Sweet Harmony
{5/5} “There were actors and actresses, models and singers who ostensibly went for the naturalists’ approach, who were genetically beautiful from birth and didn’t need to worry about what they ate — if you believed the magazines. Harmony didn’t, but even if it was true, she knew that the natural look could never send such a message, such a decisive message about choice, about choosing an identity, as a few carefully judged upgrades could.”
Sweet Harmony by Claire North, published in 2020
Harmony had had nanos for as long as she could remember — usually they just worked and she didn’t think about them. But when she gets a pimple on her face she calls in sick. Then she calls her healthcare provider to find out what the problem is. It turns out that because she hasn’t paid her bill they’re turning off non-essential nanos. She becomes so infuriated that she throws her phone in the toilet — and now it doesn’t work.
This is a novella.
We see in flashbacks what happened with Harmony in various periods of her life and how she came to rely on the nanos.
It’s about going down a slippery slope of buying things that make you feel better but you can’t afford. It’s about the dangers of technology and not reading the fine print.
North paints a vivid world that we understand. It’s a scary story, because it’s about things that could happen to you.
I’ve read 9 books by North. I previously reviewed 84K.