Incarnate by Alma Katsu
Incarnate book cover
Author Alma Katsu
Alma Katsu’s Incarnate is a fascinating and thrilling
update to the gothic horror classic The Portrait of Dorian Gray. I’d
actually argue that Katsu’s Incarnate is a more adventurous and relevant
story that not only examines the age-old desire for beauty and youth, but
rather frames these themes in our world that, as Katsu explains in her
afterward, “can…not tell the difference between real and fake, it would seem
much of the population no longer cares.” Her main character, Dorothy, is a
complicated woman whose own trauma and bullying pushed her to the fringes of
society and uses social media more as a lurker than someone truly engaged in
making meaningful connections, even if they are virtual. An opportunity to work
a video creator, Tomas Delgado, allows Dorothy to gain entry level access to
cutting edge technology in social media before she graduates college. Katsu’s
characterization of Dorothy allows us to both empathize with her and root for
her as she seems to obtain a dream internship working with one of the hottest
video producers, even if it requires leaving school early and moving to LA on
her own away from her family in NJ. As Dorothy develops strong work ethic,
spending many nights at the studio perfecting video effects for her favorite
signer, Catrina Villeneuve, she’s able to demonstrate her technological prowess
to Tomas, proving that she’s a capable and talented member of Tomas’s
developing team, even if it sets up rivalries between other members of Tomas’s
team. However, Dorothy’s late nights aren’t all spent on Tomas’s projects. She’s
also been developing her own avatar, Isabella, who she decides to create social
media accounts for. Despite being a digital creation that was developed through
her work with the singer Catrina Villeneuve, people can’t (or aren’t willing
to) recognize that Isabella is not real. In fact, Isabella’s girl-next-door
looks and emptiness seem to appeal to a broad swath of social media users, and
she eventually becomes a phenomenon. Maybe because there’s this air of mystery
about her, but people want to know more about this woman and where she came
from. Even Tomas and others in the studio have questions about Isabella, but
because Dorothy used Catrina’s images and videos and Tomas’s equipment and
property to create this viral sensation, she’s not willing to disclose her
origins. In fact, she secretly seems to revel in the comments, attention and
notifications she’s receiving as Isabella since this was never something she
experienced as Dorothy. Dorothy also begins to receive strange messages that
seemingly offer her a chance to have Isabella become more and more popular,
dominating the digital realm. However, as Dorothy eventually learns, these kinds
of deals with “trolls” often come with some compensation. Even though she doesn’t
sign and contract and her agreement is through messaging, Dorothy’s troll extracts
quite the toll, even if the cost doesn’t immediately reach Dorothy.
Before becoming a novelist, Katsu worked in the world of intelligence,
becoming one of the first social media researchers, often trying to learn more
about how social media impacted behaviors, beliefs, and the flow of
information. Similarly, Incarnate takes readers behind the scenes to
learn more about how social media and our willingness to accept whatever we see
can boost profiles, whether they are real or not. In her afterword, Katsu also shares
a thought about social media that I’ve been thinking about ever since I finished
the book: “Here’s the last lesson of tech forecasting: Every technology has two
sides, and those two sides are not Good and Bad. They’re Offensive and
Defensive. You can use a new technology to improve your lot in life or to
further your goals, but you can also use it to take down your enemies, to
obfuscate or deceive.” It’s a powerful lesson that the technology isn’t really
good or bad, but rather it’s how we decide to use it. While Dorothy initially
uses it to attain the kind of popularity and attention that evaded her (or she
shunned) IRL, we see how she learns to use social media as not just a tool, but
also a weapon. At one point, Isabella is invited to a weekend getaway with
other influencers who remind her to act as if there’s always a camera filming
her; although she forgets this reminder, she learns how others may use social
media to take down competitors. In fact, we begin to see how Isabella and
Dorothy both change from desiring attention and likes to feeling threatened and
cornered by competition. In many ways, Dorothy reminded me of Maris from Katsu’s
last novel Fiend, where we see someone who is bound by her status, yet
finds ways to manipulate and maneuver, often with some supernatural help, and
advance in a world that previously denied them status. Alma Katsu’s Incarnate
is an exciting, page-turning ride where I felt my emotions swaying from sympathy
to disgust and dismay. I really appreciated the complexity of Dorothy and the transformation
that occurs with her as she gains more status and visibility through Isabella.
Some of the other characters, especially the other influencers, were a little
more underdeveloped, and I would have liked to learn more about them. I also loved
the mention of a character named Graham Jones, a “British technocrat
bankrolling Tomas’s studio,” and wished there was more about this aptly named
individually. Some of the plot points, which I won’t give away to spoil the
ending, move rather rapidly towards the latter half of the book. Nevertheless,
Katsu’s writing kept my attention and kept me turning pages. Incarnate
is a fascinating book, and a great way to use horror to examine the implications
of social media and artificial intelligence, especially our willingness to
accept whatever we see online as real. Highly recommended! Many thanks to Putnam
and NetGalley for sharing an advance copy of this wonderful book!
