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Everybody's Perfect
Not yet published
Expected 30 Jun 26Piranesi meets Swordspoint in an elegant relay race through fantasy Venice from Hugo award-winning author Jo Walton
The Serenissima is built from mist and belief, a mythical shadow sister to Venice and crossroads of the nine worlds.
When a laborer called Tiry has a dream that Serenissima will have a doge, and that they will marry the sea, he tells it to a fortune teller named Khadsha. She tells her apprentice, a gondolier called Taddeo, who tells a cop named Gom, who's heard it from five people this morning already. And by that point, it's already settled into the bones of the Serenissima, more than half-fated.
Everybody's Perfect is a gentle, shifting, structurally inventive narrative of startling beauty that will make you rethink everything you think you know about fantasy.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The Serenissima is built from mist and belief, a mythical shadow sister to Venice and crossroads of the nine worlds.
When a laborer called Tiry has a dream that Serenissima will have a doge, and that they will marry the sea, he tells it to a fortune teller named Khadsha. She tells her apprentice, a gondolier called Taddeo, who tells a cop named Gom, who's heard it from five people this morning already. And by that point, it's already settled into the bones of the Serenissima, more than half-fated.
Everybody's Perfect is a gentle, shifting, structurally inventive narrative of startling beauty that will make you rethink everything you think you know about fantasy.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
272 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication June 30, 2026
About the author
Jo Walton
86 books3,146 followersJo Walton writes science fiction and fantasy novels and reads a lot and eats great food. It worries her slightly that this is so exactly what she always wanted to do when she grew up. She comes from Wales, but lives in Montreal.
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September 5, 2025Most fantasy novels that are about Venice are about Venice at carnival, whereas this is about a Venice that is both more and less real. The Serenissima isn't Venice, it's fantasy Venice, a place of canals palazzi and shifting reality, where nothing stays where you put it and different species from different worlds live together in complex patterns. It's about daily life in an unreal city. I wrote it to get myself unstuck after a long pandemic burnout, and it seems to have worked. It has multiple first person points of view, which is always fun for me to write, and the novel works like a relay race, handing off POV from one to the next as it moves.
I think it's pretty good. It's a bit weird, but all my books are a bit weird really. I had fun writing it. I hope you have fun reading it.
I think it's pretty good. It's a bit weird, but all my books are a bit weird really. I had fun writing it. I hope you have fun reading it.
Want to Read
September 10, 2025Normally not a fan of cozy fantasy, but anything Jo Walton writes will be interesting.
April 14, 2026
I won this ARC before it came out. I mainly entered because of the cover and the hook that it had to do with Venice. You can put two and two together and deduce that somehow it has to do with Carnival in Venice, and yet it doesn’t. Had I just read the blurb on the back of this book I would not of picked it up and bought it.
The best I can do to describe it is that it’s a meandering story about an other world overlay of Venice where there are other species/races that are based off of popular carnival masks and how a dream ends up weaving the lives of one person from all of the races together over the span of a few days (for the most part).
I didn’t have any idea on where this was going for the majority of the book, but the little things that were dropped as we moved along had me interested in how these different races existed in their homelands and in this over lay Venice. I wouldn’t mind reading more books focusing specifically on each of the races. I got enough of the homelands to understand them and wanting to know even more about them.
If you are okay with meandering stories with no clear path on where you will end up and enjoy other worldly fantasy world building, give this book a try. If you need a line to follow with the story, I doubt this will be a book you will enjoy.
The best I can do to describe it is that it’s a meandering story about an other world overlay of Venice where there are other species/races that are based off of popular carnival masks and how a dream ends up weaving the lives of one person from all of the races together over the span of a few days (for the most part).
I didn’t have any idea on where this was going for the majority of the book, but the little things that were dropped as we moved along had me interested in how these different races existed in their homelands and in this over lay Venice. I wouldn’t mind reading more books focusing specifically on each of the races. I got enough of the homelands to understand them and wanting to know even more about them.
If you are okay with meandering stories with no clear path on where you will end up and enjoy other worldly fantasy world building, give this book a try. If you need a line to follow with the story, I doubt this will be a book you will enjoy.
Want to Read
March 10, 2026The new novel by one of my favorite writers. Of course I'll be reading it. The author's comments are nearby: "It's a bit weird, but all my books are a bit weird really. I had fun writing it." I love the cover art!
Due out at the end of June 2026.
Due out at the end of June 2026.
June 13, 2026
This is a book that’s trying to do something quite different, with a fair degree of success. It takes place in a dreamlike, magical version of Venice that connects Venice to several other worlds featuring other sentient creatures with humanoid bodies but different heads, cultures, religions, etc.
There are eight chapters of around 30 pages each, all written in first-person from the perspective of eight different characters from eight different races. There are flashbacks to life on their birth worlds, but the present-day segments generally take place in the span of a couple days. In the first two or three chapters, it’s disorienting and feels like infodumping. But as the story finds its footing, we see new POVs that had appeared as side characters in other chapters, and the whole thing begins to feel more cohesive.
There is something of a plot, but it’s a dreamlike one—this is far from plot-driven. There’s also a lot of musing on culture and religion, and there’s a pervasive STI that leaves people stranded in the only place that can stave off the progression of the disease, often being socially ostracized either for their moral or medical uncleanliness.
