Just like its predecessor, Chambers writes super feelgood and pleasant work, though it isn't devoid of introspection and Dex's themes of struggling with depression. This focuses more on Dex and Mosscap's relationship and how it grows; it's sort of unspoken that they love each other deeply, though that isn't necessarily a romantic or platonic thing. Perhaps something in between? They're both so queer in their gender identity, but also in their relationships. The silly parts and the humour are always welcome, and balance out the deep and quiet moments. I appreciate those. In such an anticapitalist world, of course Dex still falls into the trap that they feel they need to have a reason to be depressed/in a slump/to need a break.

It's just not true. If you need to run into the forest for a bit, do it. ^_^ And meet a slightly homo robot on the way.

A pleasant comfort-read. I actually don't adore it, solely because I like books that make me uncomfortable, but it is objectively a really sweet piece of work. I love the utopia of Panga, this classless and moneyless society. It's obviously this gender-neutral, sex positive, communist place and it does make me wish it was true in real life. The relationship between two agender characters, one robot and one human, is just very cute. Both of them being technically nonbinary while respectively using they/them and it/its is also sweet. Many losers would say this is all hard to read and too on the nose but I don't care. This was not made for them! More casual LGBTness please, especially not the coming of age transgenderism I see often in YA novels, but simply genderqueerness as an aspect of someone's character that has a greater purpose in the story. 

:) it's feelgood!

You don't have to read Huckleberry Finn to love this story as it is on its own. This book is seriously depressing and harrowing as it is humorous, and I recommend it so much to every human on Earth. Just one simple, relatively easy-to-read and nicely paced book about the events before the Civil War, about enslaved Black people, men and women alike, could make someone so deeply empathetic. I don't know, at least I'd hope so. Books like these aren't difficult to come by, but easy for most of the population (especially the ashy part) to look over. I can't put this into words and I won't, but.. it's so ridiculous to me that people think white folks experience racism or any systemic degradation. This isn't fantasy; it happened. There is no exaggeration to the lengths that enslavers and the complicit went to make Black enslaved people's lives hell. This is still real, too. As a nonblack nonwhite individual I'm very grateful to be able to learn and also nod along.

Also, superb writing style.

This book is hard to talk about—hard to even read. In the best way possible. It was extremely well written in a contemporary sense, with the nerve and attitude of protagonist Cyrus, an Iranian-American addict-alcoholic gay-straight muslim-nonmuslim. There are so many themes and layers and poetry woven into the book, it's so difficult for me to break down. I'm still digesting it all. This book meant so much to me as a queer muslim/nonmuslim/tentative muslim, a person who has the great privilege to be able to say I have the same relationship that Cyrus and Zee do. The ambiguity and lack of bounds—the humanness of all the characters, the immigrants of colour, old and young, experiencing queerness in all senses of the word, it was beautiful and so refreshing. I don't speak Farsi but having Persian roots in my own mother tongue also further pulled me into the book, its world and Cyrus' culture.

The ending was perfect. Horribly gut wrenching, with perfect ambiguity. What happened to Zee like, ten chapters ago? Kaveh Akbar is insane and this book will never leave my mind, I think.

Akbar's outlook on humanity, purpose, martyrdom, sexuality, love, discrimination, *everything*.. honestly changed me for the better.