Book Review: Wrath by Daniel Kraus and Sharon Moalem
The Details
Media Type: Kindle Book
Title: Wrath
Author(s): Daniel Kraus; Sharon Moalem
Publisher: Union Square Co.
Pages/Length: Hardcover, 320
Release Date: October 11, 2022
Source: Publisher
Add it on: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop
In a future much nearer than you think, where scientific experimentation is exploited for commercial profit, unwisely under-supervised cutting-edge technology creates a menace that threatens the very fabric of human existence.
Wrath is the story of a lab rat instilled with human genes whose supersized intelligence helps him to engineer his escape into the world outside the lab: a world vastly ill-equipped to deal with the menace he represents. Modified through advances that have boosted his awareness of humankind’s cruelty in the name of science, and endowed with a rat’s natural proclivity to procreate regularly, Sammy has the potential to sire a rodent army capable of viciously overwhelming the human race.
The Review
Oh, where to start with this book? Well, first off this took me much longer to read than I anticipated, but please don’t take that as negative mark against this book. Wrath falls into the category of stories that really make you ponder. I kept having to take breaks to digest both the moral imperatives that this book presented to the reader. Forefront, the fact that animals deserve to be “elevated” right alongside their human counterparts. Phew. That was a lot to digest. I’m not generally a book highlighter, but I wrote down a ton of passages from this book. It has a lot to say.
Now that being said, I should also point out to my more squeamish readers that this book walks that very thin line between science fiction and horror, where bad things happen right on the page. This book is pretty damn violent. However, and I think this is a super important item to consider, this story would feel wrong if this book wasn’t as violent as it is. Here we have a story about humans once again assuming that we are the top of the food chain. A story where we make decisions for beings who can’t tell us whether or not they’d approve of those decisions. A story based partly in a need to see growth, but also very heavily in greed. Often stories like that end up with casualties, and we all know this. I just want to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into.
That being said, this book does an excellent job of putting the horrors of the choices our characters make into context. It isn’t just the people who should be punished that are, showing that the choices of the few can absolutely affect the many. The book is also quite fairly paced. It picks up speed slowly, but once it reaches the mid-point? This story is full on running to the finish line. I’ll be completely honest and tell you it took me a good three days of separated listening to finish the last few chapters. Some heavy stuff there.
So why the three star rating? Well, partially because this book does take a bit to get started. Also partially because once Sammy was able to actually start iterating his thoughts, I had such a hard time with this book. It would be too hard to explain in a short review, but as his brain grew so did his human thoughts and that just struck a chord with me. Lastly, the ending honestly felt a little rushed. I know, I was just complaining about how hard it was to read. But it did kind of feel like the end of a movie where the plot isn’t quite wrapped up and there is only twenty minutes left. If nothing else, I would have liked to see a shred of character redemption for anyone. Then again, I guess that’s just life. Right?
As you can tell, this book had me all over the place. However I did actually enjoy it overall, and so I can absolutely recommend it. Just be sure to expect violence, and obviously testing on animals. If you’re okay with the darker, grittier parts of humanity, you might like this story.