I’m not sure all of the cultural relatively completely lands—for instance, there’s one world that assigns pronouns and some pretty strict gender essentialism based on the time of day in which someone is born, rather than any physical facts, and while I take the point, I’m also not moved by that as a plausible cultural perspective—the plot certainly doesn’t drive anything forward, and there are plenty of loose ends at the conclusion. That said, the more the reader learns, the more interesting the story gets, and there’s some really interacting thematic work on the way cultural belief makes things real. I wasn’t stunned, but I had a good time.
15/20
There are eight chapters of around 30 pages each, all written in first-person from the perspective of eight different characters from eight different races. There are flashbacks to life on their birth worlds, but the present-day segments generally take place in the span of a couple days. In the first two or three chapters, it’s disorienting and feels like infodumping. But as the story finds its footing, we see new POVs that had appeared as side characters in other chapters, and the whole thing begins to feel more cohesive.
There is something of a plot, but it’s a dreamlike one—this is far from plot-driven. There’s also a lot of musing on culture and religion, and there’s a pervasive STI that leaves people stranded in the only place that can stave off the progression of the disease, often being socially ostracized either for their moral or medical uncleanliness.
I’m not sure all of the cultural relatively completely lands—for instance, there’s one world that assigns pronouns and some pretty strict gender essentialism based on the time of day in which someone is born, rather than any physical facts, and while I take the point, I’m also not moved by that as a plausible cultural perspective—the plot certainly doesn’t drive anything forward, and there are plenty of loose ends at the conclusion. That said, the more the reader learns, the more interesting the story gets, and there’s some really interacting thematic work on the way cultural belief makes things real. I wasn’t stunned, but I had a good time.
15/20
Want to Read
March 10, 2026Rec. by: Previous work, going back decades, and a GR Giveaway
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
Errors:
Page 12: "The Serenissima didn'thave a doge, ..." (spacing error)
I was fortunate enough to win a printed advanced copy on Goodreads in a giveaway in March and received it mid-April. I would rate this 2.5stars if able on this platform, but with all the issues, I have to dock it to two stars. I wouldn't read this again.
I've never read a Jo Walton book before, so I had no preconceived notions or expectations. The interior denotes she's authored dozens of books and based on that I'm led to infer she has fashioned her craft in a way for accessibility that generates profit for the publisher.
Maybe not so on the accessibility front for this one.
What initially drew me to this title was enjoying stories about yokai from anime and assuming the narrative approach would be more relatable, endearing, or intuitive from the publisher's descriptive copy. I had never read Piranesi nor Swordspoint, but had been exposed to and enjoyed stories with culturally foreign folklore explorations. Shows like Hozuki no Reitetsu and Natsume Yuujinchou had narrative styles that dropped you in the middle of a conflict between humans and otherworldly/world-adjacent creatures, or between otherworldly creatures themselves, with a mediator or protagonist that provided focal context. However, after pressuring myself to finish the work, I've come to find a suitable deconstructionist description for the book that provides contextual insight where none of the back cover or publisher's blurbs manage:
In Everybody's Perfect, even with all of the manners of describing the character at the beginning of a section (a la aspects in Tarot, which is supported in the Acknowledgements section), I was still clueless as to how this information was intended to cultivate an understanding for these... Creatures? Figments? Embodied allegories? I'm not sure what they are, like Pell or Helike or Andomans or Ronan or Zanguo or Reshuna or Lindassi or Shunan or Denshado... No connection to what any of these words mean. Walton either provides no context outside the term and search engines are just as clueless to assist explaining etymology or anything about these things as keywords to have even a vague hint at what simply proper nouns are intended to denote later on when referenced. A map or glossary would help tremendously.
Chapters are written like a character diary, and different diary-like entries are numbered. This very casual style, which is typically charming, made me feel held hostage. I nearly DNF'd at the first chapter, bombarded with info dump paragraphs meeting or exceeding entire pages. Also, the Bauti are considered notorious for their stoicism and lack of candor... SO WHY PUT HIS CHAPTER (or really, three chapters in one section) RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING? Do you WANT people to stop reading and not like your book?! Reading the first chapter was like being asked to dice an onion by chewing it unpeeled and whole, and the narrative flow was just as ghastly. At no point do I feel the reader is inferred to be there in conversation at all, but that we're intended to be subjected to a stream of consciousness without abating. Instead, page 5 and 6 goes into a long spiel about why "names don't matter" to his people regardless of others needing methods of differentiation when scent and presence are unavailable (this becomes important only in the next-to-last chapter). Instead, Tiry rambles on about their abduction by in-laws as a child, defensively validating a "low body count" of partners (Laura, and Pietro and Gina and Dimitri), as the kids would say, the subsequent allegory of AIDS named Ferlenghetti's Blight that stole loved ones from their life, all these things and despite the info dump, I know nothing about why I should care at all about these characters.
I didn't until Chapter 5 (page 121), in fact.
What did help me better understand the characters? SHOW the reader, don't TELL the reader how these different species operate in society. Seeing characters of diverse backgrounds interacting in chapters two and three was the only time any kernel found in these page-long walls of text popped. Greetings, mannerisms, describing facial reactions (this didn't really happen until chapters five and six habitually) all SHOW the reader how the chunk of aspect descriptor at the beginning of each chapter function without actually needing their inclusion. The tension between Tiry's peers about his condition said more than the pages he spent whining about how Bauti aren't identified in the singular but by familial and occupational collectives. This singular complaint I list isn't an outlier; it's indicative to the entirety of the plot as its tidal girth eddies the reader further into the work for a compulsion of clarity than genuine investment.
