Yours for the Taking: A Novel

by Gabrielle Korn

The year is 2050. Ava and her girlfriend live in what's left of Brooklyn, and though they love each other, it's hard to find happiness while the effects of climate change rapidly eclipse their world. Soon, it won't be safe outside at all. The only people guaranteed survival are the ones whose applications are accepted to The Inside Project, a series of weather-safe, city-sized structures around the world.

The director of the Inside being built on the bones of Manhattan is Jacqueline Millender, a reclusive billionaire/women’s rights advocate. Her ideas are unorthodox, yet alluring, challenging the very concept of empowerment.

Shelby, a business major from a working-class family, is drawn to Jacqueline’s promises of power and impact. When she lands a job as Jacqueline’s personal assistant, she's swept up into the glamourous world of corporatised feminism. Also drawn into Jacqueline's orbit is Olympia, who Jacqueline recruits to run the health department Inside. The more Olympia learns about the project, though, the more she realizes there's something else at play. As Ava, Olympia, and Shelby start to notice the cracks in the system, Jacqueline tightens her grip, becoming increasingly dangerous in what she is willing to do - and who she is willing to sacrifice - to keep her dream alive.

At once a mesmerising story of queer love, betrayal, and chosen family, and an unflinching indictment of cis, corporate feminism, Yours for the Taking holds a mirror to our own world, in all its beauty and horror.

• ISBN10: 1250283361
• ISBN13: 9781250283368
• Publish Date: 15 January 2024
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: http://melia.co.uk/page/detail/?k=9781250283368

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

Book Summary:

The world is dying. Nobody wants to admit it, but that's the truth. Some people are coming together to create a plan, but only time will tell how effective they are. One such plan is to create safe cities – completely walled off from the weather (and those outside).

Jacqueline Millender is personally funding Manhattan City. However...she has a few unorthodox plans for her city. Ironically, she doesn't even plan on living in the city. She merely wishes to establish it and see how it turns out. Or so she says.

My Review:

I love how creative Yours for the Taking was. Despite the many common elements, it's wholly unlike any other dystopian I've read. I've read a few "bunker-style" survival novels, and this isn't like those. It's something different and compelling.

One of the highlights of Yours for the Taking is how it addresses many important topics. There's the obvious (environmentalism, conversation, etc), but there are a few surprises as well. Most of them stem from Jacqueleine's biases and behaviors – racism, classism, sexism, you name it.

What is interesting is how this novel almost feels like two distinct books, depending on the perspective. The first generation for the city feels more like a political drama of sorts. Meanwhile, the younger generation (I'm trying to avoid spoilers, so forgive the generic terminology here) had strong The Pretties vibes (for me, at least).

In addition to the above elements, there's at least one romantic subplot and several lessons for the readers to pick up. I appreciated the unique blend of storytelling styles and perspectives. I'm adding Gabrielle Korn to my author-watch list.

Highlights:
Science Fiction
Dystopian
Bubble Cities
Multiple Perspectives

You Can Also Find Me On:
Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks | Quirky Cat's Comics | The Book Review Crew | Monkeys Fighting Robots | Storygraph | Bookhype | Bookstagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Reedsy

[chymerra]

Important things you need to know about the book:

Pace: The pace of Yours for the Taking held steady at a medium fast pace.

POV: Yours for the Taking was told in 1st person, 3rd person, and 2nd person POV.

Trigger/Content Warning: Yours for the Taking has trigger and content warnings. If any of these triggers you, I suggest not reading the book. They are:

• Transphobia
• Confinement
• Grief
• Death
• Emotional Abuse
• Mental Illness
• Misogyny
• Suicide
• Medical Trauma
• Death of a parent
• Pregnancy
• Gaslighting
• Classism
• Ableism
• Bullying
• Panic attack/disorders
• Self-harm
• Rape
• Slavery
• Toxic Relationships
• Violence
• Forced Institutionalization
• Medical Content
• Kidnapping
• Lesbophobia
• Pandemic/Edemic
• Body Horror
• Suicidal Thoughts
• Abandonment
• Refugee Experiences
• Workplace Harassment
• Depression
• Drugging
• Eugenics
• Loss of autonomy
• Climate Change

Sexual Content: Yours for the Taking has moderate to graphic sexual content.

Language: There is moderate to graphic swearing in Yours for the Taking. Also, terminology and language will be offensive to most readers.

Setting: Yours for the Taking is set in a dystopian New York City.

Age Range: I recommend Yours for the Taking to anyone over 21.

Plot Synopsis (as spoiler-free as I can get):

In 2050, the world is ravaged by climate change. When a reclusive billionaire/women’s rights advocate decides to build climate-safe, domed cities, it is a ray of hope for most people. Ava is one of those people, and when she is selected to live in the Manhattan Inside, she is thrilled. But, when her girlfriend, Orchid, isn’t selected, Ava is forced to journey to The Inside alone. Once settled, Ava learns of a program that will guarantee her better meals and rooms. But, doing this program would mean doing something she never planned–becoming a mother.

