This book sucked me in from the first pages and proceeded to check a lot of boxes for me. I found the basic premise (what is the role of artists in a post-apocalyptic world?) fascinating, connected with many of the themes, and loved the literary take on genre fiction. I am a sucker for books that kind of click together by the end, bringing together themes, characters, etc., which this book did beautifully (I audibly gasped at one point when I realized where part of the story was going). It was a specific yet universal look at humanity that I found surprising, poignant, fresh, though-provoking, and thoroughly enjoyable.