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Spent Bullets
Set in Taiwan and the Silicon Valley, a collection of linked stories that explore the meaning of success and the purpose of existence, centered on the short life and long shadow of an engineering genius who descends deeper into despair while rising higher on the professional ladder.
The hard-working geniuses of Spent Bullets are the crème de la crème of the meritocracy. Educated in the best schools in Taiwan, they move to lucrative positions in America’s big tech, reaching the pinnacle of career prestige. Yet there is a dark side to their relentless focus and achievements.
In an age that idolizes success, Terao Tetsuya’s piercing novel explores the grotesque contortions of psyches shaped by hyper-competitive systems, where the measure of one’s worth is a capacity for suffering—witnessed through the brief, shining life of Jie-Heng, a prodigy who can solve any logic problem—but not the problem of human relations. Jie-Heng mostly does what is expected of him, even if it means diminishing his individuality. A young man with no center to ground him, he tries to fit in, yet fails to connect because of other people’s fear, misunderstanding, resentment, and obsessive adoration.
His most vital deviation is a perverse, longstanding relationship with Wu Yi-Hsiang, a tormentor turned lover who offers a thin tether to reality. Wu Yi-Hsiang is fascinated by Jie-Heng’s intellect and, with his own anxious need to please, carefully tends to Jie-Heng's desire for debasement. When Jie-Heng’s yearning to embrace the void is tragically realized, he leaves behind a host of unanswered questions, complicated feelings, and cohorts who carry his memory like a bullet in a glass case that will never tarnish.
A searing look at our time and culture, Terao Tetsuya exposes the absurdity of to make money, to be a better person, to be someone you're not. With cool, calculating precision, he illuminates the promise and peril of gifted young people who patiently bear the burdens of their fate.
Translated from Chinese by Kevin Wang
The hard-working geniuses of Spent Bullets are the crème de la crème of the meritocracy. Educated in the best schools in Taiwan, they move to lucrative positions in America’s big tech, reaching the pinnacle of career prestige. Yet there is a dark side to their relentless focus and achievements.
In an age that idolizes success, Terao Tetsuya’s piercing novel explores the grotesque contortions of psyches shaped by hyper-competitive systems, where the measure of one’s worth is a capacity for suffering—witnessed through the brief, shining life of Jie-Heng, a prodigy who can solve any logic problem—but not the problem of human relations. Jie-Heng mostly does what is expected of him, even if it means diminishing his individuality. A young man with no center to ground him, he tries to fit in, yet fails to connect because of other people’s fear, misunderstanding, resentment, and obsessive adoration.
His most vital deviation is a perverse, longstanding relationship with Wu Yi-Hsiang, a tormentor turned lover who offers a thin tether to reality. Wu Yi-Hsiang is fascinated by Jie-Heng’s intellect and, with his own anxious need to please, carefully tends to Jie-Heng's desire for debasement. When Jie-Heng’s yearning to embrace the void is tragically realized, he leaves behind a host of unanswered questions, complicated feelings, and cohorts who carry his memory like a bullet in a glass case that will never tarnish.
A searing look at our time and culture, Terao Tetsuya exposes the absurdity of to make money, to be a better person, to be someone you're not. With cool, calculating precision, he illuminates the promise and peril of gifted young people who patiently bear the burdens of their fate.
Translated from Chinese by Kevin Wang
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
208 pages, Hardcover
Published October 14, 2025
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251 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
October 11, 2025
I'm no prude but this was quite a bit more crass than I thought it was going to be. It's very crude and uncomfortable, not in an entirely bad way if you're expecting it, but personally if I hadn't received an ARC I would've DNFed.
The prose is good but the form and impact of the book are strange. The fact that all of the stories follow the same cast of characters makes it feel like a badly paced novel instead of distinct short stories.
From the synopsis--especially "A searing look at our time and culture, Terao Tetsuya exposes the absurdity of striving: to make money, to be a better person, to be someone you're not"--I expected a lot more insight about people and the world we live in. Instead, in the afterword, the author himself says about the book, "This experience is intended to be, above all, aesthetic in nature. I'm afraid those seeking social commentary or indictments here will come away disappointed." I wish his marketing team had taken this to heart, because it is much more aligned with my experience of reading this.
