Review: 3.5 stars
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 12, 2014
I received an ARC of this book from the Publisher, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.Katie is supposedly bipolar, and along with the common occurrence of her going off her meds when she feels well, even when she does take them they're not entirely effective. The only other option is surgical impntation of a chip in her brain, which she's afraid of and so refuses. So her husband, Scott, hatches a plan to take her to the moon where the only doctor who performs the brain implant surgery for her condition works. He works out an elaborate plan to divorce her and cause her to hit rock bottom so she'll have the surgery.I didn't care for either of these characters in the slightest. Katie is spoiled and entitled and Scott is a shortsighted enabling ass. He enabled her for years and but finally gets fed up, and then instead of being a responsible adult he's a manipulative prick. And he's shocked that she doesn't immediately trust him him when he tells her he wants her back? It's ridiculous. I also had two other points of confusion. One, vomiting at 1/6 earth gravity should probably not be as easy peasy as it is here, and two, Katie really seemed to be schizophrenic rather than bipolar.Additionally, it wasn't a very long story and the writing, particularly the dialogue, was kind of wooden. And except for Katie and Scott, the rest of the characters were one dimensional.But, I don't actually have to like characters to enjoy a book, and that's the case here. The premise was really interesting, both having a heroine with a mental illness and the ideas of how the mentally ill might be treated in the future. I also enjoyed the world Ms. Weber has been building. And I would imagine that if I had read Rock Bound then I would feel more in tune with the rest of the characters.Bottom line, I'm giving this three stars mostly because of the originality and the risk, but while I liked it, I didn't love it. And at the $5.99 price tag I'm not sure I I'd actually recommend it to anyone except people looking for a very different story or people on a disabled protagonist kick. However, if you are on what of those sort of reading kicks, go for it, this is definitely the book for you.