I'm going with 4.5 stars rounded up. Tor selections are always top-notch for me, but this was such a delightful surprise. I have no idea how I'm going to explain this book to people to get them to buy in but I'm going to mention some of my favourite things about it: it's a quick, poignant read; it's super weird (big plus for me and lots of readers I know); it features stories within stories; it's queer; it leaves you wanting more when it comes to fleshing out the world which I know can be frustrating for some readers but I honestly love so much.

The story introduces us to Anima, who is part of a network that looks after humans in a kind of omniscient way? Ae can psyche-hop into other animals, and is like the top-tier of guardians of this society that ae lives in. But ae is also literally plugged into a thing called the Gleaming - ae has no life outside of aer job, aer responsibilities, ae doesn't even need to eat. Aer life is just moving right along, until Vessel shows up with a case of mementos, asks Anima for a memento, and when Anima falters, shares the stories of the other mementos in the case.

It's just so deliciously non-"traditionally" structured, and introduces some interesting conundrums about what the human condition. I can definitely see myself coming back to this regularly and taking away different things from it each time. Which is high praise for a book under 200 pages to pack such a punch. Can't wait to see what S. Qiuoyi Lu does next.

CW: suicide, consensual cutting, some violence, blood, mild sexual content