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Caroline Hardaker
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Composite Creatures Kindle Edition

by Caroline Hardaker (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 94 ratings
See all formats and editions
How close would you hold those you love, when the end comes?

In a society where self-preservation is as much an art as a science, Norah and Arthur are learning how to co-exist in their new little world. Though they hardly know each other, everything seems to be going perfectly – from the home they’re building together to the ring on Norah’s finger.

But survival in this world is a tricky thing, the air is thicker every day and illness creeps fast through the body. And the earth is becoming increasingly hostile to live in. Fortunately, Easton Grove is here for that in the form of a perfect little bundle to take home and harvest. You can live for as long as you keep it – or her – close.

File Under: Science Fiction [ Teratoma for One | Nine Lives | Cell Patchwork | Till Death ]
Previous page
  1. Print length
    247 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Angry Robot
  5. Publication date
    April 13, 2021
  6. File size
    6229 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Deliciously creepy!"
– Chris Riddell, triple Award-winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal

"As thought-provoking as it is chilling."
– Publishers Weekly

"A thought-provoking dystopian debut which continuously questions what it truly means to be alive...Hardaker’s prose is pensive, melancholic and lyrical."
– The Fantasy Hive

"A story you won’t forget in a hurry (try as you might) and an exceptional debut novel."
– SciFiNow

"The writing is wistful and works in such a way you don't realise how wonderfully strange the book is until you are enfolded in it."
– RJ Barker, author of The Bone Ships

"an unapologetic, intimate tale of our shared human fragility, and the deceptions we employ to keep from breaking." 
– Chris Panatier, author of The Phlebotomist

"Explores what constitutes love, how to build a life when a lot we take for granted is missing, and what it takes to ‘glue together a splitting world.’"
– Rosie Garland, author of The Palace of Curiosities

"A delicate and terrifying prospect of our future, with the most lovable creatures."
– Keren Landsman, Geffen Award-winning author of The Heart of the Circle

“Creepy and enthralling, Hardaker’s superbly written debut will drip feed you dread from beginning to end.”
– Dan Hanks, author of Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire

“Highly recommended.”
– Booklist, Starred Review
 
PRAISE FOR CAROLINE HARDAKER

"A strong debut, and one that makes me want to read more from this up-and-coming author."
– Marija Smits on Bone Ovation

"Caroline Hardaker’s debut poetry pamphlet is a triumph of contemporary myth-making."
– Sabotage Reviews

About the Author

Caroline Hardaker is a poet and novelist from the northeast of England. She has published two collections of poetry, and her work has appeared worldwide in print and on BBC radio.  She is Writer in Residence for Newcastle Puppetry Festival and is currently collaborating with the Royal Northern College of Music to produce a cycle of songs to be performed throughout the year. She lives and writes in Newcastle, UK.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08FH8Y53M
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Angry Robot (April 13, 2021)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 13, 2021
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 6229 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 247 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 94 ratings

About the author

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Caroline Hardaker

Caroline Hardaker

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Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
94 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mikel Andrews
5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing in the best way
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2021
Verified Purchase
Every word is so loaded and thoughtfully chosen. Everything that happens feels so sinister. Truly never read anything like it.
4 people found this helpful
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superstardrifter
4.0 out of 5 stars Eerie, with Fantastic Prose!
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2021
This is the story of Norah and Arthur. They live in a kind-of-dystopian world which is definitely similar to our own, but with a heavy emphasis on self-preservation. Illness spreads more easily in this world. Animals and insects are mostly extinct. People suffer from a condition known as the Greying, which I read as something like a cancer-like debilitating condition that ends in organ failure. It seems to happen to everyone in this world. There is a medical science company called Easton Grove that has engineered a creature which their clients can take home with them and raise more or less like a pet, which helps with the greying. This book is described as a dystopia in a few reviews I’ve seen it, but I don’t think that description fits for recommending it, exactly. While things are rather dire in the world itself, the focus of the book isn’t ever really on the world itself, with all its problems. Dystopian-adjacent, perhaps. I thought it was more eerie psychological horror, personally. The book was more about Norah and her various relationships throughout the book. With Art, with her friends, and with Nut.

The book opens with Norah and Arthur on a rather awkward date. It’s more akin to a job interview, honestly. Easton Grove has partnered them together and so they try their best to make it work by moving in together and taking on Nut, their… little bundle of joy. Nut is somewhat like a cat in mannerisms, but as the book progresses, you find out more and more about her.