It would help if the cover art reflected the characters' masks more than tangentially. On page 2, Tiry the Bauta's mask is described as dark red with a little golden dappling; Kreshun, another Bauta has "plain maroon... no freckling, nothing at all to distinguish her from anybody else" (22). Nonni, a Laodikan like Pell, whose "feathers are pale blue, with a white line along the base of his crest" (21). Khadsha on page 15 is described as having a golden mane and gold domino around purple eyes; the only vague notion it's supposed to represent her are the same blue roses adorning it that bloom in her garden. Taddeo is described with "luxuriant grey-and-white fur" (35) but the mask on the cover is orange with golden accents. Nothing of the sort is depicted on the front for reference or grounding. Who is the person holding all of the masks supposed to be? Why did Caroline Jamhour even bother with making art for the cover at all if they had no intention of reading the book?
Don't judge this book by its cover; not the art and especially not the blurbs. The blurb "where reality bends to human will" is wildly incomplete. I have never seen such atrociously vague author recommendation lines in years.
Also, while the name is lifted from Orain's chapter (as well as the entire conception of the book, the entire fulcrum of the work's climax buried at the end), ... It sucks. It's shallow. It is not "giving" any of the intrigue or creativity that actually exists within the pages. Its simplicity neuters the vivacity. "Mists of Serenissima", "Isles of Fog and Fancy", "The City of Haze and Fog", "Serenissima's Splendor": anything that might elicit more fantasy and less self-help "Chicken Soup for the Soul" humdrummery.
At no point, as a reader, did I feel engaged with what was happening, until Chapter Five, on page 121. Races, prejudices, and societal norms are continuously framed as relatable in the narrative yet none of it sticks. Laodikans having an astrological caste system turned up to11 nor did Khadsha's Zanguni Spanish Inquisitionesque conversion therapy reinforce any basis for her motives. It was just there to pinion empathy from the reader, nothing more. If any stereotyping triggers a relation to a certain people group, I automatically feel bigoted in the attempt to facilitate any conceptual overlap in my flailing efforts to craft these peoples in my mind's eye. I know next to nothing about Venetian culture and don't feel any more enlightened from reading this, either.
Other reviewers say "Jo Walton writes weird things and I like weird things," yet this is a type of weird that's weirder than the weird T. Kingfisher and John Wiswell and Joe Hill and Sarah Maria Griffin and . I just got done reading the first three Dune books, so it's not like I'm uninitiated to w e i r d. There's also better books out there to read if there are characters you actually enjoyed in this book. Khadsha is easily mimicked in Julie Leong's "The Teller of Small Fortunes" or a more snarky version in Gina Chen's "Violet Made of Thorns". Did you connect with Yix, but want her to possibly marry a prince instead and succeed in trials based on her street smarts? Try on "The Rose Bargain". Do you want to follow Pell as she struggles to aid and assist the blighted in the Serenissima, but with more supernatural elements? Leigh Bardugo's "The Familiar is right up your alley! Would you like to explore learning magic no one thought you capable of, to then traverse dream realms and confront monsters like Taddeo? You might like "Dream By The Shadows". Want a book with timey-wimey flippyfloppery meets "Lord of the Flies"? "Repeat After Me" by Jessica Warman is right up your alley.
I'm typically a YA reader, but found this work categorized on the interior cover as intended for Adult Fiction sections. Surprisingly, only one curse word (in a city full of Venetians that have heard or may know curse words [or others learned them from Venetians]) is ever written/spoken and it's "fucking" on pag 188. Granted, characters discussing quantity of sexual partners, children theorizing they were too ugly for child prostitution, conversion therapy, archaic methods of legislative enforcement depicted in a gory mural on the walls of the prison/police station, mentions of suicide, and discussions regarding terminal illness are mature subject matter, but that doesn't imply exclusion in contemporary teen-intended works. On the whole, despite lots of TL;DR, this adult fiction work would be suitable for a Young Adult audience... The classification may be due to the difficulty a reader may have following or understanding/interpreting the work, rather than the content enclosed.
Like all those complaints I had above. Too bad it's too late to get these suggestions to the editors/publisher in time for release.
I have many other qualms that have nothing to do with how the plot rides the landslide of lore that deluge readers, but they don't really warrant analysis. Do I need to know how many sexual encounters each character has had? No. If they contracted Ferlenghetti's Blight from a singular sexual partner, knowing their other victims remain within their circles of influence curries no favor with me. And even if it's part of the intentional bombardment of information so the reader does form a negative opinion, relay that in passing sneers or some revelation in an interconnected scene... Walton, you really don't have to do both. Tell or show.
Shouting out their Discord group full of parasocial sycophants with fiscally vested interests in the Acknowledgements section didn't coalesce how Walton thought it might, either. If the help was free, it was still too expensive.
Page 12: "The Serenissima didn'thave a doge, ..." (spacing error)
I was fortunate enough to win a printed advanced copy on Goodreads in a giveaway in March and received it mid-April. I would rate this 2.5stars if able on this platform, but with all the issues, I have to dock it to two stars. I wouldn't read this again.
I've never read a Jo Walton book before, so I had no preconceived notions or expectations. The interior denotes she's authored dozens of books and based on that I'm led to infer she has fashioned her craft in a way for accessibility that generates profit for the publisher.
Maybe not so on the accessibility front for this one.
