kirisuna
This is an interesting concept that could be really well done, but feels like it’s a work still in its infancy.
There are 3 major themes going on — an individual’s psychological rupture; burnout at a societal level causing a fundamental shift to an energy based economy; and a sort of commentary on sociopolitical values being productivity and profit over human existence. Because of these varied ideas being shoved into a 68 page novella written in lyrical prose (and thus with a very small word count), this novella feels disjointed and fractured where it could be a fascinating instance of world-building if given the focus it deserves.
That being said, the theme of perpetual burnout on a societal level stuck with me. The author writes about the idea of a society built on input and output of energy rather than money or commodities, and in doing so shares some interesting points about how one cannot fill or give to others if they are so depressed they have nothing to give. It also speaks to the idea that once someone is so depleted, so empty, you cannot even fill yourself, and thus are in this state of almost helplessness. That fundamentally, once someone is there, it requires the output of others to fill you back up enough that you can contribute again — that you have something to give.
Some of this is written and presented in a convoluted way, and I think gets overshadowed by the hyper-emotionality of the psychological breakdown the MC is having, and the heavy-handed, pseudo-meta commentary on “the world” and its political movements and values.
But the core concept really hits home.
I have personally been struggling lately with having given all I have, and being so far in a deficit I couldn’t crawl out of the resulting hole. It took falling so far to realize that I was sacrificing everything I needed in order to meet the needs of those around me first and foremost — I was running myself ragged overworking to get a project done, finishing work at 6, 7, 8 pm and then immediately having to code switch to wife, cat mom, friend. There was no time for me because I put every possible need before myself. For me, this is something I’ve been taught by my upbringing, but as a woman in this world I can’t say it hasn’t been reinforced by society. And only recently have I forced myself to realize that when I am on empty I have nothing to give; that I am not helping anyone else by harming myself. And so I’ve been working for a month to prioritize my needs intentionally, even over the needs around me, until I can build a reserve from which to be able to give to others again without over depleting myself.
All that being said, I get this theme in this novella. I understand living in a world that you have given so much to — that has taken so much from you — that you feel like you can’t even exist in your reality anymore.
The author writes of a woman so depleted, “She looked like someone who had given everything she had — and was still expected to give more.”
The author later describes the concept of the energy system and the self: “Think of the collective as a stream of aligned energy. Everyone here emits a unique harmonic. When you’re in sync, you generate enough output to interact. To receive. To connect. But if your energy fractures—through depletion, trauma, overload—you can fall out of phase… Most people realign gradually… They rest. They receive input. Eventually, they re-synchronize. But some… go through what we call a total frequency drop. Their system detaches completely. The output drops to zero. And when that happens… The world shifts.”
These are things I have experienced — that I am experiencing. And I think the author captures them beautifully in this world’s energy-based economy. Where the underlying principle is that we cannot survive in isolation. That sometimes, through no fault of our own, things happen that deplete us to nothing, and it requires others to refuel us, to support us, until we can re-synchronize and become something capable of output.
So overall, this book gets a 2.5. The ideas are a bit cluttered, and I think would be strengthened by focusing in on one area (ideally, focusing in on building this world and these concepts around burnout in a more consistent and well-paced way — then, building from that foundation to the larger ideas, and to give weight to the emotional state of the MC). I think that could be strengthened by intentional use of lyrical vs normal prose — ie the more frenetic the MC feels, the more out of sync with reality, the more lyrical the prose becomes. The more harmonic, the more the prose should flow into long form. And also, I think this is too complex a story to live in a novella. I know the author specifically notes that this is a “part one” novella that is really a sneak peak of a larger work, but I think that if you are going to create a short self-constrained version of this story, it needs to accomplish that within the limitations of the form. It shouldn’t be a shortened chapters 1-8. It should be a complete taste of that world. A completed arc in short form. Something that makes the reader want more of that world, but that is a finished work in its own right. This did not accomplish that.
But the ideas themselves, the concepts and the world this could be, I think really have something there. They spoke to me at a very specific time in my life. And I would’ve very interested to live in that world during a longer story and see what the experience makes me feel.
I read this as my “Z” for my 2026 Books A-to-Z challenge, but would read a longer work if one came out.
