skyegbooks's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I liked the unique fomat, I have never seen a book quite like it however, it did get quite confusing when it came to deciphering who was who and why they are relevant in the beginning. The constant use of spelt-out emoji names in the middle of sentances made some things impossible to understand in my opinion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Sexual assault and Excrement
bluberrybooks's review
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Antisemitism, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
waywardnova's review
ok new review as of 6/20/2023:
when i read this, i had a blast with it. but upon further reflection and a friend's review, i guess i wasn't paying close enough attention to realize the inciting incident of the romance had uhhhhh a bit of a full consent issue. dubious enough that it puts a bit of a damper on the whole thing for me. so i am,, rescinding my recommendation of it and moving along taking the author in good faith
when i read this, i had a blast with it. but upon further reflection and a friend's review, i guess i wasn't paying close enough attention to realize the inciting incident of the romance had uhhhhh a bit of a full consent issue. dubious enough that it puts a bit of a damper on the whole thing for me. so i am,, rescinding my recommendation of it and moving along taking the author in good faith
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
tigger89's review
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
While this isn't high literature by any means, I found it to be an enjoyable, fast-paced satire of both the workplace and the human condition. I will say upfront that, if you're looking for a logical resolution, you won't find one here. Nothing is really explained with regard to the main hook, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth coming along on the trip. And a trip it is, with some of the logs being downright bizarre. My takeaway? Corporate capitalism is driving us insane, and we all need a vacation before we devolve to communicating solely via mangled emojis.
The main obstacle most readers would have engaging with this story is the way its told, in chat log form. You don't have to know Slack to understand the format. I've never used Slack myself, but if you understand Discord(#channels and DMs/private chats) then you'll be able to understand this. The book's strongest point was how well it executed this technique, with each character managing to be distinct despite only existing in the context of chat logs. I was particularly appreciative of the way the author gendered all of the characters near the start, by having a character request access to the #gents-only channel. It's hard to subtly slip pronouns into a pure dialogue situation, and I thought that was a clever solution!
I don't want to nitpick the plot too much because this wasn't really that kind of book. It's designed to play a little fast and loose with the logic. But there was one thing, a moral rather than a logical issue, that bothered me.
This isn't depicted as a violation and all parties wind up being cool with it, but I can't tell if it was a case of the characters being down with whatever or if the consent issue wasn't considered a problem by the author. Because of the unique format of the story I could see it going either way, because there's no good way to address it in-narrative if the characters aren't going to say it out loud to each other, right? So that was a thing that happened. If it'll bother you, brace for it, and I guess come to your own conclusion about what the author might have intended there.
The main obstacle most readers would have engaging with this story is the way its told, in chat log form. You don't have to know Slack to understand the format. I've never used Slack myself, but if you understand Discord(#channels and DMs/private chats) then you'll be able to understand this. The book's strongest point was how well it executed this technique, with each character managing to be distinct despite only existing in the context of chat logs. I was particularly appreciative of the way the author gendered all of the characters near the start, by having a character request access to the #gents-only channel. It's hard to subtly slip pronouns into a pure dialogue situation, and I thought that was a clever solution!
I don't want to nitpick the plot too much because this wasn't really that kind of book. It's designed to play a little fast and loose with the logic. But there was one thing, a moral rather than a logical issue, that bothered me.
Spoiler
Toward the end of the book, a character knowingly has sex with a person whose body is currently inhabited by another consciousness, without seeking consent from the original owner of the body.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
katebrownreads's review against another edition
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement and Cursing
Minor: Sexual assault
mermaidsherbet's review
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Excrement, and Animal death
whentheresteeth's review
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
This was an interesting book! I'm not one for novels set in slack and i did feel tired at a couple of moments. That being said, this book is really cool and I read it in one sitting and got a fuzzy feeling at the end of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Abandonment
Moderate: Sexual content and Animal death
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
alisiakae's review
fast-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
Spoiler
contains a non consensual sex scene that is not acknowledged as sexual assaultvenetiana's review against another edition
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
This book is so cool. Can't really explain without spoiling, but I sped through it in like an hour or something? Really entertaining.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement and Body horror
Minor: Animal death, Kidnapping, Death, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Excrement, Medical content, and Toxic relationship
shybookstagramer's review against another edition
4.0
This was a very weird but interesting read told completely through Slack app messages. It was funny but also had creepy moments. I wish it had explained things a little better because there was one character whose fate was never explained so I was just left confused about what happened to them. There is also a weird moment of sexual assault that was totally unnecessary.
audiobook specific: this is narrated by a full cast, which is great! There is a moment where one of the narrators reads out an "image" and at that point, there are like 15 of the same voice overlapping each other. DO NOT listen to this part at a faster speed than 1x because it will hurt your ears. I felt like my ears and brain were going to explode.
audiobook specific: this is narrated by a full cast, which is great! There is a moment where one of the narrators reads out an "image" and at that point, there are like 15 of the same voice overlapping each other. DO NOT listen to this part at a faster speed than 1x because it will hurt your ears. I felt like my ears and brain were going to explode.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault
sexual assault spoiler: