What do you think?
Rate this book
Plastic, Prism, Void: Part One
Not yet published
Expected 19 May 26"Delicious, insane, intoxicating." —Maya Deane, author of Wrath Goddess Sing
A riotous trans enemies-to-lovers romantasy that roars off the page—in which a magical girl-gone-bad and a renegade mech pilot must find a way to stay on a date forever...
...even if it means destroying the world.
Don't you want to help them?
An extraordinary meld of adventure, rom-com, and experimental fiction, Violet Allen’s unstoppable debut is the cosmic thrill ride of a lifetime. Give in, succumb (you know you want to) to Plastic, Prism, Void.
A riotous trans enemies-to-lovers romantasy that roars off the page—in which a magical girl-gone-bad and a renegade mech pilot must find a way to stay on a date forever...
...even if it means destroying the world.
Don't you want to help them?
An extraordinary meld of adventure, rom-com, and experimental fiction, Violet Allen’s unstoppable debut is the cosmic thrill ride of a lifetime. Give in, succumb (you know you want to) to Plastic, Prism, Void.
336 pages, Paperback
Expected publication May 19, 2026
10 people are currently reading
182 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
It is very rare these days to find a book that is able to truly break boundaries, but Allen manages to achieve that here. Whether it's the unique typesetting or the subversive story structure everything comes together to offer me an experience I have never had before. That's not to say it's uniquity is always perfect; The stylistic choice to change perspectives in the middle of paragraphs or even sentences sometimes left me disorientated and having to backtrack, but I also believe that was what the author was going for so I don't really know if I can fault them for it. Off of that I would also comment that overall I did enjoy the non-linear storytelling, combining flashbacks from many different periods together to round out the narrative right up until the very end, working to meld together the time periods, echoing the themes of the story more generally.
Onto the plot itself, I'd say it almost defies genre, to pin it to one I agree its a romance as advertised but its also so much more than that, its adventure, its fantasy, its sci-fi, I might even call it psychological horror. Onto the romance though, I think its a little misleading to pen this as an enemies to lovers story, as they are introduced as lovers before we flashback to enemies, but also its a sort of ebb and flow, as we explore the intricacies and history of their relationship through the years and the struggles they each have. In other stories hating both the main characters might be a flaw, as you have no one to root for but I find that Violet keeps them just on the cusp of relatability that you can't ever want them to suffer. Acrasia, our protagonist, is a sort of moth goddess, alongside her cousins/sisters who each have a power bestowed upon them by their possibly evil mother, and each pursuing a different art. Acrasia's art is writing, primarily poetry, shown by her slightly pretentious style of speaking, but each other the cousins offer a unique and interesting perspective on the place of art in the modern day. Acrasia's romantic interest, Opus, is a sort of cyborg spaceman from another dimension, meaning they can only see each other very irregularly. All of the characters bounce off of each other in a very believable way, and you can especially glean the family dynamic very quickly between all of the cousins.
The tension was held high throughout the story and always gave just enough information to keep me wanting more from each of the timestreams, piecing together the puzzle throughout, until a very dramatic ending that had me begging for more. I guess I now see the issue with reading ARCs as now I have to wait even longer before I can read the next book, though maybe if I'm lucky they will let me advance read that too :))))
Anyway I would 100% recommend this for fans of experimental literature and in particular fans of XX with the design choices.
Onto the plot itself, I'd say it almost defies genre, to pin it to one I agree its a romance as advertised but its also so much more than that, its adventure, its fantasy, its sci-fi, I might even call it psychological horror. Onto the romance though, I think its a little misleading to pen this as an enemies to lovers story, as they are introduced as lovers before we flashback to enemies, but also its a sort of ebb and flow, as we explore the intricacies and history of their relationship through the years and the struggles they each have. In other stories hating both the main characters might be a flaw, as you have no one to root for but I find that Violet keeps them just on the cusp of relatability that you can't ever want them to suffer. Acrasia, our protagonist, is a sort of moth goddess, alongside her cousins/sisters who each have a power bestowed upon them by their possibly evil mother, and each pursuing a different art. Acrasia's art is writing, primarily poetry, shown by her slightly pretentious style of speaking, but each other the cousins offer a unique and interesting perspective on the place of art in the modern day. Acrasia's romantic interest, Opus, is a sort of cyborg spaceman from another dimension, meaning they can only see each other very irregularly. All of the characters bounce off of each other in a very believable way, and you can especially glean the family dynamic very quickly between all of the cousins.
