I love a cold and desolate dystopia, and Walter Tevis's Mockingbird is a masterclass of the form! A bleak amalgam of Brave New World and the darker edges of those works exploring the dangers of automation, machine learning, artificial intelligence and the fusion of 'human' and 'robot'.

This does not reflect well on the human drive to master nature, yet in our oddly implausible hero, the central message of optimism, learning and the quest for knowledge and love (both the highs and lows) is compelling.

Indeed, Tevis does a wonderful job of emphasising the essential worth of the dull mundanities of everyday existence (that is, living), and warning of the dangers in trying to eradicate what it means to be human in the drive for comfort.

Highly recommended, especially to anyone with a liking for sci-fi.