Reviews and Comments

This book has not aged well. There is a robot, a man, and a woman and then everyone else are essentially half awake idiots who commit suicide in the streets. So far, so good, but the dynamics involved lead the man to be the primary actor and the woman to require saving and... there are no surprises. It just trundles. The twist is obvious, and the workaround is also obvious and cringeworthy.

Lovely story where monsters have empathy and care about humans. It reminds me of a long way to a small planet in the overall focus on interpersonal dynamics.

I read it for the plot.

I'm consistently surprised by what a great writer Stjepan Šejić is -- funny, well thought out plots, not too predictable, and some genuinely disturbing monsters. The art's pretty great too.

Okay. I liked the overall approach to humanity on the part of the aliens (basically: humans are trash because they think they own all the life on their planet) but I found the day to day mechanics of the book to be dull.

The humans, especially the scientists, do aggressively stupid things and get stomped for it, sulk and repeat.

The alien is hulking and says little and broods, yet secretly has googly eyes for the protagonist.

Still, it's better than average.

A return to form, or at least a return to Bob.

Bob and the Laundry are not doing so well. Bob is not a sysadmin any more -- he is the new Angleton, a hungry ghost bound to his own flesh, and is well aware that if he slips up in his self-control, he could eat the souls of everyone in a half mile radius.

Sadly, Bridget Jones and Modesty Blaise also make appearances. But it's okay, because at least it's not about Bob's marriage.