If you want vibes, interpersonal drama, deviancy and darkness, this might interest you. If you're looking for deeper insights, I'd pass on this one.
Thank you to HarperVia and NetGalley for the ARC.
The prose is good but the form and impact of the book are strange. The fact that all of the stories follow the same cast of characters makes it feel like a badly paced novel instead of distinct short stories.
From the synopsis--especially "A searing look at our time and culture, Terao Tetsuya exposes the absurdity of striving: to make money, to be a better person, to be someone you're not"--I expected a lot more insight about people and the world we live in. Instead, in the afterword, the author himself says about the book, "This experience is intended to be, above all, aesthetic in nature. I'm afraid those seeking social commentary or indictments here will come away disappointed." I wish his marketing team had taken this to heart, because it is much more aligned with my experience of reading this.
If you want vibes, interpersonal drama, deviancy and darkness, this might interest you. If you're looking for deeper insights, I'd pass on this one.
Thank you to HarperVia and NetGalley for the ARC.
June 29, 2025
thank you to harpervia publishing for the ARC of the english translated version – what an honor to get my hands on this book that is so devastatingly funny and funnily devastating. it was the most surreal experience spending an afternoon in my apartment in the guting-taipower-gongguan area of taipei, piecing the linked stories together and against the background of larger taiwanese society in multiple ways; how one character and timeline fits into another in this collection, how i could pinpoint context of each location and re-location mentioned in the book as someone who has worked with top students in the taiwanese higher education system for the past two years.
the stories relate to larger themes of taiwan's unique flavor of academic pressure as well as the classic observation of IQ-EQ opportunity cost that makes it so characters like chieh-heng go to the extremes in order to attempt connection with other humans (and some characters become a part of the brain drain exodus to the west). just as the author took inspiration from real people in his life as an ntu student, i see glimpses of chieh-heng in many of the university students i work with. at what point is being a prodigy no longer worth it? how far can we push ourselves to be accepted, just for our striving for productivity to be in vain as we inevitably complete a go-around the social horseshoe and we realize that the extremes of lethargic "vegetable" and hardworking genius are much closer to each other than expected —as is literally experienced by characters in this book, one way or another.
the author's forward provides a disclaimer that readers seeking social commentary will be left disappointed, but i can't help but feel like the unhinged nature of the short story collection exactly depicts the absurdity of the pressures — self-imposed and otherwise — that overachievers place on themselves and project onto others.
the stories relate to larger themes of taiwan's unique flavor of academic pressure as well as the classic observation of IQ-EQ opportunity cost that makes it so characters like chieh-heng go to the extremes in order to attempt connection with other humans (and some characters become a part of the brain drain exodus to the west). just as the author took inspiration from real people in his life as an ntu student, i see glimpses of chieh-heng in many of the university students i work with. at what point is being a prodigy no longer worth it? how far can we push ourselves to be accepted, just for our striving for productivity to be in vain as we inevitably complete a go-around the social horseshoe and we realize that the extremes of lethargic "vegetable" and hardworking genius are much closer to each other than expected —as is literally experienced by characters in this book, one way or another.
the author's forward provides a disclaimer that readers seeking social commentary will be left disappointed, but i can't help but feel like the unhinged nature of the short story collection exactly depicts the absurdity of the pressures — self-imposed and otherwise — that overachievers place on themselves and project onto others.
August 17, 2025
I hate to say this was a nothing burger. But for me it was a nothing burger. The stories are disjointed and loosely connected. It took a few chapters for me to realize the same characters were involved throughout. Third person combined with the haphazard writing left me very disconnected to the characters and what happened to them. No real plot to speak of and very little substance to any of the characters. Not for me.
September 30, 2025
Spent Bullets
Terao Tetsuya translated by Kevin Wang
A sparse mystery box of short stories that tell of a group of people and their interconnected lives throughout the years. Spanning from Taiwan to Las Vegas. Stories are set before and after the suicide of Jie-Heng and explore the impact of his death as well as what led to his choice. Exploring ideas of human interaction or the consequences of not understanding it, the rise of tech “geniuses”, and dedicating yourself to something or someone and its costs.
