Jun 04, 2026
You know, whilst I like the plot so far, I feel like I'm left a bit wanting by the 'genre' aspect of this genre fic. I understand non-literary fiction is primarily plot-driven, but we're about two thirds of the way in, and so far I've struggled to understand what Zoe's arc is supposed to be. She's a fun character with a clear drive, but other than that she feels quite one-dimensional.
Which sucks, considering how the rest of the story feels pretty solid. You have a very obvious bit of symbolism with the 'Oneiric' institute (the average brit has probably never heard of this dreamlike adjective), and the monsters' religious ideation seems to draw both from 'Seraphim' pharmaceuticals and Zoe's mum's Christian faith. That's not to mention how crisp and clean the prose is, and how the descriptions really amplify the, well, 'veracity' for lack of a better words of the creatures. But at the end of the day, I find myself feeling a bit disinterested in the protagonist. It feels like she has a strong skeleton, but she's missing a head - that special something that guides her development. You see, so far Zoe has behaved in a manner not too atypical from anyone in her situation. She has felt consistently ill-at-ease, and slowly accustomed herself to the new normal of her Kit rescue mission. But I don't believe she had ever made a false step. Whatever errors she had made had not exactly been because of a flaw of hers, but rather because of her limitation as a human. She's scared, she finds her mettle, she perseveres, and the story sort of repeats itself. Perhaps I've missed something or this is a superficial read of the story, but I genuinely could not pinpoint a single thing that is necessarily wrong with Zoe, something that she should aim to fix or grow out of by the end of the story.
And as a result, I feel my gaze glancing off the page whenever the descriptive passages wore thin.
