Oh, look, I really enjoyed the book that won two categories in the Goodreads awards.
But like also let’s talk - in a good way - about the fact that McQuiston has written an AU fanfic on the real world where things are just a leetle different. And that isn’t meant just as a description of the plot.
Fanfic is a stylistic genre, one that cares about a pattern of tension and release in the emotional experience of the reader. It feels often more like a series of vignettes that add up to a narrative. And it’s often just as if not more interested in the small moments than the large ones.
And also, as more writers who cut their teeth on it become published and polished storytellers, I think we’re going to see more of it as a style.
Bring it.
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I do have one quibble though. In this fantasy world where the 45th president of the USA is a divorced Texan woman with biracial kids...why is Bibi still prime minister!?!?
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ETA: Also, I figured out another piece of the fanfiction thing. Harry/Draco. Alex is Harry (especially Desi Harry) and Henry is Draco and it's part of the way that that dynamic has become an integral part of culture as both a response to HP and an alternative model for enemies -> lovers OTHER than Lizzy and Darcy. Both the gender element, but also the power element. Who has what power, who has what freedom? Anyway, yes, I don't think this book is based at all on Drarry, but I also think it could not exist without thirty years of Drarry.