While I think there is obvious value in the premise here, the way it was told was maybe just not for me. I get that it’s a satire, but the melodrama was over the top without the payoff of any satirical humor. It felt heavy-handed beyond belief and info-dumpy about the publishing process, and then the ending was so incredibly farfetched, what shocked me more than the reveal was that the author actually made the choice to end it that way.

I think what this story really needed was for ANYONE to be a good person. Somebody needed to learn something. Somebody needed to be a hero. There wasn’t a single character to root for in all of it. And maybe that was the point—that everybody is manipulative and selfish and will ultimately do whatever it takes to get their acclaim and fortune—but that just isn’t a narrative I can enjoy or find value in.