The Felicity Complex
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- USD 14.99
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- USD 14.99
Descripción editorial
Annie Bot meets Fallout in this dystopian satire: six women created in a lab, designed to serve the billionaires of the future in a luxury fallout shelter, rebel against their programming after the end times arrive.
Welcome to the Felicity Complex! Constructed during the height of the Cold War, our unique hotel is prepared to protect you, the billionaire class, from nuclear annihilation! Shielded from radiation and supplemented with closed air systems and hydroponic gardens, this resort bunker offers a prime existence underground: full gymnasium and spa, gourmet meals, top-tier medical care, and the best in entertainment.
Meet Hallelujah! Grown in a lab and educated in the ways of concierge hospitality, she believes in her duty to comfort the Lord-anointed refugees of the apocalypse. (Even if her lover Anastasia disagrees. Even if her creator Dr. Younghusband is disappointed in her.) Don’t worry—everyone is safe from communists in the Felicity Complex!
Look, Hallelujah, guests have finally arrived! Hallelujah and her sister specimens have waited ages for you. Never mind the secrets other rich survivalists may be hiding. Just make sure they don’t notice the violent intentions behind our staff’s wide, wide smiles…
A sendup of traditional womanhood and lampooning the paranoias of the elite, The Felicity Complex questions the ambitions behind the entitled few who plan for the end times—and who truly survives them.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Clarke (Metal from Heaven) delivers a biting dystopian satire that blends queer speculative fiction, body horror, and Cold War paranoia. Deep beneath the earth, the Felicity Complex, a luxury bunker designed for the wealthy, prepares for the apocalypse, staffed by six lab-grown women (called "specimens") engineered to embody idealized femininity and service. Among them is Hallelujah, an earnest concierge specimen whose unwavering belief in her purpose begins to fracture when the bunker's first guests arrive and long-buried secrets surface. Hallelujah's innocent perspective provides both humor and a sense of unease, and the other specimens, all with their own distinct roles to play, are just as well drawn. Together, they carry the novel's sharp-toothed commentary about autonomy, gender, power, and ownership. Some revelations feel telegraphed too early, and the relationships among the specimens could use more room to breathe, but the fast pace keeps the tension high, while Clarke's prose cultivates dread with architectural precision. Fans of Fallout-esque retro-futurism, sapphic speculative fiction, and satirical examinations of privilege and gender will find this both deeply unsettling and darkly entertaining.