What initially drew me to this title was enjoying stories about yokai from anime and assuming the narrative approach would be more relatable, endearing, or intuitive from the publisher's descriptive copy. I had never read Piranesi nor Swordspoint, but had been exposed to and enjoyed stories with culturally foreign folklore explorations. Shows like Hozuki no Reitetsu and Natsume Yuujinchou had narrative styles that dropped you in the middle of a conflict between humans and otherworldly/world-adjacent creatures, or between otherworldly creatures themselves, with a mediator or protagonist that provided focal context. However, after pressuring myself to finish the work, I've come to find a suitable deconstructionist description for the book that provides contextual insight where none of the back cover or publisher's blurbs manage:
Everybody's Perfect is a Venezophile's version of RENT set in an Italian faeverse. Lindassi, Andoman, Zanguni, Laodikan, Gatti, Tisani, Bauti, Venetian, and Vannandi are all races or species of inhabitants found within this Yggdrasil'ing of regions ("a set of interlocking spheres" on page 98), and different streams of consciousness (hypostasis) are reminiscent of Dante's Inferno.
In Everybody's Perfect, even with all of the manners of describing the character at the beginning of a section (a la aspects in Tarot, which is supported in the Acknowledgements section), I was still clueless as to how this information was intended to cultivate an understanding for these... Creatures? Figments? Embodied allegories? I'm not sure what they are, like Pell or Helike or Andomans or Ronan or Zanguo or Reshuna or Lindassi or Shunan or Denshado... No connection to what any of these words mean. Walton either provides no context outside the term and search engines are just as clueless to assist explaining etymology or anything about these things as keywords to have even a vague hint at what simply proper nouns are intended to denote later on when referenced. A map or glossary would help tremendously.
Chapters are written like a character diary, and different diary-like entries are numbered. This very casual style, which is typically charming, made me feel held hostage. I nearly DNF'd at the first chapter, bombarded with info dump paragraphs meeting or exceeding entire pages. Also, the Bauti are considered notorious for their stoicism and lack of candor... SO WHY PUT HIS CHAPTER (or really, three chapters in one section) RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING? Do you WANT people to stop reading and not like your book?! Reading the first chapter was like being asked to dice an onion by chewing it unpeeled and whole, and the narrative flow was just as ghastly. At no point do I feel the reader is inferred to be there in conversation at all, but that we're intended to be subjected to a stream of consciousness without abating. Instead, page 5 and 6 goes into a long spiel about why "names don't matter" to his people regardless of others needing methods of differentiation when scent and presence are unavailable (this becomes important only in the next-to-last chapter). Instead, Tiry rambles on about their abduction by in-laws as a child, defensively validating a "low body count" of partners (Laura, and Pietro and Gina and Dimitri), as the kids would say, the subsequent allegory of AIDS named Ferlenghetti's Blight that stole loved ones from their life, all these things and despite the info dump, I know nothing about why I should care at all about these characters.
I didn't until Chapter 5 (page 121), in fact.
What did help me better understand the characters? SHOW the reader, don't TELL the reader how these different species operate in society. Seeing characters of diverse backgrounds interacting in chapters two and three was the only time any kernel found in these page-long walls of text popped. Greetings, mannerisms, describing facial reactions (this didn't really happen until chapters five and six habitually) all SHOW the reader how the chunk of aspect descriptor at the beginning of each chapter function without actually needing their inclusion. The tension between Tiry's peers about his condition said more than the pages he spent whining about how Bauti aren't identified in the singular but by familial and occupational collectives. This singular complaint I list isn't an outlier; it's indicative to the entirety of the plot as its tidal girth eddies the reader further into the work for a compulsion of clarity than genuine investment.
It would help if the cover art reflected the characters' masks more than tangentially. On page 2, Tiry the Bauta's mask is described as dark red with a little golden dappling; Kreshun, another Bauta has "plain maroon... no freckling, nothing at all to distinguish her from anybody else" (22). Nonni, a Laodikan like Pell, whose "feathers are pale blue, with a white line along the base of his crest" (21). Khadsha on page 15 is described as having a golden mane and gold domino around purple eyes; the only vague notion it's supposed to represent her are the same blue roses adorning it that bloom in her garden. Taddeo is described with "luxuriant grey-and-white fur" (35) but the mask on the cover is orange with golden accents. Nothing of the sort is depicted on the front for reference or grounding. Who is the person holding all of the masks supposed to be? Why did Caroline Jamhour even bother with making art for the cover at all if they had no intention of reading the book?
Don't judge this book by its cover; not the art and especially not the blurbs. The blurb "where reality bends to human will" is wildly incomplete. I have never seen such atrociously vague author recommendation lines in years.
Also, while the name is lifted from Orain's chapter (as well as the entire conception of the book, the entire fulcrum of the work's climax buried at the end), ... It sucks. It's shallow. It is not "giving" any of the intrigue or creativity that actually exists within the pages. Its simplicity neuters the vivacity. "Mists of Serenissima", "Isles of Fog and Fancy", "The City of Haze and Fog", "Serenissima's Splendor": anything that might elicit more fantasy and less self-help "Chicken Soup for the Soul" humdrummery.
At no point, as a reader, did I feel engaged with what was happening, until Chapter Five, on page 121. Races, prejudices, and societal norms are continuously framed as relatable in the narrative yet none of it sticks. Laodikans having an astrological caste system turned up to11 nor did Khadsha's Zanguni Spanish Inquisitionesque conversion therapy reinforce any basis for her motives. It was just there to pinion empathy from the reader, nothing more. If any stereotyping triggers a relation to a certain people group, I automatically feel bigoted in the attempt to facilitate any conceptual overlap in my flailing efforts to craft these peoples in my mind's eye. I know next to nothing about Venetian culture and don't feel any more enlightened from reading this, either.
