A review by biblio_creep
Toward Eternity by Anton Hur

5.0

Read if you're looking for: 

• Beautiful science fiction with a love story that spans across centuries
• A meditation on how language and art shape who we are & how they make us human
• Exploration of AI & the “ship of Theseus” of personhood
• A shorter book with huge scale and depth
• Wonderful, diverse representation

This is another science fiction book that has such depth and breadth of concept and feeling that it's hard to describe in a short review. I've seen several others relate this to the works of Emily St. John Mandel, and I would definitely agree with that comparison, with it's century-spanning plot and intricate connections between the characters, it is similar to Sea of Tanquility and Station Eleven.
 
In this futuristic world, an experimental cancer treatment has been developed wherein a person's cells are slowly replaced by nanites over time until their whole body is composed of this technology, rendering them immortal. One of the test patients is Yonghun, a researcher who is teaching an AI named Panit to read, understand, and interpret poetry. One day Yonghun blinks out of existence, only to mysteriously return a few days later. After this incident, he is troubled about the question of whether he is actually Yonghun, or something completely different now. Panit's consciousness is eventually transferred to a body and allowed to live a richer life. As these humans and non-humans begin to live together, and replicate, crises of existential proportions begin to arise. Who is really human? Who deserves autonomy and life? How are we all connected to one another?
 
This is Hur's first novel, although he has worked as a translator on many Korean-Language books, and that focus on and understanding of language is apparent in this novel. The book uses the device of a notebook that gets passed on from character to character over decades and centuries of time to tell the story from multiple POV's. Each character feels rich and relatable, and provides an important piece of the overall puzzle that comes together beautifully at the end. This is sci-fi that is about what it means to be a person, to love, to exist, and to create. It's extremely impressive, especially for a debut novel. I can't wait to read whatever Anton Hur writes next.
 

CW: Death, War, Genocide, Miscarriage, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Colonization, Transphobia