Kay

This book is a thought experiment on grief, dying, and cultural death practices masquerading as a sci fi novel. (It is also a sci fi novel.) It takes a super interesting guess at what life and society would be like in a world where so many people are dying every day that it reshapes how everyone deals with death and grief at a huge scale. It was thought provoking and sad and also kind of weird but I loved it.

I went into this book not really realising what it was about, so it is partly my fault that I didn't enjoy it, but: What I was hoping for was a book about personal habit forming, and trying to adjust habits at an individual level, with an aim towards helping people.

What I got was a book about the large-scale ways that sales people, marketers, data scientists and leaders of organisations have manipulated large groups of people out of their money or free will without them knowing.

The book approaches this from the lens of the organisation, framing it to talk about how fascinating and brilliant and clever and amazing all these innovations are, and it leaves me wanting to quit the internet, never interact with a store again, and live under a rock for the rest of my life.

But there is like a half a chapter at the end about how to change your own habits as an individual I guess.

I'm invested in the story and the characters, but I really started to feel dragged down by the fact that literally nothing goes right for literally anyone in this book. Many elaborate plans are made by multiple different characters, and many many times the goal that they want is snatched out of their hands in the final moments before their success, in some shocking twist. It makes for an exciting story, but it is also just vey miserable.

Approaches the medical parts of it in a direct but also approachable way for non medical professionals, and tells lots of interesting stories. Definitely doesn't shy away from the messy details, so maybe not for the faint of heart.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book; it captured my interest right off the bat, and had me intrigued through the whole story. It is well written, and the light-hearted style makes it very accessible for those not necessarily looking for High Fantasy. For those who are looking for high fantasy I would still recommend it, as it does have a great story and set of characters.