The tension was held high throughout the story and always gave just enough information to keep me wanting more from each of the timestreams, piecing together the puzzle throughout, until a very dramatic ending that had me begging for more. I guess I now see the issue with reading ARCs as now I have to wait even longer before I can read the next book, though maybe if I'm lucky they will let me advance read that too :))))
Anyway I would 100% recommend this for fans of experimental literature and in particular fans of XX with the design choices.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Plastic, Prism, Void is a wild ride of a romance sci-fi literary fiction adventure through form and one messy relationship. Acrasia is a magical trans girl who comes across as pretentious. Opus is a mech-piloting trans guy. They were enemies, but then that changed, and then their universes separated. Now they're back in the same place again, but Acrasia's schemes to keep Opus there might be finally going too far.
I love the publisher, LittlePuss Press, and the blurb fascinated me as (apparently) a romantasy with shades of House of Leaves. Plastic, Prism, Void takes the textual form experimentation of House of Leaves, the sci-fi romance of This Is How To Lose The Time War, and mixes them both with a healthy dose of pretentious references and a complicated relationship between two trans people with weird baggage. It took me a little while to settle into the style and the way the narrative jumps around in time and voice and format (and the advance copy I read on a too-small screen didn't help so I think the physical book will be much easier to read), but then I became invested in the central relationship. I like the way that, despite everything else going on, it boils down to people who didn't like each other but then fell in love and now can't work out if they can sustain something when they're both in the same place. So, despite the fluid, mind-boggling narrative, it is also something strangely relatable.
I'm sure there's great swathes of this book that I didn't get, but that feels like some of the point of it, with Acrasia and Opus's banter often being about whether or not they get each other's references (made more complex by the multiple universes). This is a book that is pushing boundaries in a fun way and you don't need to understand every sentence to have a good time with it.
I love the publisher, LittlePuss Press, and the blurb fascinated me as (apparently) a romantasy with shades of House of Leaves. Plastic, Prism, Void takes the textual form experimentation of House of Leaves, the sci-fi romance of This Is How To Lose The Time War, and mixes them both with a healthy dose of pretentious references and a complicated relationship between two trans people with weird baggage. It took me a little while to settle into the style and the way the narrative jumps around in time and voice and format (and the advance copy I read on a too-small screen didn't help so I think the physical book will be much easier to read), but then I became invested in the central relationship. I like the way that, despite everything else going on, it boils down to people who didn't like each other but then fell in love and now can't work out if they can sustain something when they're both in the same place. So, despite the fluid, mind-boggling narrative, it is also something strangely relatable.
I'm sure there's great swathes of this book that I didn't get, but that feels like some of the point of it, with Acrasia and Opus's banter often being about whether or not they get each other's references (made more complex by the multiple universes). This is a book that is pushing boundaries in a fun way and you don't need to understand every sentence to have a good time with it.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The book is funny on occasion, so I’ll give it that. The romance was also cute. And of course, having trans rep is cool.
However,
sci-fi and fantasy didn’t really work with the casual language, mundane situations and the pop culture references that made it difficult for me to take anything seriously. I constantly wondered if this was a fantasy/sci-fi at all and the main character and Opus are just normal people making shit up for 1/3 of this book. This book is also just confusing in general. I had no idea what was going on half of the time.
The main character is horribly rambly in her thoughts without getting anywhere and constantly strays from whatever is happening around her. Acrasia comes off as a person who tries too hard to be deep and philosophical and sometimes it feels like the author is just trying to flex their repertoire of fun facts.
The footnotes kept taking me out of the story and often weren’t even useful most of the time. The visual storytelling was interesting as I hadn’t seen that in a book before, but that was very much hit-and-miss for me. Mostly miss, could have been a description instead. I was also not a fan of most of the fonts.
This book was not to my taste, but I’m sure someone out there will find it poetic and beautiful or something. 2 stars.
However,
sci-fi and fantasy didn’t really work with the casual language, mundane situations and the pop culture references that made it difficult for me to take anything seriously. I constantly wondered if this was a fantasy/sci-fi at all and the main character and Opus are just normal people making shit up for 1/3 of this book. This book is also just confusing in general. I had no idea what was going on half of the time.
The main character is horribly rambly in her thoughts without getting anywhere and constantly strays from whatever is happening around her. Acrasia comes off as a person who tries too hard to be deep and philosophical and sometimes it feels like the author is just trying to flex their repertoire of fun facts.
The footnotes kept taking me out of the story and often weren’t even useful most of the time. The visual storytelling was interesting as I hadn’t seen that in a book before, but that was very much hit-and-miss for me. Mostly miss, could have been a description instead. I was also not a fan of most of the fonts.
