This was SO close to being an all-time great and i'd rec it for people interested in absurd settings/humor, brilliant alien-ness and generally those wanting some 'out there' / weird SF. Despite the rating, this was on of the most memorable and fav reads of 2025 for me Anyway, I loved the way that Dickinson managed to weave the absurd with the conflict and the way things escalated. I found myself thinking that we'd basically reached the big final setpiece a few times in the first half of the book because i wasn't sure how things would be progressing from that point. Characters were decent enough, and the backstory and plot in region was great. Some characters (erik etc) and the pacing were what marred my enjoyment. And i dont think it manages to actually stick the landing. Honestly, there's probably a 5/5 book in there if 25% of the pages went missing