Abandoned by Booklikes

Well not too much to say about this one except the third act one of the characters went on about actually weighed down this book a lot. I loved the concept (able to use an algorithm to choose what path an unborn child will possibly lead) but after the character of Sam lives the corporation the book just got messy. 

"You Have Arrived at Your final Destination" follows Sam whose wife Annie has talked him into having a child via a corporation called Vitek which does "genetic nudging." Vitek can supposedly use enough "science" to lead a couple to determine what type of life a child they will have one day, will experience. Sam starts off skeptical, and then dismayed when he sees what type of life his child could have and what does that mean in the end for free will. 

Sam I liked a lot initially. He was rightfully skeptical when he gets to Vitek. When he is told his wife has already selected three projections of their child's life for Sam to view, he wonders how she came to a decision so quickly. When he is shown the three projections  I had to wonder at why Sam reacted the way he did. And we quickly find out about his past and his father and start asking questions of what parts of those experiences made Sam and what parts were pre-determined? The story talks a lot about his wife Annie, but we never get to "see" her or get her thoughts on things. Based on the ending of the book, one wonders if she was trying to get Sam to some realizations cause those three projections she selected say a lot about her. 

I thought the other character in the novel we stay with the most is Sam's "projection" child and we have that character being the driving force for the choice that Sam makes in the end.

The writing I thought was really good. This reminds me a a bit of Gattaca, but on drugs a bit due to how the genetic nudging works with them able to "view" their child's life. The flow though once we get to "act three" didn't really work. Also one of the character's saying everyone's life goes around three acts like a movie just bugged me. 

The setting of this book seems to be in the not to distant future, though with a lot of things that sounded familiar to me.