This book was not to my taste, but I’m sure someone out there will find it poetic and beautiful or something. 2 stars.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I was very excited to read this ARC! According to the official synopsis, this book is about a magical girl and a mech pilot who fall in love. As a fan of Sailor Moon, I thought that the story would be at least somewhat similar, or that if it's a deconstructed parody, that it would at least be funny. Unfortunately, this book seems only tangentially related to the magical girl genre. The publisher compares this book to House of Leaves, and that's what I think the book is most similar to. Graphically and narratively, it is very disjointed, with references to random things that I don't get, and the plot is definitely not linear. In addition, because I couldn't follow the plot that well, I'm not sure if it delivered on being a "romantasy" as it says in the synopsis, but I would caution fans of that genre to stay away. If you're intrigued by the synopsis, or if you're a fan of books like House of Leaves, you can check out this book when it comes out in May!
I was very excited to read this ARC! According to the official synopsis, this book is about a magical girl and a mech pilot who fall in love. As a fan of Sailor Moon, I thought that the story would be at least somewhat similar, or that if it's a deconstructed parody, that it would at least be funny. Unfortunately, this book seems only tangentially related to the magical girl genre. The publisher compares this book to House of Leaves, and that's what I think the book is most similar to. Graphically and narratively, it is very disjointed, with references to random things that I don't get, and the plot is definitely not linear. In addition, because I couldn't follow the plot that well, I'm not sure if it delivered on being a "romantasy" as it says in the synopsis, but I would caution fans of that genre to stay away. If you're intrigued by the synopsis, or if you're a fan of books like House of Leaves, you can check out this book when it comes out in May!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
good / worth reading / original and unique
Plastic, Prism, Void is unlike anything I've ever read. While I was reading this, I saw one of those daily book questions of: 'if your current read was a drink, what would it be?' and my answer for this book is: a multi-layered cocktail that is set on fire.
Plastic, Prism, Void is disorienting and nonlinear. The main character is not likeable; she is 'spiky', incredibly pretentious and talks constantly in classical + pop culture references. It is chaotic. But this book is fully aware of what it is and who the characters are and by the end, I even found a rhythm in the mid-sentence time jumps. This is definitely not for everyone, and heads up - this is only Part One*, but if you like experimental books, books that play with format and the fourth wall, go pick this up. I look forward to Side Ω.
*Some people might call this a cliffhanger ending.
Thank you to Netgalley and LittlePuss Press for the advance reader copy!
Plastic, Prism, Void is unlike anything I've ever read. While I was reading this, I saw one of those daily book questions of: 'if your current read was a drink, what would it be?' and my answer for this book is: a multi-layered cocktail that is set on fire.
Plastic, Prism, Void is disorienting and nonlinear. The main character is not likeable; she is 'spiky', incredibly pretentious and talks constantly in classical + pop culture references. It is chaotic. But this book is fully aware of what it is and who the characters are and by the end, I even found a rhythm in the mid-sentence time jumps. This is definitely not for everyone, and heads up - this is only Part One*, but if you like experimental books, books that play with format and the fourth wall, go pick this up. I look forward to Side Ω.
*Some people might call this a cliffhanger ending.
Thank you to Netgalley and LittlePuss Press for the advance reader copy!
November 24, 2025
Plastic, Prism, Void is a time jumping, perspective hopping magical girl story with a darkish twist. The prose is indescribable and unfaltering, ensorcelling the reader with every turn of phrase. As for the characters, they are an absolutely delicious shade of grey; the epitome of moral complexity and lovability.
This was an absolutely scintillating read, and I absolutely be sticking around for more of Violet Allen's work!!
Thank you to LittlePuss Press for providing this book for consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
This was an absolutely scintillating read, and I absolutely be sticking around for more of Violet Allen's work!!
Thank you to LittlePuss Press for providing this book for consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
2.75/5
I was rather confused and disappointed with this book.
The formatting was very unique, but also strange. I don't really think it worked, at least, not for me. It felt very disjointed, the changing of formats. It just felt thrown together.
It did have some interesting and fun moments, the tone was very upbeat and intriguing, but I just felt confused with the story.
I'm sure there are some readers who love this sort of thing, unique formatting, but it's just not for me.
Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!
I was rather confused and disappointed with this book.
The formatting was very unique, but also strange. I don't really think it worked, at least, not for me. It felt very disjointed, the changing of formats. It just felt thrown together.
It did have some interesting and fun moments, the tone was very upbeat and intriguing, but I just felt confused with the story.
I'm sure there are some readers who love this sort of thing, unique formatting, but it's just not for me.
Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!
December 9, 2025
ABSOLUTE CINEMA
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews