Michael Muntisov

Set in 2050's America, Lily receives a call from an unknown great uncle. When she meets David, he tells her that he wants her permission, under the euthanasia laws, to die. Lily is startled, and unsure how to proceed. When she learns that he has been called before the Climate Court, she pushes him to attend. At the climate court, his accomplishments and decisions are questioned.

Although I thought this book was well written, and the characters were dynamic, the book lacked detail about the world. For example, the book mentioned GISC multiple times, but didn't actually explain what it was until halfway through the book. The climate court itself was interesting, but I did not think it was a big scary stressful event, like the characters made out. Due to this problems, 3 out of 5 stars.… (mer)

The premise of Court of the Grandchildren is interesting enough; in a future United States racked by climate change, elder citizens that held positions of political and economic power in the early 21st century are brought to the Climate Court to explain and justify their actions. Dystopian future, consequences of man-made climate change . . . I was really excited for this one. However, despite some themes that were worth pondering over, this book was almost a DNF for me.

The first thing that made this book a difficult read for me was its inability to focus on one societal issue. While the primary focus of the plot is the consequences and societal impact of climate change, the authors also devote a great deal of conversation to the ethics of AI. However, they don't delve deeply enough into the topic to make any useful commentary. Instead, I was left wondering why the debate about AI was included at all, since it seemed so half-baked.

I also wish that the exposition about the purpose of the Climate Court had been explained earlier in the book. It wasn't made apparent until the end of David's trial what the actual intent of the Court was. While I often appreciate world-building that lets readers slowly discover elements over the course of the story, I felt in this case it was a bit of a misstep. Over the course of the entire book, I was wondering what, exactly, David was being tried for, and what the consequences would be if he was found "guilty."

The thing that most made me want to stop reading, however, was the characterization. The characterization was terrible, and the use of a first-person narrative made the poor character development and depth that much more noticeable. Lily came off as a petulant whiner, who overreacts to every situation. I could never get a read on what, exactly, motivated her actions throughout the entire plot. The authors repeatedly tell us that Ava and Lily are best friends, but nothing in their actions or words to each other, or in Lily's personal internal narrative, suggests that they are truly friends to each other. The same is true of the romantic relationship between Lily and Matteo - nothing about the development of their relationship over the book feels genuine or romantic in the slightest. At the end of David's trial, he and Lily proclaim that they are glad to have found each other as family and that they love each other, but it just rang false to me. This book is a classic example of the authors telling, but not showing.

Note: I received an ARC of Court of the Grandchildren through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.… (mer)

Court of the Grandchildren sets up many social and ethical themes to wrestle with and examine. Set in the 2050's after major climate change related events we are given two main characters, David and Lily, who are distantly related to each other. David was a major player in how climate change was affected 30 years in the past, and Lily is growing up in the world that was shaped by David's decisions. Sea levels are rising, temperatures are rising, humans rely on artificial intelligence, relationships between humans and AI are becoming unhealthy, and people are angry about all of it.

I think this book took on too many elements and could have been streamlined to focus more deeply on one. They've set up a dystopian future but don't give very much explanation on what events occurred to get us there. References to major events are made, but the events aren't described until at least halfway through the book. This could set up some intrigue but it really felt more like I was supposed to care, but I didn't know why. There was one character who came up a couple times, making a public spectacle, but served no purpose in the end and was given very little explanation.

The character development was also rather stilted and uneven between David and Lily. I thought David showed major growth which I appreciated, while Lily felt like an incredibly immature girl. Even when Lily was showing growth, it felt rushed and underdeveloped, and I even believe it was focused in the wrong direction. Lily mentions how proud she is of her work and what she's doing to make the world a better place, but in the end we're focused more on her desire for a romantic relationship and hopes for a family.

The positive side of this story is that it is full of topics that should provoke thought and make the reader consider how the actions we are taking now will affect the future. In the last few pages I found a few passages that I believe were the driving force for writing this book. It felt like the authors created this whole story just to get their ideas about climate change and technology out there. I can see the motivations for this book and the nobility in discussing these topics, but unfortunately the delivery fell flat.… (mer)