Other reviewers say "Jo Walton writes weird things and I like weird things," yet this is a type of weird that's weirder than the weird T. Kingfisher and John Wiswell and Joe Hill and Sarah Maria Griffin and . I just got done reading the first three Dune books, so it's not like I'm uninitiated to w e i r d. There's also better books out there to read if there are characters you actually enjoyed in this book. Khadsha is easily mimicked in Julie Leong's "The Teller of Small Fortunes" or a more snarky version in Gina Chen's "Violet Made of Thorns". Did you connect with Yix, but want her to possibly marry a prince instead and succeed in trials based on her street smarts? Try on "The Rose Bargain". Do you want to follow Pell as she struggles to aid and assist the blighted in the Serenissima, but with more supernatural elements? Leigh Bardugo's "The Familiar is right up your alley! Would you like to explore learning magic no one thought you capable of, to then traverse dream realms and confront monsters like Taddeo? You might like "Dream By The Shadows". Want a book with timey-wimey flippyfloppery meets "Lord of the Flies"? "Repeat After Me" by Jessica Warman is right up your alley.
I'm typically a YA reader, but found this work categorized on the interior cover as intended for Adult Fiction sections. Surprisingly, only one curse word (in a city full of Venetians that have heard or may know curse words [or others learned them from Venetians]) is ever written/spoken and it's "fucking" on pag 188. Granted, characters discussing quantity of sexual partners, children theorizing they were too ugly for child prostitution, conversion therapy, archaic methods of legislative enforcement depicted in a gory mural on the walls of the prison/police station, mentions of suicide, and discussions regarding terminal illness are mature subject matter, but that doesn't imply exclusion in contemporary teen-intended works. On the whole, despite lots of TL;DR, this adult fiction work would be suitable for a Young Adult audience... The classification may be due to the difficulty a reader may have following or understanding/interpreting the work, rather than the content enclosed.
Like all those complaints I had above. Too bad it's too late to get these suggestions to the editors/publisher in time for release.
I have many other qualms that have nothing to do with how the plot rides the landslide of lore that deluge readers, but they don't really warrant analysis. Do I need to know how many sexual encounters each character has had? No. If they contracted Ferlenghetti's Blight from a singular sexual partner, knowing their other victims remain within their circles of influence curries no favor with me. And even if it's part of the intentional bombardment of information so the reader does form a negative opinion, relay that in passing sneers or some revelation in an interconnected scene... Walton, you really don't have to do both. Tell or show.
Shouting out their Discord group full of parasocial sycophants with fiscally vested interests in the Acknowledgements section didn't coalesce how Walton thought it might, either. If the help was free, it was still too expensive.
Want to Read
September 23, 2025I’m already on board for anything Jo Walton writes, ever, and just hearing about the metaphysics of this world already made my head explode with joy. Can’t wait!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for allowing me to read this e-arc prior to its official release.
I was lured in by the description: “Piranesi meets Swordspoint in an elegant relay race through fantasy Venice”. However, I think it’s misleading. This is not a story of high-stakes adventure. There is no racing. It is a slow exploration of a world, and even multiple worlds, with several fascinating concepts, but it is slow, nonetheless.
The story was like a meandering, shifting dream where you’ve forgotten who you are in real life and instead live as an entirely new person in the dream world, completely different from yourself, yet somehow all your thoughts are your own and no matter how strange or illogical the dream seems after you wake up, while living in the dream, everything made perfect sense.
Indeed, this story is set in Serenissima, a cloudly, dreamlike Venice that connects several worlds (including ours). What people believe becomes true, although not easily. For example, the collective belief of the inhabitants causes the cloudy sky to lighten and darken, mimicking day and night although there is no sun.
It took me a while to differentiate and remember the characters of the different peoples/species, each of which are human-like but with differing heads. Thankfully, at the beginning of each section, there is at least a description of the main character’s species and appearance which helped. We flow from one person’s perspective to the next, each connected to each other. Some perspectives were more fantastical, others more modern (a girl’s love for wikipedia), but in all of them there was something relatable.
Each species’s world and cultures were truly fascinating: the Zanguni who valued learning above all and killed those with magic or the supernatural, the Laodikans who define gender based on time of birth, day or night in rigid delineations, etc. I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to different groups of people in real life. I loved how the cultures were explored through each POV character, most immigrants to Serenissima, but some born there, and how each of them were outcasts in their own ways yet held complex longing for their home world or closer connection to others of their species.
The last line of the book: “There are no answers, never answers, only questions” describes exactly how I felt upon finishing. A satisfying yet unsatisfying end at the same time. There were several threads I thought were leading somewhere but didn’t come up again, hints of political intrigue in Serenissima that I wanted to see more. But again, if we return to the idea of this book being a dream, such an ending also makes sense. I’m already nostalgic for this world, wishing I too could go to Venice and explore Serenissima and all those other strange yet familiar worlds.
Overall, the setting and world-building were the stand-out with charming characters I felt for. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a narrative fantasy that explores a lot of intriguing ideas.
I was lured in by the description: “Piranesi meets Swordspoint in an elegant relay race through fantasy Venice”. However, I think it’s misleading. This is not a story of high-stakes adventure. There is no racing. It is a slow exploration of a world, and even multiple worlds, with several fascinating concepts, but it is slow, nonetheless.
The story was like a meandering, shifting dream where you’ve forgotten who you are in real life and instead live as an entirely new person in the dream world, completely different from yourself, yet somehow all your thoughts are your own and no matter how strange or illogical the dream seems after you wake up, while living in the dream, everything made perfect sense.
