Toward Eternity by Anton Hur Review

Spoiler free

I really liked this book. It’s a wonderfully executed piece of speculative fiction, imagining how humans will orchestrate the rise of technology, artificial intelligence, and medical research, and in turn, how humankind will have a role in allowing this technology to eventually shape us, and what that might look like. It’s simultaneously a love letter to humanity and a warning of what our world, shaped by violence and greed, could and will likely look like, even if it comes about differently. It’s a deftly written and concisely constructed plot that covers a vast scope of ideas in a very short volume.

Fans of VanderMeer and Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle will enjoy this book, but it also stands on its own without comparisons since it’s so unique. I’m intimidated by sci-fi and speculative fiction, but this book doesn’t get bogged down in over-explaining scientific elements.

The novel takes the form of a chain of chronological journal entries by subsequent related parties. The technological advance where the beginning of the end starts is nanites. Researchers experiment with cancer patients undergoing becoming physically replaced by nanites, which renders them cancer-free but also immortal. I was impressed with how Hur takes this idea to its fullest potential through a chain of events I couldn’t have guessed.

When technology has shaped us, physically and mentally, what makes your heart, soul, and mind human? When you live forever, how do you hold onto your humanity? The answer is a narrative that interweaves themes of love, poetry, and art’s impact on a human soul and humanity, participation in community, something bigger than yourself, to name a few.

The fascinating and devastating potential of technology is framed as a deeply human conundrum. The narrative isn’t shaped around men vs. women or white vs. non-white. Even the AI has moral struggles. When faced with concepts like immortality, AI that can fight wars and analyze poetry, and more, the reader is asked to wake up and realize just how important the big picture is.

Thank you to Harper Via for the gifted copy in its new Nomad Edition, out on 3/10/26.