Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful

by Arwen Elys Dayton

"If you love Black Mirror, this . . . will send shivers down your spine." —Teen Vogue

"Appealing to fans of Black Mirror and Westworld, it’s a thrilling read that explores an exciting and terrifying near-future." —Paste

"[An] extraordinary work. . . . Groundbreaking in both form and substance." —Hypable 

This "powerful, poignant, and action-packed" (Bustle) novel is a twisted look into the future, exploring the lengths to which we'll go to remake ourselves into the perfect human specimens and what it means to be human at all.

The future is curious.

STRONGER

Today our bodies define us. We color our hair; tattoo our skin; pierce our ears, brows, noses. We lift weights, run miles, break records. We are flesh and blood and bone.

FASTER

Tomorrow has different rules. The future is no longer about who we are—it's about who we want to be. If you can dream it, you can be it. Science will make us smarter, healthier, flawless in every way. Our future is boundless.

MORE BEAUTIFUL

This is a story that begins tomorrow. It's a story about us. It's a story about who comes after us. And it's a story about perfection. Because perfection has a way of getting ugly.
 
A WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST SCIENCE FICTION BOOK OF 2018
A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF 2018

4 STARRED REVIEWS!

"A deep and suddenly necessary exploration of the beautiful and terrible futures we face. Every story leaves you desperate for more. Somehow, the further from today Dayton travels, the more real it becomes." —Hank Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

"An alternately charming and horrifying exploration of what it means to be human and how far we'll go in pursuit of personal and societal 'perfection.' I devoured this book." —Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author of And I Darken and The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein

• ISBN10: 0525580980
• ISBN13: 9780525580980
• Publish Date: 3 December 2019 (first published 4 December 2018)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Ember
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780525580980

Reviews

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: At the core, I get what Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful was trying to achieve but I still couldn't care less about the execution. This isn't a novel that follows a character from beginning to end, or several who eventually meet, then carry on. No. Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful is "novel" made up for six short stories that loosely follow the same thread.

This experimental novel glimpsed at the possibilities of improving human lives through technology or abusing those very advancements. These stories explore at what point humans are cyborg and beyond that, no longer human. It's that premise that first drew me to this book.

Sadly, the choice of presenting short story arcs rather than a fully developed one was the downfall of this book for me. The point was to show the multifaceted issues surrounding scientific and medical advancements but I don't think that this book succeeded in doing that. It fell short as the stories lacked depth and the characters barely established themselves. They were so fleeting in their existence that none of their plights really took hold.