The stories are always narrated by an unnamed character (although the identity of each stories narrator can be puzzled out with context clues) in a sparse yet deliberate way. I read the book entirely in an afternoon but found myself thinking about it for far longer. At times it reminded me of a thinner A Visit From the Goon Squad and I was always interested to see how the stories would connect with each other or play upon the themes of the past one. The tone of each story while bleak is often humorous at the same time with a surprising amount of queer content.
This release came as a welcome surprise in a year of many memorable titles.
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperVia for providing an eARC for review.
Terao Tetsuya translated by Kevin Wang
A sparse mystery box of short stories that tell of a group of people and their interconnected lives throughout the years. Spanning from Taiwan to Las Vegas. Stories are set before and after the suicide of Jie-Heng and explore the impact of his death as well as what led to his choice. Exploring ideas of human interaction or the consequences of not understanding it, the rise of tech “geniuses”, and dedicating yourself to something or someone and its costs.
The stories are always narrated by an unnamed character (although the identity of each stories narrator can be puzzled out with context clues) in a sparse yet deliberate way. I read the book entirely in an afternoon but found myself thinking about it for far longer. At times it reminded me of a thinner A Visit From the Goon Squad and I was always interested to see how the stories would connect with each other or play upon the themes of the past one. The tone of each story while bleak is often humorous at the same time with a surprising amount of queer content.
This release came as a welcome surprise in a year of many memorable titles.
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperVia for providing an eARC for review.
October 5, 2025
A collection of linked stories that centers the themes of the eternal and endless pursuit of success, what it means, and the purpose of existence. The themes are explored thoroughly through the structure of the book and the stylistic choices.
The narrator sounds kinda dead inside but it matches the vibe of the book. I figured the lack of internal dialogue for each narrator was intentional, and then the note at the end mentioned that it was. It really helps add to the tones of chaos and melancholy that the book exudes.
The author/translator notes at the end is important if you’re not familiar with Taiwanese culture, as I’m not super familiar with it. It helped answer and put into context a few questions I had about some of the characters and their decisions.
It was a super interesting listen, but do be aware of the TWs.
Thank you Net Galley and HarperVia for the ALC.
The narrator sounds kinda dead inside but it matches the vibe of the book. I figured the lack of internal dialogue for each narrator was intentional, and then the note at the end mentioned that it was. It really helps add to the tones of chaos and melancholy that the book exudes.
The author/translator notes at the end is important if you’re not familiar with Taiwanese culture, as I’m not super familiar with it. It helped answer and put into context a few questions I had about some of the characters and their decisions.
It was a super interesting listen, but do be aware of the TWs.
Thank you Net Galley and HarperVia for the ALC.
December 3, 2025
A short, spare, and disquietingly straightforward collection of stories revolving around a group of existentially troubled Taiwanese expatriates. These are the academic elites from their homeland who have leveraged their education and ambition into wealth and success in America but find degradation and suicidality at the end.
The author, translator, and illustrator notes at the end help provide context. But really, this book feels like it's more than they themselves understand. Highly recommend for fans of deadpan stories with minimal interiority and maximal anhedonial despair.
The author, translator, and illustrator notes at the end help provide context. But really, this book feels like it's more than they themselves understand. Highly recommend for fans of deadpan stories with minimal interiority and maximal anhedonial despair.
September 29, 2025
Connected short stories about a young genius and his peers who deal with the stress of growing up in a high-pressure and hyper-competitive society with lots of face pissing, degradation, and suicidal ideation (and beyond…). Not quite what I was expecting going into it.
It was a lot, made worse by a robotic audio narration.
Perhaps I would’ve found more to like about this had I read more of the physical book, but as is this was a miss for me.
It was a lot, made worse by a robotic audio narration.
Perhaps I would’ve found more to like about this had I read more of the physical book, but as is this was a miss for me.
August 29, 2025
this book severely took me by surprise. nothing like what I was expecting it to be and initially I was slightly put off (I still am a little lol) but I can't deny the impact and pull of the story here. I didn't realize just how much it was drawing me in until I was surprised to see that I had finished it already. simply put, very well done and something that I will think about for a while
October 22, 2025
Brutal; hard to read, impossible to put down.
