Master Class by Christina Dalcher

Brenda’s Review

Master Class by Christina Dalcher explores what happens when the government divides people up by measuring their quotient (Q). The idea is to improve society by putting the focus on more “promising” children. I loved the premise of the story here, and it certainly got me thinking about some things; however, I would have liked there to have been more grey areas to the story to provoke the thoughts I wanted to have.

There are always two sides to everyone’s story, and our main character here, Elena, seems like she has it all together until her daughter’s Q scores drop. She starts to see the other side here, and things turn a little darker then I expected here in the story. Christina Dalcher does a great job weaving some dark realities of the past with the reality happening in the story. As well as some future realities here for us today; however, I did feel things have more thriller elements to the story to make me question if any of this could happen.

I was hoping to have my heartstrings pulled a little more here with the dynamics between the characters. I wanted to feel Elena’s desperation for her daughter, and that was missing for me to make any connections to the characters. Instead, I felt horror over the way some things played out.

Overall I enjoyed the thriller elements to the story and liked I was shocked with horror, and the biggest question I was left with was “what is wrong with me for liking that.” lol

I received a copy from Elisha at Berkley Pub.

Norma’s Review

Thought-provoking, conceivable, and engrossing!

MASTER CLASS by CHRISTINA DALCHER is a terrifying, dark, creepy, and captivating dystopian thriller that was both shocking and haunting to read. The concepts that were addressed here in this book were extremely well done and felt so real to read.

I’ve read a few books now about the eugenics movement so while I was slightly familiar with this, the underlying truth to the story is what actually held my attention and scared the bejesus out of me. The horrific idea of this and the way that the author weaved her story with real historical events was absolutely brilliant.

The tension and dread slowly increases as the story progresses producing so many different emotions from me while reading. Although I wouldn’t necessarily say that the characters produced much emotional depth for me it was more the storyline in general and the overall suspense. At times I had to distance myself from some of the darkness and thinking too hard on the storyline as it is quite depressing.

I haven’t read Vox yet, but after finishing this book I most definitely will be picking it up sooner than later. I’m actually pretty excited to read it.

Thank you so much to Elisha at Berkley Pub for providing me with an ARC.