What a wild ride this series is turning out to be.

This book was a lot of fun! Even though that feels weird to say. I read it in one sitting and it was a pretty compelling page turner. A great choice for someone in a reading slump like I was.

I'm not sure why I expected differently from this title but I didn't enjoy any of the stories here. Partly because they were all thematically the same, and partly because I hate enslavement monster porn narratives. Some of us are just happy to fuck monsters I guess.

Exhibit Piece-4/5, I liked the dreamlike quality of this story. It was fun trying to decide what felt real and what didn't. The ending is one of those tongue in cheek, the grass is always greener lessons, but the experience of the story overall was enjoyable.

The Commuter-4/5, This one was another trippy reality one. I liked it more than the first story, but I liked reading them back to back because I feel like they have similar themes.

The Impossible Planet-5/5, this was probably one of my favorites. A bit heavy handed in the ending like with Exhibit Piece, but I thought it was an ironic story. The visuals it conjured were wonderful.

The Hanging Stranger-4/5, a bit of a spooky thriller! I really enjoyed this one too, especially how it looped back in on itself.

Sales Pitch-5/5, the ending to this one was both hilarious and terrifying. I once again go back to the idea that all advertisements should be banned.

The Father-Thing-4/5, also a bit of a spooky one. I liked that the children were the main protagonists here. It reminds me of some folklore that I've read at some point. It feels like a story I would be told around a campfire with the narrator holding a flashlight under their chin.

The Hood Maker-2/5, overall the concept was interesting, but I wasn't all to interested in the execution.

Foster, You're Dead-3/5, this one was interesting to read, but compared to some of the other stories in this collection it just doesn't stick out to me as much.

Human Is-5/5, one of my favorites. It's one of those "good for her" genre of stories that I love so much.

Autofac-1/5, this one was just very boring to me and felt way too long.

The first part was a bit confusing. It took a me awhile to get everyone straight, but I had fun while I was doing it. The later half of the book was very enjoyable, and I found that I was really invested in the characters by the end of everything. I'm surprised but glad that I ended up liking it!

I agree with the middling reviewers who say that this author has great ideas but fails to connect readers to the characters or situation. It really didn’t pick up for me until around page 100, and then remained barely interesting until the end. I think I enjoyed Dick’s short stories more.

I enjoyed this one a lot more than the first installment. It was much more fast paced and interesting in my opinion. I also really hope ART comes back later.

All in all, this was a fun read because I really just kept reading it for an entire day. I feel like it was a 3 1/2 stars for me because I think the plot was too slow when it didn’t matter and too fast when it was just getting interesting. I really don’t think it needed to be as long as it is, and honestly a bit more streamlining on the story would have been helpful. All the reviews saying it’s like a drama seem to ring true since dramas are about 40% filler and so is this book.

I generally didn’t care for the romance, mostly because I thought both love interests were flat characters and it really distracted from the main characters development. I just didn’t care about her romantic attachment to either of them. However, Xingyin is an enjoyable protagonist.

I walked into this book with no context or expectations and walked away incredibly happy I picked it. Truly wonderful!