Indeed, this story is set in Serenissima, a cloudly, dreamlike Venice that connects several worlds (including ours). What people believe becomes true, although not easily. For example, the collective belief of the inhabitants causes the cloudy sky to lighten and darken, mimicking day and night although there is no sun.
It took me a while to differentiate and remember the characters of the different peoples/species, each of which are human-like but with differing heads. Thankfully, at the beginning of each section, there is at least a description of the main character’s species and appearance which helped. We flow from one person’s perspective to the next, each connected to each other. Some perspectives were more fantastical, others more modern (a girl’s love for wikipedia), but in all of them there was something relatable.
Each species’s world and cultures were truly fascinating: the Zanguni who valued learning above all and killed those with magic or the supernatural, the Laodikans who define gender based on time of birth, day or night in rigid delineations, etc. I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to different groups of people in real life. I loved how the cultures were explored through each POV character, most immigrants to Serenissima, but some born there, and how each of them were outcasts in their own ways yet held complex longing for their home world or closer connection to others of their species.
The last line of the book: “There are no answers, never answers, only questions” describes exactly how I felt upon finishing. A satisfying yet unsatisfying end at the same time. There were several threads I thought were leading somewhere but didn’t come up again, hints of political intrigue in Serenissima that I wanted to see more. But again, if we return to the idea of this book being a dream, such an ending also makes sense. I’m already nostalgic for this world, wishing I too could go to Venice and explore Serenissima and all those other strange yet familiar worlds.
Overall, the setting and world-building were the stand-out with charming characters I felt for. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a narrative fantasy that explores a lot of intriguing ideas.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
My thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for an advance copy of this fantasy novel, set in a world on top of our own, maybe slightly to the left, with a diverse cast of characters and species and a dream that might unite them.
When I first started reading fantasy novels most of what I read came down to a sword, a sorcerer, maybe a dragon, maybe a quest, but lots of fighting. This was what I liked a as a reader, and most of my genre favorites followed this basic idea, just add in criminals or criminal where needed. I don't know when I started realizing, or being interested in fantasy stories that offered more than this. This is the problem with memory. I can remember every embarrassing incident in school, but I can't remember the books that made me realize that literature could be more than I thought it was. The past is elusive, a good word in a way to describe this novel. Just as one gets an idea on where things might be going, things change. Always for the better in this cozy book of fantasy and whimsy. Everybody's Perfect by Jo Walton is about a city, a dream, the various species that share space and time with each other, and how one can shape reality if one only believes.
Serenissima is a city that shares space with nine other worlds, a highly traveled destination made of dreams and thought. Serenissima touches out world in the Italian city of Venice, which has shaped the city in many ways, from festivals, to masks, to art to the way they deal with themselves. Nine different species dwell in Serenissima, each similar and different in a variety of ways. The town has had a problem with a plague, one that will seem familiar, but so far has been unstopped by the best of healers. One night Tiry, has a dream. That a cure will be found for the plague, and that the city of Serenissima will appoint a Doge, a leader which is not usual, and that this leader will marry the sea and that change will come. Both dreams seem impossible, but as the dreams spread so does the reality of what could be, and might come of it.
This is a hard book to summerize. This is a series of interconnected short stories, each one told from a different species, but dealing with events from previous actions. There is an airiness to the story, which makes sense as it does cover the whole of the city, and those that dwell within. Each chapter is from a different point of view, and species, all with attributes, both good, and bad, with reasons why they believe this dream, and why the don't. Walton really went all in on the world building and the ideas.
There is a comfort here, a book to be read that won't load the soul, but will take the social media noise and make it stop, for at least awhile. A cozy book, full of wonder and ideas. The exact reason I take consultation in books so much.
When I first started reading fantasy novels most of what I read came down to a sword, a sorcerer, maybe a dragon, maybe a quest, but lots of fighting. This was what I liked a as a reader, and most of my genre favorites followed this basic idea, just add in criminals or criminal where needed. I don't know when I started realizing, or being interested in fantasy stories that offered more than this. This is the problem with memory. I can remember every embarrassing incident in school, but I can't remember the books that made me realize that literature could be more than I thought it was. The past is elusive, a good word in a way to describe this novel. Just as one gets an idea on where things might be going, things change. Always for the better in this cozy book of fantasy and whimsy. Everybody's Perfect by Jo Walton is about a city, a dream, the various species that share space and time with each other, and how one can shape reality if one only believes.
Serenissima is a city that shares space with nine other worlds, a highly traveled destination made of dreams and thought. Serenissima touches out world in the Italian city of Venice, which has shaped the city in many ways, from festivals, to masks, to art to the way they deal with themselves. Nine different species dwell in Serenissima, each similar and different in a variety of ways. The town has had a problem with a plague, one that will seem familiar, but so far has been unstopped by the best of healers. One night Tiry, has a dream. That a cure will be found for the plague, and that the city of Serenissima will appoint a Doge, a leader which is not usual, and that this leader will marry the sea and that change will come. Both dreams seem impossible, but as the dreams spread so does the reality of what could be, and might come of it.
This is a hard book to summerize. This is a series of interconnected short stories, each one told from a different species, but dealing with events from previous actions. There is an airiness to the story, which makes sense as it does cover the whole of the city, and those that dwell within. Each chapter is from a different point of view, and species, all with attributes, both good, and bad, with reasons why they believe this dream, and why the don't. Walton really went all in on the world building and the ideas.
