Book Review: The Dowry

Reviewed by Lindsay Crandall

Riveting! A glimpse into a future in which life’s most precious decisions are left to the calculations of an unyielding algorithm

The Dowry is told largely from the perspectives of Talis and Lark, a couple whose marriage is crumbling.  In an overpopulated world, the decision to have children is not one that citizens are allowed to make; instead, citizens rely on the calculations of the algorithm to determine if they are ready to arrive.  

The story starts on the moon with the failure of the first civilian Lunar settlement, Pride. Ten thousand were lost when the oxygen systems failed, followed by the back systems failing, topped off with escape systems being lost in a fiery blaze. 

On the fifth day of the new year, for the past eighty-five years, couples receive an official response to their applications to have a child. The answer is delivered by a device in applicants’ homes, beaming either approval, denial, or wait. Couples that are selected, however, must pay the dowry; fertilized eggs are split in two with one baby returning home with the new parents and the other sent to live as an Echo, or soldier. But it remains to be seen what Echoes are providing protection from.

“What an elegant system of sacrifice, splitting an egg into two: one for the betterment of society, one for its protection.”

Nercessian takes his time telling this story, and it’s all for the better. The level of detail makes this novel hard to put down. By telling the story in multiple perspectives, readers are able to understand how seemingly insignificant events or gestures to some can be malicious slights to others. This added information is especially helpful in understanding the breakdown in Lark and Talis’s marriage and the decisions they both make. Thankfully, Nercessian infuses each perspective with the characters’ distinct personality traits. In between Lark and Talis’s perspective, we get outside chapters that provide important additional context of the world, both historical and present day.

I obviously enjoyed the different characters and worldbuilding, but the uniqueness of the plot is what really drove the story most. It’s full and complete as a standalone novel, but I’m intrigued by the possibilities still left unexplored in a potential sequel. We can hope at least!

The pacing of the plot is perhaps the only drawback I’ve run into here. The first three quarters of the novel are steadily paced, but then there’s a sudden race to the finish. It didn’t significantly affect my enjoyment of the book, but it did feel uneven.

Nercessian has crafted a compelling story with this unflinching portrayal of a possible future. I think you’ll agree: The Dowry is an incredibly unique futuristic literary novel well worth a read. 

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