The Companions

January 6, 2020
A deadly virus strikes near-future California in Flynn’s nightmarish debut, leading to a quarantine of the state’s surviving residents in sealed towers. “Companions” are provided to the shut-ins in the form of the dead, whose consciousnesses have been uploaded into various forms, from crude robots to flesh-covered humanoids. The robot-embodied Lilac serves Dahlia, a petulant adolescent, by entertaining her with snippets of Lilac’s life before death and quarantine. Lilac’s memories of teen parties lead her to buffer on a scene in which she is battered by a boy whose advances she resisted. But when Dahlia’s mother threatens to send Lilac back to the factory for breaking things around the apartment, Lilac escapes, setting out to find out what happened to her best friend, Nikki, who was with her when she died. On the way, she meets Cam, a compassionate caregiver to geriatric patients; Gabe, a feral child living on the streets; Jakob, a movie star turned companion; and Rachel, a passing-for-human companion whose memory might hold the key to Lilac’s quest. Told by eight voices over the course of 20 years, the overly busy narrative often threatens to overwhelm Lilac’s story. But by the end, Flynn’s vibrant characters movingly answer the oft-asked question, “What does it mean to be human?” This will satisfy fans of literary and science fiction alike. (Mar.)Correction: this review has been updated to correct two incorrect plot points.

January 15, 2020
In the near future, the dead can choose to return to the world of the living--as something not quite human. Set in a slightly futuristic, quarantined California, Flynn's debut novel opens after a devastating virus has decimated huge swaths of people. Borders are closed, cities are highly surveilled, and death is no longer black and white. Metis, a med-tech corporation, has ownership of all companions, or machines the dying can upload their consciousness into. Companions can either be wards of their families or sold to strangers--but they are all denied basic human rights. Spanning decades and continents, the novel is told from the perspectives of eight characters (human and humanoid alike) whose lives intersect and overlap because of Lilac, a companion unlike the rest. After having been murdered as a teenager, Lilac has spent decades as a companion--one of the first, in fact. When she discovers she can defy her programming, Lilac begins to search for her murderer. From there, she comes into contact with other characters, including Cam, a former employee at an elder-care facility; Rolly, a teenager living on his family's diminished farm; and Gabe (short for Gabrielle), a spunky yet wounded 9-year-old orphan. Flynn's characterization is strong throughout, but Gabe is particularly well-drawn. At first, she's angry, grief-stricken, stubborn, and unwilling to show weakness. Her emotional journey throughout the novel feels absolutely earned. In the midst of a character-driven narrative, Flynn's simple and evocative writing shines: "It's not supposed to be possible for a companion to dream, but I can feel it, like a lozenge on the tongue, both present and disappearing all at once." Though the plot sometimes feels too convenient, the novel raises important questions about humanity. If companions have memories and can feel emotions like love, pain, anger, and sadness, are they not human? If not, what makes us human in the first place? A suspenseful, introspective debut.

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March 1, 2020

DEBUT In the near future, a viral outbreak has swept the country, leaving the populace living under quarantine. Meanwhile, the Metis corporation has developed technology that allows the consciousness of a person to be placed into an artificial host. The resulting entities, called companions, are either wards of their relatives or property, with no rights. Lilac is one such companion, but she cannot forget her life and escapes her assigned post to seek out someone from her past. Her search covers decades in which society's stance on companions changes, while both regular humans and others like Lilac struggle with the question of what makes someone human. Lilac's story weaves in and out of the narrative, and the author gives plenty of other points of view, including a human caregiver, a homeless teen, a movie star who becomes a companion, and one of the scientists involved in creating the technology that made companions possible. VERDICT While the worldbuilding might not be robust enough for some sf fans, the strength of this first novel is in the writing and nuanced characters. Through the experiences of people who might no longer be considered fully human, the author thoughtfully explores the nature of humanity.--Megan M. McArdle, Lib. of Congress, National Lib. Svc. for the Blind and Physically Handicapped

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2020
In a dystopian California paralyzed by quarantine, minds are uploaded at death and then their consciousness is placed in everything from tin can robots to human-like manufactured bodies. The rich can stay with their families after upload, but the others are rented out, and Flynn's story begins with Lilac, a teen girl uploaded to a small robot that cares for a young girl with an abusive mother. But when Lilac escapes, she realizes that companions can defy commands, and the chain of stories begins. Through various points of view, Flynn tells the reader the story of Lilac and those she meets, from the headstrong Gabe to the loving, protective Kit. As the world shifts?as quarantine lifts, as companions are recalled?readers watch characters struggle with fascinating questions of loss and memory. What does it mean to be alive?to be human, to be real? And what is the cost of remembering what it was like to die? Flynn tells an emotive, mesmerizing speculative story in her excellent debut.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)