There is a comfort here, a book to be read that won't load the soul, but will take the social media noise and make it stop, for at least awhile. A cozy book, full of wonder and ideas. The exact reason I take consultation in books so much.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I received a free copy from Tor Books via Netgalley in exchange for a free review. Release date June 30th, 2026.
I've read almost all of Jo Walton's books, so I was very excited to get an advance copy of her latest. In Everybody's Perfect, a series of linked vignettes follow the lives of people in the Serenissima, a strange misty Venice between worlds. Fortunes are won and lost, hearts are broken, and a new Doge slowly rises out of rumors.
Everybody's Perfect has nine point of view characters, each with their own section. All of the characters are loosely entwined, and every new section jumps to a new character introduced in the previous vignette. Each character is a different species from another world linked to the Serenissima, and all of them have the faces of Venetian masks: harlequin, dogheaded, garlanded by flowers, etc. This is a bit gimmicky as a speculative biology feature, but Walton does an excellent job making each culture feel distinct. Also, all of the characters feel fresh and individual, probably because they strongly disagree with each other on everything from basic facts of their world to judgements on other characters. For instance, scheming, ambitious magus Khadsha thinks compassionate Pell who volunteers for a charity is far too softhearted. Gina from our own February 2020 thinks Khadsha's visions of the future are entirely a scam, and she's discovered a bananapants scheme involving Venetian time travel supremacy on Earth which never comes up in any other character's section. It's a delightful mixed bag.
On a number of levels, this book hit what I want out of "cozy fantasy" but never quite find in books that are explicitly marketed as such. The book's stakes are mostly small-scale and intensely personal, with no titanic battles or fate of the world at risk. Still, they matter very much to the characters, whether it's living with chronic illness or the very young Yix struggling to keep her family afloat. While there's not much of a throughline in the plot except the collective manifestation of the doge in the background and the expanding consequences of an AIDS-coded deadly sexually transmitted plague, all of the stories refer back to each other and mesh together in unexpected ways. It felt like a cohesive whole rather than a collection of short stories.
A reading experience that felt very much like the best bits of reading a Septimus Heap book as a kid: all of the little stories at the back telling you about what happened to minor characters. Possibly not my favorite Walton book to date—it's a very competitive field—but bright, conversational, and intriguing, with a sharp touch for worldbuilding. Recommended.
I've read almost all of Jo Walton's books, so I was very excited to get an advance copy of her latest. In Everybody's Perfect, a series of linked vignettes follow the lives of people in the Serenissima, a strange misty Venice between worlds. Fortunes are won and lost, hearts are broken, and a new Doge slowly rises out of rumors.
Everybody's Perfect has nine point of view characters, each with their own section. All of the characters are loosely entwined, and every new section jumps to a new character introduced in the previous vignette. Each character is a different species from another world linked to the Serenissima, and all of them have the faces of Venetian masks: harlequin, dogheaded, garlanded by flowers, etc. This is a bit gimmicky as a speculative biology feature, but Walton does an excellent job making each culture feel distinct. Also, all of the characters feel fresh and individual, probably because they strongly disagree with each other on everything from basic facts of their world to judgements on other characters. For instance, scheming, ambitious magus Khadsha thinks compassionate Pell who volunteers for a charity is far too softhearted. Gina from our own February 2020 thinks Khadsha's visions of the future are entirely a scam, and she's discovered a bananapants scheme involving Venetian time travel supremacy on Earth which never comes up in any other character's section. It's a delightful mixed bag.
On a number of levels, this book hit what I want out of "cozy fantasy" but never quite find in books that are explicitly marketed as such. The book's stakes are mostly small-scale and intensely personal, with no titanic battles or fate of the world at risk. Still, they matter very much to the characters, whether it's living with chronic illness or the very young Yix struggling to keep her family afloat. While there's not much of a throughline in the plot except the collective manifestation of the doge in the background and the expanding consequences of an AIDS-coded deadly sexually transmitted plague, all of the stories refer back to each other and mesh together in unexpected ways. It felt like a cohesive whole rather than a collection of short stories.
A reading experience that felt very much like the best bits of reading a Septimus Heap book as a kid: all of the little stories at the back telling you about what happened to minor characters. Possibly not my favorite Walton book to date—it's a very competitive field—but bright, conversational, and intriguing, with a sharp touch for worldbuilding. Recommended.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Electronic ARC provided by Edelweiss.
I never know what to expect when starting a Jo Walton novel, and I am never disappointed when I finish one. Everybody's Perfect is a dreamy meandering novel whose story is more about a place then about individuals. The Serenissima is a sort of shadow reflection of Venice that exists at an intersection of worlds, each world being populated by a different fantastical race of people. While mirroring our Venice, the Serenissima is a mysterious archipelago where reality is based at least somewhat on belief, and the landscape shifts and changes. Gondolas carry folk through the mists as people of all sorts (and from various time periods) go about their daily lives. People come to the Serenissima for all sorts of reasons, with the most common being trade, and though most move on there are also those who end up staying, either by choice or because they end up contracting the "Blight", a disease that means a quick death outside of the Serenissima but a lingering life within.
Everybody's Perfect comes together slowly through chapters that trade point of view between representatives of each of the races that share the space. All of them have different goals and histories, and all are looking for something different from the Serenissima. The experience of reading the book is almost like reading a short story collection, except that each individual story adds to what we know about the Serenissima and ends up creating a detailed vision of a fully realized though dreamlike place.
