so. what if i just. Yeah.
im so not good at writing reviews for books i actually adored. because Holy Shit. i knew storygraph's algorithm wouldnt let me down with this one /lh (i am crying over the ending Oh my God).
the opening chapters of this book were hard to understand. the worldbuilding is confusing to begin with, and honestly i had no idea what the fuck was happening. but once i worked it out.. baby it was smooth sailing. well not the actual book just the experience. the plot was fucking choppy waters for the characters but hey.
staxxx and thunwar... my baby girls. my sweetie pies. fuck. i love sapphics. i loved doomed sapphics. i am going to eat my own hand i already miss them.
also shout out to sai for being the trans nonbinary rep i didnt know i needed but i am so happy i got.
singer and craft... fuck. the sapphic story was for seeing the "positives" of the CAPE system, how bonds can grow and people can be redeemed in one way or another. but singer and craft's story? that was fucking brutal. poor craft. i know dude is a

rapist

so i dont have as much empathy for him as i did singer, but still.. holy fuck. Yeah.
the allusions to modern day prisons in america... the use of research only to fund the torture of the system... those who are innocent of their crimes in the CAPE program... the singer prison itself... influencers. all the references to modern-day america were bone chilling. especially the footnotes. my god. i especially loved the little tributes in the footnotes when a character died. wow.
i dont want to compare books, but this is the 2020's the hunger games. or squid games in novel form. because yet again it reminds us of how sick capitalism truly is, how sick the entertainment industry is, how sick the prison industrial system in america is, how sick racism is, how sick poverty is, how sick.
i dont think i'll be able to get this book out of my head for a while. not only was this amazingly written solely from a novel standpoint - where the characters were loveable, there were stakes, the writing was delectable, the plot was phenomenal - but it was amazingly written as a reflection of the real world.
just truly amazing. claps all around. god damn.