Yours for the Taking

A Novel

By: Gabrielle Korn

Narrated by: Jasmin Savoy Brown

"Savoy Brown enters the characters fully and makes their emotional changes audible and stunning—doubting to dreamy, bored to curious, saccharine to unhinged."—AudioFile

The year is 2050. Ava and her girlfriend live in what's left of Brooklyn, and though they love each other, it's hard to find happiness while the effects of climate change rapidly eclipse their world. Soon, it won't be safe outside at all. The only people guaranteed survival are the ones whose applications are accepted to The Inside Project, a series of weather-safe, city-sized structures around the world.

Jacqueline Millender is a reclusive billionaire/women’s rights advocate, and thanks to a generous donation, she’s just become the director of the Inside being built on the bones of Manhattan. Her ideas are unorthodox, yet alluring—she's built a whole brand around rethinking the very concept of empowerment.

Shelby, a business major from a working-class family, is drawn to Jacqueline’s promises of power and impact. When she lands her dream job as Jacqueline’s personal assistant, she's instantly swept up into the glamourous world of corporatized feminism. Also drawn into Jacqueline's orbit is Olympia, who is finishing up medical school when Jacqueline recruits her to run the health department Inside. The more Olympia learns about the project, though, the more she realizes there's something much larger at play.

When Ava is accepted to live Inside and her girlfriend isn’t, she’s forced to go alone. But her heartbreak is quickly replaced with a feeling of belonging: Inside seems like it’s the safe space she’s been searching for… most of the time. Other times she can’t shake the feeling that something is deeply off. As she, Olympia, and Shelby start to notice the cracks in Jacqueline's system, Jacqueline tightens her grip, becoming increasingly unhinged and dangerous in what she is willing to do—and who she is willing to sacrifice—to keep her dream alive.

At once a mesmerizing story of queer love, betrayal, and chosen family, and an unflinching indictment of cis, corporate feminism, Gabrielle Korn's Yours for the Taking holds a mirror to our own world, in all its beauty and horror.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

©2023 Gabrielle Korn (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Thoroughly Captivating

I enjoyed this book so much. So many twists and turns woven together beautifully. Climate change, queer characters, social issues, and more. Super creative. Highly recommend.

Climate Change Novel for the Age!

This novel explores the idea that has crossed many women's minds at some point or another, "what if there was a society with no men?" Set in a dystopian universe where climate change has forced people to look for new answers and solutions to old problems. There were lots of twists and turns throughout the plot that kept me engaged. I took off one star because the last few chapters were rushed, and too much character development was crammed into the end. I still highly recommend it!

Characters to Care Deeply For

This book was incredibly and beautifully written. Walking beside these characters as they grew and evolved was magical. Waiting to read more about them and what happens next might actually be the end of me.

Great concept, disappointing development

I was really excited for this book and thought the core concept was interesting. I was hoping for another knockout of a novel from this author, however there are too many voices and not enough attention to detail, resulting in poor character development and a choppy timeline. The ending especially left me frustrated, and I feel like I wasted my time on a book I was really hoping shed a light on queer voices and feminist culture.

could have used more subtlety

This book was enjoyable, but cringe. It harshly (albeit necessarily) critiques what we now consider "dated" feminist politics of the mid-to-late aughts. But I was distracted by how the author's politics ALSO feel dated, even though they feel closer to our current time's understanding of gender. Overt political statements might have been better illustrated as concepts and shown via character development and plot. The characters were very thin. However, the queer representation was appreciated and beautifully rendered.

Good but why do queer stories almost always have unresolved storylines

I would recommend this book. I really liked it. I like the apocalyptic viewpoint from modern current events that could shape our world in the near future. I loved that this book addressed controversial issues with gender, gender identity, environmental climate, economics, and biological sex. I enjoyed that there are 4 main environments to tell the story of survival; Pre-apocalyptic, “Inside” the area that selected people are allowed to live in a compound, “Outside” or the wilderness where people not selected try to survive the elements, and “Space” where those wealthy enough to afford it escaped. There are two MAJOR things I didn’t like. 1) I felt like there was too many storylines. You follow multiple women in their journey to stay alive and while I loved that at first, it felt like too much going on. It felt like the author bit off too much. I would have preferred eliminating some of those storylines or by dig deeper and making this a series instead. Breaking up this novel, I feel would have been beneficial to the characters. 2) The ending is abrupt. Almost like the author realized the book was getting too long and just stopped. When there are ending with unresolved storylines normally it is to make you think/interpret the message. Like thought provoking. Not this one. It was ends with so many storylines unresolved. It doesn’t feel like a cliffhanger it feels unfinished. This could turn into a series but even if it does the ending does not feel right.

The voice actor was good and I can imagine how it would be hard to have many distinct female voices for all of the characters but I felt like most of them were very similar. Olympia is described as having a slight Texas drawl which the actor did a good job but every other voice was so posh that whenever Olympia spoke it felt unsettling. Olympia is a highly educated, intelligent, Texas black woman. I live in the south and have family in Texas. There is a viewpoint that people with southern accents are associated with lower economic status, lack of education, and other social issues. For this strong androgynous black doctor to have the only voice that didn’t sound ‘proper’ made me feel like the voice actor did Olympia dirty. Her voice might be correct to how the character is described but the voice actor should have done more accents. It would have better differentiate the characters and would have made Olympia’s voice feel good instead of uneasy. Ava grew up in a suburb of New Jersey. Shelby’s family moved to NYC from the mid west (I think) so many accents to play with.

devoured this!!!

so excited for this to inevitably become a TV show. brought so many worst fears to life in the best way!!

haunting

This book is very detailed and you get to know the society. it is deep but never dull.

Awful

Couldn’t even finish. It is awful. Story line, characters, everything! I’ve never written a review before but I felt I had too it was that terrible.

Rushed Storytelling

Really wanted to like this one as it has all the elements of what I want in a sci-fi - and there’s just not enough good lesbian/queer sci-fis. But it’s just not strong writing. No bite or definitive style… honestly feels like the manuscript is just trying to land a movie deal. The premise is so rushed through that it strips away any potential for the very significant and heavy topics to land. Also wasn’t vibing with the voice actor on this one… felt like someone was reading a script aloud rather than telling me a story. He tone was just too casual? Idk how else to describe it.

I don’t write a lot of reviews but when I spend this much money on something that’s not even a recording I get to keep, or a physical item like a book…it’s just that more frustrating to be disappointed by a book. Apologies to the author I know you worked hard and I could never write half of what this is, but it wasn’t at the caliber I’d like it to be. And the tone overall was just too casual. If someone wants to give me a refund I’ll take it down :p