This was a slow-moving and yet quite enthralling book. I found myself picking it up and not wanting to put it down. I have to admit that I had no idea what was really going on, but not in a floundering way, in more of the way that makes you want to read and read until you find out the little details. For instance, we don’t really find out too much about why Norah and Art are paired together, what Easton Grove is, and most especially what exactly Nut is for a lot of this novel. But, again, I didn’t find this to be annoying as much as it pushed my drive to keep on reading. It played out in my mind much like a mystery to be solved.

The prose was quite lovely, and it was very easy to sink into a comfy chair for an afternoon and just take in the story. It’s told in the first person from Norah’s point of view, which I liked. It was compelling being in Norah’s head for much of this story. Norah and Nut form a relationship unlike what is entirely expected of a person and their ovum organi, as it is called. Seeing how that relationship effects other aspects of her life was interesting and kept me reading well into the night.

All told, I liked Composite Creatures. I’ll admit that the ending fell a little flat to me, considering all that lead up to it, but I felt like it certainly wrapped up the plot and ended the book without leaving me with a thousand questions. I would definitely recommend it to someone who likes slow-paced books with lovely prose that present an eerie atmosphere. This was a fantastic debut, and I’m excited to see what is next from Caroline Hardaker!

Thanks to the author, as well as Angry Robot for the review copy!
16 people found this helpful
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Jeanva1jean
3.0 out of 5 stars What's love got to do with it?
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2022
Verified Purchase
"The stars were so bright that I could hear them, like glass shattering."

"But the fact that I can relive all these things so vividly just convinces me that I've made them all up."

I highlighted alot more than just these, but these two were my favorite. The writing is the strongest part of this novel, it's absolutely wonderful. The next beat part is the anxiety displayed by the characters or the interaction was also well done. These two things pushed this to a 3 star because while the premise is cool the overall story for me was dull and drawn out. I kept plugging along thought do to the excellent writing.
2 people found this helpful
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Paul C
5.0 out of 5 stars A frightening look at our own mortality
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2021
One part sly dystopian, one part “what the heck did I just read,” and one part creepy creepfest! This equals an inventive and compulsive read by debut author Caroline Hardaker.
The reader will get to know a little about Norah’s past and her dreams of the future, but the majority of the book is set squarely in the present. The present. The now of Norah’s life. Her assigned partner Art. Her boring cubicle job. And their new addition… made ready for harvest.

Y’see, the air outside hasn’t gotten any better in this near future. And with more pollutants everywhere, the price of good food has gone up, and health care? Forget about it! Get in line… especially if you’ve contracted The Greying. But if you have the money, you may be able to afford to go to a clinic like Easton Grove. They will provide you with services and a bundle of joy that will help you prolong your life.

I woke up this morning at 5am with 15% left in this book… actually, I’m not really sure how I fell asleep last night, ha! Well, I turned over, away from my wife (didn’t want to disturb and dove back in… needing to finish. I left to work with 7% left. Usually I want my Fridays to end quickly, but today, I wanted to time travel!

Why?

Hardaker’s has great skill at holding back just enough to get the reader to keep compulsively turning pages… As I said above, this is one of those books where the first person narrator picks and chooses what to focus on… and much of that focus is on the new developments in Norah’s life. Things are forgotten and dismissed and Norah may delude herself at times, but the pieces that Hardaker does give us just add to that creepy atmosphere.

And yes… a bit of “What the hell did I just read?” I spent the first third of the book asking questions: Is this going to be like The Handmaid’s Tale? Or Never Let Me Go? But I quickly decided it’s like neither, a compelling story that questions everything about our future and combines it with unique storytelling. The quiet creep…

Pick up Composite Creatures for a frightening look at our own mortality and a compelling narrator to hold our hand throughout…

4.5 out of 5
10 people found this helpful
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Kid's Word Cookbook author
2.0 out of 5 stars Slow buildup made me give up
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2021
Verified Purchase
The description of this book sounded intriguing and original, but once I started reading it, I quickly lost interest. There is endless narrative about minutia and more minutia. Still, I tried to plow through it, thinking the pace had to pick up eventually. But I got about 25% into the book, and it still hadn’t, so I started skimming through trying to get to the good parts. I did this well past the middle of the book and then finally gave up. From other readers reviews, maybe it did get better, but if it did, I don’t think it could’ve been worth the investment of time up until that point.
One person found this helpful
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