Alma Katsu’s Incarnate is a fascinating and thrilling
update to the gothic horror classic The Portrait of Dorian Gray. I’d
actually argue that Katsu’s Incarnate is a more adventurous and relevant
story that not only examines the age-old desire for beauty and youth, but
rather frames these themes in our world that, as Katsu explains in her
afterward, “can…not tell the difference between real and fake, it would seem
much of the population no longer cares.” Her main character, Dorothy, is a
complicated woman whose own trauma and bullying pushed her to the fringes of
society and uses social media more as a lurker than someone truly engaged in
making meaningful connections, even if they are virtual. An opportunity to work
a video creator, Tomas Delgado, allows Dorothy to gain entry level access to
cutting edge technology in social media before she graduates college. Katsu’s
characterization of Dorothy allows us to both empathize with her and root for
her as she seems to obtain a dream internship working with one of the hottest
video producers, even if it requires leaving school early and moving to LA on
her own away from her family in NJ. As Dorothy develops strong work ethic,
spending many nights at the studio perfecting video effects for her favorite
signer, Catrina Villeneuve, she’s able to demonstrate her technological prowess
to Tomas, proving that she’s a capable and talented member of Tomas’s
developing team, even if it sets up rivalries between other members of Tomas’s
team. However, Dorothy’s late nights aren’t all spent on Tomas’s projects. She’s
also been developing her own avatar, Isabella, who she decides to create social
media accounts for. Despite being a digital creation that was developed through
her work with the singer Catrina Villeneuve, people can’t (or aren’t willing
to) recognize that Isabella is not real. In fact, Isabella’s girl-next-door
looks and emptiness seem to appeal to a broad swath of social media users, and
she eventually becomes a phenomenon. Maybe because there’s this air of mystery
about her, but people want to know more about this woman and where she came
from. Even Tomas and others in the studio have questions about Isabella, but
because Dorothy used Catrina’s images and videos and Tomas’s equipment and
property to create this viral sensation, she’s not willing to disclose her
origins. In fact, she secretly seems to revel in the comments, attention and
notifications she’s receiving as Isabella since this was never something she
experienced as Dorothy. Dorothy also begins to receive strange messages that
seemingly offer her a chance to have Isabella become more and more popular,
dominating the digital realm. However, as Dorothy eventually learns, these kinds
of deals with “trolls” often come with some compensation. Even though she doesn’t
sign and contract and her agreement is through messaging, Dorothy’s troll extracts
quite the toll, even if the cost doesn’t immediately reach Dorothy.
Before becoming a novelist, Katsu worked in the world of intelligence,
becoming one of the first social media researchers, often trying to learn more
about how social media impacted behaviors, beliefs, and the flow of
information. Similarly, Incarnate takes readers behind the scenes to
learn more about how social media and our willingness to accept whatever we see
can boost profiles, whether they are real or not. In her afterword, Katsu also shares
a thought about social media that I’ve been thinking about ever since I finished
the book: “Here’s the last lesson of tech forecasting: Every technology has two
sides, and those two sides are not Good and Bad. They’re Offensive and
Defensive. You can use a new technology to improve your lot in life or to
further your goals, but you can also use it to take down your enemies, to
obfuscate or deceive.” It’s a powerful lesson that the technology isn’t really
good or bad, but rather it’s how we decide to use it. While Dorothy initially
uses it to attain the kind of popularity and attention that evaded her (or she
shunned) IRL, we see how she learns to use social media as not just a tool, but
also a weapon. At one point, Isabella is invited to a weekend getaway with
other influencers who remind her to act as if there’s always a camera filming
her; although she forgets this reminder, she learns how others may use social
media to take down competitors. In fact, we begin to see how Isabella and
Dorothy both change from desiring attention and likes to feeling threatened and
cornered by competition. In many ways, Dorothy reminded me of Maris from Katsu’s
last novel Fiend, where we see someone who is bound by her status, yet
finds ways to manipulate and maneuver, often with some supernatural help, and
advance in a world that previously denied them status. Alma Katsu’s Incarnate
is an exciting, page-turning ride where I felt my emotions swaying from sympathy
to disgust and dismay. I really appreciated the complexity of Dorothy and the transformation
that occurs with her as she gains more status and visibility through Isabella.
Some of the other characters, especially the other influencers, were a little
more underdeveloped, and I would have liked to learn more about them. I also loved
the mention of a character named Graham Jones, a “British technocrat
bankrolling Tomas’s studio,” and wished there was more about this aptly named
individually. Some of the plot points, which I won’t give away to spoil the
ending, move rather rapidly towards the latter half of the book. Nevertheless,
Katsu’s writing kept my attention and kept me turning pages. Incarnate
is a fascinating book, and a great way to use horror to examine the implications
of social media and artificial intelligence, especially our willingness to
accept whatever we see online as real. Highly recommended! Many thanks to Putnam
and NetGalley for sharing an advance copy of this wonderful book!
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