Published By: Tachyon
Pages: 192
Released On: 23/06/2026
The trouble starts when a curious young man finds a smartphone in his privy. The problem is, it’s supposed to be the year 1750.
The Antediluvian Society—a shadowy cabal of right-wing billionaires—is fed up with a country they cannot fully control or understand. So they have done what any reasonable American patriots would do: Clone the Founding Fathers and raise them in secrecy. The plan, unbeknownst to the boys, is for them to restore America to its “original glory.”
Ben takes his technological discovery to his brothers, Thomas, John, and George. The boys have been raised on an isolated island plantation by Mary Libertas, a firm but kind woman, and Jeff Hancock, their de facto father. But the idyllic life is far too dull for young men. The boys have been chafing at the restrictions upon them (especially Tom, who has impregnated yet another of the servants). Hancock is complaining to the Society that it’s well past the time to tell the boys where they come from and what they must do.
Unfortunately for their keepers, the young men now have a phone…and many other notions.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon or the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I mean, this sounded absurd and I didn’t really have a clue what to expect. I’d not heard of Meg’s previous books so I went in blind.
I will put my hand up right now and say WTF? I didn’t get this at all. Maybe it would be better suited to an American reader who has grown up with these Presidential histories. But for me…I really didn’t get it.
It’s sci-fi (although not as much as I thought there would be) with historical, experiments, and cloning, and it’s just too much in such a short space of time. There’s so much going on that I couldn’t figure out what was actually going on.
The concept is sound: what would happen if billionaires had access to cloning machines? That could be interesting – although not necessarily in a good way. But that’s where my positives end.
The characters should have felt so real and familiar but there was no time for development and so I got nothing from the original characters or the cloned Presidents. They needed more time.
The plot made no sense to me either.
I felt very little for this book. I can’t say it’s bad because I didn’t have an obvious feeling of dislike. It’s just…it’s there, I read it, and now I can forget about it. Because for me it was very forgettable.
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