This by far exceeded my expectations. A book that is very smart in its critique of academia, of gatekeeping, of antiquated, bloated institutions that are too big to fail and perpetuate systemic harm. It’s also about the importance of history and representation in history and said representation curating relevancy in knowledge today. Peripherally art, beauty, decadence—Puritanism writ large policing minorities. The operating of individuals in spaces not meant for them.

It also is actually dark academia, not merely the aesthetic, but the motifs and themes you’d think would encapsulate that trend of subgenre. Honestly, this is incredibly dense in topics and theme, and I think it’s wildly successful at conveying the complexity situationally. It could easily have been overwhelming. I am sure some of it went over my head just by virtue of consuming it on audio. The more intricate a story, the more I just need to read it.

Great worldbuilding, fascinating, complex characters that are rendered outside of the quintessential minority pool that publishers often dictate to authors. It’s unapologetically queer. The ending surprised me. The only fault was it picking up steam, as initially I wasn’t sure how interesting an archivist, exploiter academic angle would be, but once it clicked for me it didn’t let go.