October 21, 2025
Interestingly, the authors note and translators note at the end made me appreciate this book more. It was ok.
Read
December 15, 2025spent bullets is crass and sisyphean in a way that i found oddly comforting by the end. i devoured it in a single afternoon near the national taiwan university campus, which, incidentally, shapes the characters in this collection. structurally, spent bullets reminds me of jennifer eagan's a visit from the goon squad. i was impressed by how the characters are so well defined that i could guess who narrates each story despite the monotonous first-person voices (the monotony is not a critique at all, as it suits the collection's themes—or aesthetics, as terao tetsuya might say). kevin wang's thoughtful translation does, as far as this half-taiwanese reader can tell, a splendid job of conveying terao tetsuya's words and putting them into cultural context; i highlighted several excerpts to admire them for figurative language and prose.
March 22, 2025
*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC
3.5 stars - Spent Bullets chronicles the lives of Taiwanese intellectual elites in both their homeland and Silicon Valley, ultimately asking whether the seemingly endless pursuit of success is worth the brutal emotional, mental and physical tolls.
I think this theme is ever relevant and Tetsuya (still weird to call a Taiwanese author by their Japanese pen name) explores it quite deftly through the narrative, stylistic choices and structure. The latter is particularly compelling with the author's intentional obfuscation of who each chapter's narrator is. I also enjoyed the book's melancholic yet chaotic tone, and how unpredictable the story and characters can be through a single word or action.
Overall, this was an interesting read, though readers should be warned that its content features a whole host of trigger warnings.
3.5 stars - Spent Bullets chronicles the lives of Taiwanese intellectual elites in both their homeland and Silicon Valley, ultimately asking whether the seemingly endless pursuit of success is worth the brutal emotional, mental and physical tolls.
I think this theme is ever relevant and Tetsuya (still weird to call a Taiwanese author by their Japanese pen name) explores it quite deftly through the narrative, stylistic choices and structure. The latter is particularly compelling with the author's intentional obfuscation of who each chapter's narrator is. I also enjoyed the book's melancholic yet chaotic tone, and how unpredictable the story and characters can be through a single word or action.
Overall, this was an interesting read, though readers should be warned that its content features a whole host of trigger warnings.
October 15, 2025
this book was a TRIP. It grabbed me by the brain and didn't let go. It's like nine interconnected stories that are part dark comedy, part existential crisis, and I am HERE for it.
Okay so Imagine the most cutthroat academic pressure cooker in Taiwan, mixed with the glittering, soul-sucking grind of Silicon Valley. Now picture the overachievers trapped in that system, and you've got the vibe. If you've ever pushed yourself to the brink for a goal and then lay awake at 3 AM wondering "BUT WHY THO," this book is your new best friend. It's hilariously dark, beautifully brutal, and so, so real.
The characters are all chasing this idea of "excellence" like it's the last bus home, and let me tell you, the drama is delicious. One story starts with a junior high school urination ritual (yes, you read that right) that spirals into a wild obsessive crush. Another has friends mourning a genius by getting high, stealing office drinks, and having deep talks about... skunk farts. I also maybe cried a little....I don't know it was really good.
What makes it so good is Tetsuya's writing and Kevin Wang's translation is; it's sharp enough to slice a tomato and then uses that tomato to make a metaphor about life's futility. A blind Go match becomes a life-or-death strategy game. A corporate retreat involves shooting guns to work out romantic issues. It's absurd and I loved every second. It’s not all doom and gloom, though! Even when things get heavy with themes of loneliness or the immigrant struggle, there's this weird, tender beauty and a ton of wit. It’s like the book version of staring at a really pretty flower growing through a crack in the pavement.
This book has a special place in my heart as an Asian girlie who went through peer and academic pressure in uni. Spent Bullets is for anyone who likes their fiction smart, subversive, and with a killer sense of humor. It doesn't just show you the cracks in our drive to succeed; it throws glitter on them and throws a party.
Go read it pls it's out now. You can thank me later.
