I jumped into the book after hearing all the buzz as it seemed like the big scifi hit of 2025. Killer premise and for the most part the fast pacing works... for the first third or so. But it you can feel the short story anthology vibe as it goes on and becomes practically a disconnected series of vignettes, and even the central idea itself loses cohesion. The Big Bad Thing has so many manifestations that it feels like monster of the week rather than a true full book that holds onto a core sharply executed identity. Less a grand thesis than a series of isolated short form thrills.
So the long and short of it is, definitely worth it for the first third and dimishing returns after that.
As for the short film, I think it's great for what it is, gets better and better as it goes and is worth the short watch. Fascinating seeing the visual depictions of the stuff the book talks about both foreground and background.
silenced_trope•2h ago
True, the first third had some mystery to it. The rest was kind of mediocre as far as sci-fi goes.
jhbadger•1h ago
I also didn't think it was quite as good as it was hyped to be, but as someone who has long been into the web-based SCP stuff, I did appreciate how the book is introducing SCP to a wider audience.
brson•31m ago
I felt similar about the book. The premise was thrilling, but as it went on it seemed to succumb to typical genre tropes, ending didn't deliver.
MattPalmer1086•10m ago
I actually liked all of it. It's slightly more cohesive than the original writing on the SCP website, which is structured as a series of short thematically linked reports. I get that style won't appeal to everyone though.
Still one of the more original bits of sci fi / horror to be published in a while, so a strong recommendation from me!
Jasika will always be Astrid from Fringe. In my head, Helen Hunt plays wheeler.
jmcgough•46m ago
Read this as "antiemetics" (anti-nausea meds like Zofran) and was very confused for a moment.
coldtea•20m ago
Did anybody else find the original story mediocre stuff? Interesting premise, but neither novel nor that deep. PKD has done 100x with much less.
Nition•14m ago
I really liked it and all the little interesting ideas within it, like the antimimetic worms that live everywhere. However, I didn't think the recent rewrite was as much of an improvement as others seem to. The later parts were improved but I thought some of the smaller edits to earlier parts arguably came out worse.
pinkmuffinere•8m ago
I loved the ideas! The premise was novel to me, and I also don't think I've encountered the same idea since (except for in reference to the original story). I'm not a fan of the writing style though. It's very stiff and heavy-handed, as if the writer's only goal is to setup the next twist. But I can't complain that much, it reminds me a lot of my own writing.
glenstein•3d ago
So the long and short of it is, definitely worth it for the first third and dimishing returns after that.
As for the short film, I think it's great for what it is, gets better and better as it goes and is worth the short watch. Fascinating seeing the visual depictions of the stuff the book talks about both foreground and background.
silenced_trope•2h ago
jhbadger•1h ago
brson•31m ago
MattPalmer1086•10m ago
Still one of the more original bits of sci fi / horror to be published in a while, so a strong recommendation from me!