This is an interesting concept that could be really well done, but feels like it’s a work still in its infancy.
There are 3 major themes going on — an individual’s psychological rupture; burnout at a societal level causing a fundamental shift to an energy based economy; and a sort of commentary on sociopolitical values being productivity and profit over human existence. Because of these varied ideas being shoved into a 68 page novella written in lyrical prose (and thus with a very small word count), this novella feels disjointed and fractured where it could be a fascinating instance of world-building if given the focus it deserves.
That being said, the theme of perpetual burnout on a societal level stuck with me. The author writes about the idea of a society built on input and output of energy rather than money or commodities, and in doing so shares some interesting points about how one cannot fill or give to others if they are so depressed they have nothing to give. It also speaks to the idea that once someone is so depleted, so empty, you cannot even fill yourself, and thus are in this state of almost helplessness. That fundamentally, once someone is there, it requires the output of others to fill you back up enough that you can contribute again — that you have something to give.
Some of this is written and presented in a convoluted way, and I think gets overshadowed by the hyper-emotionality of the psychological breakdown the MC is having, and the heavy-handed, pseudo-meta commentary on “the world” and its political movements and values.
But the core concept really hits home.
I have personally been struggling lately with having given all I have, and being so far in a deficit I couldn’t crawl out of the resulting hole. It took falling so far to realize that I was sacrificing everything I needed in order to meet the needs of those around me first and foremost — I was running myself ragged overworking to get a project done, finishing work at 6, 7, 8 pm and then immediately having to code switch to wife, cat mom, friend. There was no time for me because I put every possible need before myself. For me, this is something I’ve been taught by my upbringing, but as a woman in this world I can’t say it hasn’t been reinforced by society. And only recently have I forced myself to realize that when I am on empty I have nothing to give; that I am not helping anyone else by harming myself. And so I’ve been working for a month to prioritize my needs intentionally, even over the needs around me, until I can build a reserve from which to be able to give to others again without over depleting myself.
All that being said, I get this theme in this novella. I understand living in a world that you have given so much to — that has taken so much from you — that you feel like you can’t even exist in your reality anymore.
The author writes of a woman so depleted, “She looked like someone who had given everything she had — and was still expected to give more.”
The author later describes the concept of the energy system and the self: “Think of the collective as a stream of aligned energy. Everyone here emits a unique harmonic. When you’re in sync, you generate enough output to interact. To receive. To connect. But if your energy fractures—through depletion, trauma, overload—you can fall out of phase… Most people realign gradually… They rest. They receive input. Eventually, they re-synchronize. But some… go through what we call a total frequency drop. Their system detaches completely. The output drops to zero. And when that happens… The world shifts.”
These are things I have experienced — that I am experiencing. And I think the author captures them beautifully in this world’s energy-based economy. Where the underlying principle is that we cannot survive in isolation. That sometimes, through no fault of our own, things happen that deplete us to nothing, and it requires others to refuel us, to support us, until we can re-synchronize and become something capable of output.
So overall, this book gets a 2.5. The ideas are a bit cluttered, and I think would be strengthened by focusing in on one area (ideally, focusing in on building this world and these concepts around burnout in a more consistent and well-paced way — then, building from that foundation to the larger ideas, and to give weight to the emotional state of the MC). I think that could be strengthened by intentional use of lyrical vs normal prose — ie the more frenetic the MC feels, the more out of sync with reality, the more lyrical the prose becomes. The more harmonic, the more the prose should flow into long form. And also, I think this is too complex a story to live in a novella. I know the author specifically notes that this is a “part one” novella that is really a sneak peak of a larger work, but I think that if you are going to create a short self-constrained version of this story, it needs to accomplish that within the limitations of the form. It shouldn’t be a shortened chapters 1-8. It should be a complete taste of that world. A completed arc in short form. Something that makes the reader want more of that world, but that is a finished work in its own right. This did not accomplish that.
But the ideas themselves, the concepts and the world this could be, I think really have something there. They spoke to me at a very specific time in my life. And I would’ve very interested to live in that world during a longer story and see what the experience makes me feel.
I read this as my “Z” for my 2026 Books A-to-Z challenge, but would read a longer work if one came out.