Thank you so much HarperVia for sending me a copy of this book! I appreciate it so much 💛✨
Okay so Imagine the most cutthroat academic pressure cooker in Taiwan, mixed with the glittering, soul-sucking grind of Silicon Valley. Now picture the overachievers trapped in that system, and you've got the vibe. If you've ever pushed yourself to the brink for a goal and then lay awake at 3 AM wondering "BUT WHY THO," this book is your new best friend. It's hilariously dark, beautifully brutal, and so, so real.
The characters are all chasing this idea of "excellence" like it's the last bus home, and let me tell you, the drama is delicious. One story starts with a junior high school urination ritual (yes, you read that right) that spirals into a wild obsessive crush. Another has friends mourning a genius by getting high, stealing office drinks, and having deep talks about... skunk farts. I also maybe cried a little....I don't know it was really good.
What makes it so good is Tetsuya's writing and Kevin Wang's translation is; it's sharp enough to slice a tomato and then uses that tomato to make a metaphor about life's futility. A blind Go match becomes a life-or-death strategy game. A corporate retreat involves shooting guns to work out romantic issues. It's absurd and I loved every second. It’s not all doom and gloom, though! Even when things get heavy with themes of loneliness or the immigrant struggle, there's this weird, tender beauty and a ton of wit. It’s like the book version of staring at a really pretty flower growing through a crack in the pavement.
This book has a special place in my heart as an Asian girlie who went through peer and academic pressure in uni. Spent Bullets is for anyone who likes their fiction smart, subversive, and with a killer sense of humor. It doesn't just show you the cracks in our drive to succeed; it throws glitter on them and throws a party.
Go read it pls it's out now. You can thank me later.
Thank you so much HarperVia for sending me a copy of this book! I appreciate it so much 💛✨
December 5, 2025
deeply disturbing, a diatribe against pressure cooker upbringings and a peek into what life can be like when competition is described as the end goal, not a mere element of life. I loved the unflinching grittiness of each of these stories and how in some cases I’m not entirely clear on what happened and in other cases i could have done with fewer details. While not a horror book, the addition of elements of what i think could be described as body horror was clever and well executed. well done.
rep: mostly Asian cast, gay men
spice: several vivid sex scenes, including BDSM or kinky scenes
tw: suicide, attempted suicide (on page), gun violence, gambling, and more
rep: mostly Asian cast, gay men
spice: several vivid sex scenes, including BDSM or kinky scenes
tw: suicide, attempted suicide (on page), gun violence, gambling, and more
May 1, 2025
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing and eARC of this novel!
This book follows the same vein as the movies Black Swan and Whiplash. Highlighting the characters desire to achieve more, no matter the cost. The structure is also quite disorientating. We jump around to different characters each chapter with no indication of who is narrating or when in the timeline the chapter is occurring. I kept thinking that just wasn't paying attention enough to catch onto who was narrating, but it was explained in the afterward that this was intentional. I feel like this is the kind of book that would get better upon each reread, as the structure would likely start to become more clear.
This book follows the same vein as the movies Black Swan and Whiplash. Highlighting the characters desire to achieve more, no matter the cost. The structure is also quite disorientating. We jump around to different characters each chapter with no indication of who is narrating or when in the timeline the chapter is occurring. I kept thinking that just wasn't paying attention enough to catch onto who was narrating, but it was explained in the afterward that this was intentional. I feel like this is the kind of book that would get better upon each reread, as the structure would likely start to become more clear.
October 3, 2025
hmmm I have mixed feelings about this one... I like it and dislike it. I like it for how absurd it seems, and yet that is also why I also dislike it. The stories are connected but they're not connected in a way that makes a whole lot of sense. I think I would like to attempt reading this one again to see if I can glean anything else. I get where the writer is going, but I'm unsure if it landed.
I think the afterward/note from author/translator is important to read though. There's lot about Taiwanese culture I'm unaware of, and I wonder if knowing more of that would help.
ETA: the narration is fine to me. it's dead sounding but that's the point.
thank you to netgalley and HarperVia for the eARC!
I think the afterward/note from author/translator is important to read though. There's lot about Taiwanese culture I'm unaware of, and I wonder if knowing more of that would help.
ETA: the narration is fine to me. it's dead sounding but that's the point.
thank you to netgalley and HarperVia for the eARC!
