“Habitual, comfortable activity is the worst kind of prison, because the bars are concealed. You can never learn anything that way.”

I went into this expecting a book about aliens. Don’t ask me why.

Foe was one of the most complex, thought-provoking sci-fi books I’ve read in a long time. It follows the story of Junior and Henrietta, a married couple living out in the middle of nowhere, who’re randomly visited by a strange man claiming to work for the government, who tells Junior that he’s been selected to go to space.

The opportunity, Junior’s told, isn’t one he’s free to pass up on. He has no choice. He’s won a “lottery” and has been selected to go into space for the good of mankind. And for some reason, neither Junior nor Hen really argue too hard. Junior’s only real concern after all this is about Hen, and how she’ll manage once he’s gone.

But as it turns out, Junior doesn’t really have anything to worry about because Terrance, the aforementioned strange man, has thought of everything. Hen won’t be alone when Junior goes up into space for God knows how many years. She’ll have a “replacement” Junior – built to look, think, talk and feel exactly like Real Junior – to keep her company.

Weirdly enough, Hen and Junior agree. To all of it. Which results in Terrance making more and more frequent visits to their home to prepare them for Junior’s big departure – until one day he just straight up moves in. After that, well, things get… weird. er. Junior begins to straight up resent Terrance and the way he is with Hen.

I actually really loved this book. On the surface it’s primarily about relationships – Junior and Hen’s specifically. But underneath that, it’s also about people and their personalities. What makes someone who they are.

There are a couple surprises at the end of the book – the first of which I guessed at early on in the book (a little after I decided that, no, this book was NOT about aliens) and the second of which really sealed the deal for me with this book. The twist ending was just the neat little bow that this book needed.

I really don’t know how to talk about this book any more without having to give away something. Every bit of this narrative – or most of it, at least – works to give us the whole story. Dissecting it too much might take away from the whole some, and I don’t want to do that.

Foe isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea. It can get confusing and long winded in bits, and really, until you get to the very end, some of it won’t make a lick of sense. But I, personally, really enjoyed it. It was good science fiction and I look forward to reading more of Reid’s work.