Ms. Hen reviews Chance

 

Chance

Matthew Fitzsimmons

Thomas & Mercer

2023

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel, because she read the first one in this series, CONSTANCE, and she loved it. She does not usually read a lot of books that are series, but she decided to read the second book, since the first one was so fabulous.

Ms. Hen came to the conclusion that a reader would not have to read the first book to understand this one. In CHANCE, the protagonist is Chance Harker, a young man who has been cloned several times. In the opening scene, he is about to jump out of an airplane without a parachute, and possibly die, because he can be cloned as many times as possible. He has been cloned four times up to that point.

In this world, only the very wealthy can afford to have clones. Chance's father worked for Palingenesis, the company that clones people, and Chance has options to become a clone, so he takes advantage of it to the full extent.

Chance and his brother, Marley, were kidnapped and murdered five years before, but came back as clones. Chance never found out who the kidnappers were, and it still haunts him. He awakens, and discovered he has murdered someone named Lee Conway, but he doesn't remember, because he had died, and came back a clone before he could have his memory refreshed. 

This phenomenon is called "lag," when a clone has no memory of what happened right before they die. People who have clones go into a lab to have their memories downloaded, called a "refresh," so their clone can be the same person up to a point. Chance has to solve the mystery of why he murdered Lee Conway.

Ms. Hen thinks this book is a lot of fun, but the writing style takes acclimation. The metaphors and similes are high camp, some were lost on Ms. Hen, but they were charming. This book is full of celebrity references.

This novel takes place in Los Angeles, and it's a very L.A. book. The talk of climate change and how it devastated California will probably be accurate in the future. Celebrities still dominate, even though California is a wasteland.

Ms. Hen thinks she might have like CONSTANCE better, because she thinks Chance is an unlikeable character, a cool jerk. Constance appears in this book, but her future is not bright. Clones fascinate Ms. Hen, so much, that she would read the next book to find out what happens. Ms. Hen doesn't think she would like to be cloned, but it she were given the chance, she would consider it.