please know that the “Mori” referenced from here on out is the meerkat.)

Even though this is the second book in the Heartless series, I was told that it absolutely worked as a stand alone and I was not lied to. Lahey gives you all the info you need to jump into Quinn’s story.

I really loved having a main character in her thirties, pregnant, with a stalled career, who starts off living at home. As someone in her thirties, with a stalled career, and living at home, I could very much relate (except to the pregnant part.) I feel like we don’t get many characters like this and I loved Quinn for it. 

Like in the best sci-fi, this version of our world in 2050 feels simultaneously a little far-fetched but surprisingly familiar. I can easily imagine that we’ve ravaged Earth’s climate. Feel the sadness over the clouds haven’t been seen, the rain that hasn’t fallen. Funerals are being held for icebergs. Humans have augmented themselves. Populations have been hit hard by the flower flu, for which there is still no cure. Cars drive themselves. You get the picture. 

So, Quinn’s life has taken a strange turn: Tig, the father of her baby, is a cyborg who can quote Gilgamesh and they are trying to make a long-distance relationship work. Her mother is missing. There a different factions, with warring interests, trying to decipher her mother’s work and therefore, coming after Quinn. All of this while the Earth is on the brink of climate collapse.

Quinn tries to unravel the mystery around her mother’s disappearance alongside trying to decipher the mystery that is Tig. She also picks up a pair of uniquely-skilled siblings. She’s also trying guide Mori in managing its probable depression. That’s a lot for one pregnant climate scientist. The book is very plot-driven and I quite enjoyed Lahey’s style. It was very frank and to-the-point, almost scientific. Quinn is the character that we get the most emotion from, though often it comes from a place of probing and observation rather than just sitting in the feelings. If you’re a super character-driven reader, you may have a harder time with this book. On the flipside, if you love intricate dystopian futures, scientific puzzles and mysteries and a plot the chugs along, this is a book for you!

Overall, I really enjoyed this piece of climate sci-fi and definitely plan on going and picking up book one! (And book three whenever it comes!)

Nostalgia Is Heartless The Heartless Series, Book Two

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