the character work in this book was a lot more thoughtful and in depth than what I've come to expect from this series. Orman and Blum's last book in the series was fun but not very complex; Seeing I, on the other hand, holds a really timely punch of critique. the depiction of this for-profit company running immigration systems and the legal system and prisons and litigating against its own workers on seemingly arbitrary principles, just on the assumption that everything, including labour and life, is an investment. it's a super anticapitalist and scarily predictive book. it's genuinely odd reading this book the month the first computer chip got implanted into a human brain, and knowing that the exaggerated corporate evil of INC is literally musk's (and other corporate personalities') attitude as a CEO.

Orman and Blum do sometimes tread into fanfiction territory just in tone and certain things like the use of the cat and some specifics of 8's characterisation. it dampens the strength of this book a little, but not nearly enough to make a big difference. it's still without a doubt one of the stronger titles in the series so far, in everything, from plot to allegory to characterisation to quality of writing.