December 5, 2025
I really wanted to like this book, unfortunately, I'm afraid it didn't work out for me. I struggled to connect with the characters - the short story format within the book left it feeling disjointed. Aside from that the content itself was uncomfortable and brutal. While that can play a role in highlighting harmful cultures it didn't feel like it had any point other than as shock value.
That being said there was nothing wrong with prose itself and the different stories were well written - they just didn't feel connected to each other. Perhaps a different reader would have enjoyed this more.
Thank you so much to the publisher and Net Galley for the Arc of this book.
That being said there was nothing wrong with prose itself and the different stories were well written - they just didn't feel connected to each other. Perhaps a different reader would have enjoyed this more.
Thank you so much to the publisher and Net Galley for the Arc of this book.
Read
November 28, 2025Through a collection of linked stories set in Taiwan and the Silicon Valley, we follow the lives of various characters and explor topics of success, existence, and work. There were some questionable kinks, societal pressures, and a lot of questions about life. I found the connections interesting, the story kind of dark, but also kind of lost with what was happening 🤷
Thanks Netgalley and Harper Audio for the alc!
Thanks Netgalley and Harper Audio for the alc!
December 27, 2025
A person like you can't survive in this world.
an intriguing book if you're capable of putting up with graphic descriptions of male sexuality. possessed of the same fatalist quality you'll find in a lot of taiwanese gay literature. i enjoyed the mental exercise of trying to work out who the narrator for each chapter was and how the stores connected chronologically.
October 31, 2025
I found this kinda hard to follow along with during the audiobook, it was intense and had some *odd* scenes but otherwise it was interesting to see the experience of these characters during some of the most pivotal moments of their lives
October 3, 2025
a bunch of interesting and interconnected short stories about a group of peers and their lives. they're sparse and always leave you guessing. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.
October 7, 2025
I was a little apprehensive going in to this collection because the first story is quite uncomfortable to read, but I ended up really liking it. The characters aren't likeable per se, but I found many of them to be quite endearing in spite of the disturbing things that they were saying and doing. Although the stories are all told in the first person, they all feel quite distant and there is very little shown of the thoughts and feelings of each narrator. This intentional ambiguity was mentioned in both the author's and translator's notes as being central to the aims of the book. I thought this was particularly successful in the stories Interstate 5 and The Avalanche Joseki, which were probably my favorites of the collection.
Readers should be aware of potential triggers before reading. There is quite a bit of graphic sexual violence as well as discussions of suicide and suicidal ideation.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Readers should be aware of potential triggers before reading. There is quite a bit of graphic sexual violence as well as discussions of suicide and suicidal ideation.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
November 17, 2025
3.75 ⭐️ This book is unconventional in every way, from the imagery used to get the author’s message across to how each part of the story is connected. Let me just get this out right off the bat: the themes are VERY adult, and it’s honestly pretty jarring
The format is several short stories from different character perspectives set in the past and present. They all center around a group of formerly-gifted, burnt out adults, but they focus particularly on one man so exceptional but so empty and so desperate to belong somewhere. The stories felt pretty disjointed, which contributed to a confusing experience, but it gets easier once you’ve gotten used to it.
This is a very literary read. While I generally saw what the point of these stories were, I don’t think I comprehended them enough to really appreciate the message. Perhaps I’d have more appreciation for a second read 🤷🏻♀️
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for this ARC.
The format is several short stories from different character perspectives set in the past and present. They all center around a group of formerly-gifted, burnt out adults, but they focus particularly on one man so exceptional but so empty and so desperate to belong somewhere. The stories felt pretty disjointed, which contributed to a confusing experience, but it gets easier once you’ve gotten used to it.
This is a very literary read. While I generally saw what the point of these stories were, I don’t think I comprehended them enough to really appreciate the message. Perhaps I’d have more appreciation for a second read 🤷🏻♀️
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for this ARC.
November 11, 2025
Thank you net galley & Harper publishing for giving me this ARC. Though I thought this was an interesting and good story, I don’t think I am the right demographic of people to relate to this story. But I would recommend it to people that I know would enjoy this in the way it’s meant to be enjoyed.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews