victor vale is the best thing about this book. apart from my own curiosity and stubbornness, baring witness to victor's narrative arc was the main thing keeping me going.

I read the opening chapter multiple times and couldn't get myself to continue. I don't know why this attempt led to me read this as my first book of 2024, but it was different.

victor fucking vale is by far the best character -- you could also push the boat out to say everyone else was significantly duller in comparison. his internal monologue, sarcasm and morally grey actions are immediately impressionable upon the reader. he is the best thing about this book.

the web of relationships between the characters is intricately woven. i liked how everyone had/was going to meet everyone else at some point. some highlights for me: in the first third of the novel, seeing the before and after of victor's and eli's friendship and trying to guess the middle; sydney's and serena's relationship and the trajectory of it and how serena eventually mirrored their parents; eli's and serena's backstory was electric.

also where was the world building ???? yes, names of places were just casually dropped but i still feel the world was so underdeveloped, which I am in two minds about. one: their thesis/experiments had the potential to change reality as we know it, so I understand why schwab didn't focus too much on it. two: if the world continues to evolve, world building would be essential to show the stark differences from the beginning of the series to wherever in future installments.

overall, I very much enjoyed reading this character study -- but I don't think it was enough to make me read onwards. maybe I'll pick this up again. maybe I won't.