Jacqueline Millender is the reclusive billionaire/women’s rights advocate who pitched the idea of The Inside Project to donors. She wants to make a perfect world where women and men run equally. Or does she? There are secrets hidden from her donors and the people who run the day-to-day administration of The Inside Project. These secrets can make the project (and Jacqueline’s lifestyle) crash and burn.

Shelby is a young, bright transwoman who wants to make an impact in the world. Horrified by the effects of climate change, she hears about Jacqueline and her life as a women’s rights advocate. So, when Shelby becomes Jacqueline’s assistant, Shelby jumps at it. But Shelby soon learns things aren’t all sunshine and roses with Jacqueline or what she wants to be with The Inside Project.

Olympia is a promising medical student on the verge of graduating when Jacqueline offers her a job as the head of her health department. When she is forced to accept, Jacqueline shows her a different side of The Inside Project than what is projected to the world. Only Olympia’s actions prevent Jacqueline from doing something that could ruin the project. But Olympia can only stall for so long.

How will Shelby, Ava, and Olympia unite to bring down Jacqueline? What is so horrible that they will lose everything to prevent a more significant catastrophe?

Main Characters

Ava: I liked Ava the best of all the main characters. Her core values at the beginning of the book were the same at the end. She was sweet, and she loved her daughters. But, she knew, deep down, that something wasn’t right with The Inside. She was my favorite character in the entire book.

Jacqueline Millender: I liked what she initially put forward at the beginning of the book. She was building safe havens for people during the climate crisis that they were experiencing. But, slowly, cracks started to show in her facade and what she was doing. By the middle of the book, she disgusted me (what she had Olympia do to Ava and the other Inside residents was criminal). By the end of the book, I pitied and didn’t like her. I want to believe she was drunk on power, but with everything revealed about her family and herself, I think not.

Shelby Silver: Shelby rated second on the characters I liked. She went into the job with Jacqueline with rose-colored glasses. Even I could see how she was treated as early as the chapters where Olympia got recruited. Once she got on the ship (after the bedbug debacle), she was treated as less than a person. In the end, she is the one who brings about Jacqueline’s downfall.

Olympia: Olympia, for me, was a morally gray character. She followed Jacqueline’s orders until she started to develop a conscience. But until then, Olympia was willing to do whatever it took to cover up what Jacqueline was doing in that Inside facility. I liked that she finally found her backbone, stood up to Jacqueline, and ended what was happening. What Jacqueline suggested and what Shelby found out was the straw that broke her.

My review:

I am going to be very blunt here: If you do not like feminist books that are centered almost entirely on queer, lesbian, and trans people, then this book might not be the book for you. The author laid the “men destroyed everything, so the women need to fix it” on very thick in this book. But, you know, in a way, she’s right. Our climate is changing, and the powers in charge sit there, twiddling their thumbs. And yes, they are 85% men. I’m not saying that an entirely matrical society would be different, but anything that will slow climate change would be welcome.

The main storyline is wrapped around the four main characters, climate change, and takes place over twenty-two years. It was well written. As mentioned above, I found it very heavy-handed with the “men are destroyers” angles. I also wasn’t expecting it to go the way it did with any of the main characters. The author interconnected everyone, and she did it very gradually.

The storyline with Ava, The Inside, and her daughters brought tears to my eyes. I felt so bad for her, and I wanted at least something to go right for her (at the beginning of her storyline). The way Orchid left her was horrible. Then she went through the added trauma of bearing children, going through pre and post-natal depression. She was happy while Brook and July were with her but lost when they left.

The storyline with Jacqueline brought a terrible taste to my mouth. I didn’t like her initially, but I figured she was building these safe havens for people. But then, the author took her character and added these layers to it that made me disgusted. Over the twenty-two years that she ruled over her fiefdom (and yes, it was that), she suggested such horrible, vile things that I truly hoped Olympia wouldn’t listen to her. She got everything that was coming to her and then some.

The storyline with Shelby was sad. She adored Jacqueline and would do anything to help her. It broke my heart to see how she was treated, not only by Jacqueline but by other people. She was so sweet. I was also in awe of Shelby’s resourcefulness. She, along with Olympia and July, worked together to bring Jacqueline down.

The storyline with Olympia was sad, but I felt that she made her bed for most of the book. At the beginning of her storyline, she was forced into the position (someone doxxed her). But, after that, she participated in everything Jacqueline asked or wanted. It wasn’t until the death of one of Brook and July’s friends and the coverup that she realized that maybe what she was doing wasn’t good. I mentioned that Olympia was more of a morally gray character, and I believe she was. Olympia starts acting like the human and doctor she is by the end of the book. And that began by fessing up to Ava about what was going on.

There isn’t a happy ending in Maybe Once, Maybe Twice. The book ends with a maybe. I’m not too fond of books that end with a maybe. I need to know what happens to people. I hope they end up where they are going, but the implications could be better.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Gabrielle Korn for allowing me to read and review this ARC of Yours for the Taking. All opinions stated in this review are mine.