Holy cow, I was not prepared for how much I was going to love this book. Butler has been steadily rising to become one of my favorite authors, and this has been my favorite book of hers that I've read so far--despite this being one of her books that I hadn't heard much about beforehand. Her ability to bake tension and gripping themes into every aspect of the book is stellar; she uses a lot of care and cleverness in how she approaches horrifying themes of bodily autonomy, consent, and cooperation.

My deepest praise for this book has to be its opening act, though. I'd be hard pressed to name another book whose first fifty pages are as compelling. The pacing is immaculate, from character development, worldbuilding, plot progression, emotional highs and lows... it's all just so perfectly claustrophobic and rewarding.

This book deserves so much more praise than the lack of attention I've seen it receiving.