While reading Everybody's Perfect I kept being reminded of Walton's Philosopher trilogy (which is great, and anyone at all interested in a truly original take on Greek philosophy should go find it immediately). This book felt like a spiritual successor to the Philosopher books in that it was almost more about ideas then individuals. It's a gentle and kind book that will linger in your mind--and perhaps in your dreams--long after it is finished. Don't go in expecting action or traditional resolution, just open the book and let the experience of reading it take over.
I never know what to expect when starting a Jo Walton novel, and I am never disappointed when I finish one. Everybody's Perfect is a dreamy meandering novel whose story is more about a place then about individuals. The Serenissima is a sort of shadow reflection of Venice that exists at an intersection of worlds, each world being populated by a different fantastical race of people. While mirroring our Venice, the Serenissima is a mysterious archipelago where reality is based at least somewhat on belief, and the landscape shifts and changes. Gondolas carry folk through the mists as people of all sorts (and from various time periods) go about their daily lives. People come to the Serenissima for all sorts of reasons, with the most common being trade, and though most move on there are also those who end up staying, either by choice or because they end up contracting the "Blight", a disease that means a quick death outside of the Serenissima but a lingering life within.
Everybody's Perfect comes together slowly through chapters that trade point of view between representatives of each of the races that share the space. All of them have different goals and histories, and all are looking for something different from the Serenissima. The experience of reading the book is almost like reading a short story collection, except that each individual story adds to what we know about the Serenissima and ends up creating a detailed vision of a fully realized though dreamlike place.
While reading Everybody's Perfect I kept being reminded of Walton's Philosopher trilogy (which is great, and anyone at all interested in a truly original take on Greek philosophy should go find it immediately). This book felt like a spiritual successor to the Philosopher books in that it was almost more about ideas then individuals. It's a gentle and kind book that will linger in your mind--and perhaps in your dreams--long after it is finished. Don't go in expecting action or traditional resolution, just open the book and let the experience of reading it take over.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for an advance copy of Everybody’s Perfect by Jo Walton. I hadn’t read any Jo Walton before this, but I know that there are a lot of people who really enjoy her so I wanted to give it a shot.
I’m a tad undecided/underwhelmed after reading to be honest. I really like the idea of a shadow Venice that’s both real and not. That also extends to the carnival aspect that is almost always incorporated into fantasy set in Venice, but this is different enough to be different while also being the same (if that makes any sense). I like how Walton puts the idea of this being real and not real, almost hidden in mist or shadow, into your head and carries it throughout the book.
At first I was a bit daunted by the nine points of view. Each character is of a different species and each have their own section of the book, as opposed to a back and forth as we normally expect from a multiple POV story. With this setup you really do get to feel like you’re seeing through a whole new set of eyes and thoughts with each new section. It also gives you time to settle in with each character and have the chance to get to know them and their cultures more fully. Seeing how all of the separate stories intertwine and make a whole picture from the individual pieces made me like it a bit more than I had initially anticipated.
The story is definitely more character and setting focused than plot driven which was a bit of a hard pill for me to swallow. That being said, I have to give credit to the worldbuilding. It was incredibly vivid and immersive and this played a large role in holding my interest.
This was definitely more a “cosy” fantasy, which is not something I would typically read. I can’t say that it made a convert out of me, but it was certainly an interesting read. I want to rate this a 2.5, but will round up to a 3 because I recognize that much of what I didn’t like was just based on my own personal preferences.
I’m a tad undecided/underwhelmed after reading to be honest. I really like the idea of a shadow Venice that’s both real and not. That also extends to the carnival aspect that is almost always incorporated into fantasy set in Venice, but this is different enough to be different while also being the same (if that makes any sense). I like how Walton puts the idea of this being real and not real, almost hidden in mist or shadow, into your head and carries it throughout the book.
At first I was a bit daunted by the nine points of view. Each character is of a different species and each have their own section of the book, as opposed to a back and forth as we normally expect from a multiple POV story. With this setup you really do get to feel like you’re seeing through a whole new set of eyes and thoughts with each new section. It also gives you time to settle in with each character and have the chance to get to know them and their cultures more fully. Seeing how all of the separate stories intertwine and make a whole picture from the individual pieces made me like it a bit more than I had initially anticipated.
The story is definitely more character and setting focused than plot driven which was a bit of a hard pill for me to swallow. That being said, I have to give credit to the worldbuilding. It was incredibly vivid and immersive and this played a large role in holding my interest.
This was definitely more a “cosy” fantasy, which is not something I would typically read. I can’t say that it made a convert out of me, but it was certainly an interesting read. I want to rate this a 2.5, but will round up to a 3 because I recognize that much of what I didn’t like was just based on my own personal preferences.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Out June 30!
💫 Mesmerizing and strange, Everybody's Perfect is as shifting as the mists blanketing the canals of Venice on a winter night.
✏️ This book is written in a unique form, almost like interviews for a documentary or glimpses of a rumor as it flits through a city. Except in this city, belief is enough to change reality.
"The Serenissima is Venice's magical shadow-self on another plane of existence, the gateway to the out-worlds and a source of her power."
The masks of Venice are the faces of the Serenissima, where creatures from across the worlds -- cat-faced Gatta, dog-eared Andoman, the Zanguo with their manes and domino and the Bauta with their blank faces -- mix in a city without sun or stars, where time doesn't quite make sense
Each featured character tells their bit of the story, one after another. The tale weaves between them, starting with a dream, and then a fortune-teller, and then the rumor, the belief, is everywhere: a cure for the blight is coming and soon the Serenissima will have its own doge, a doge who -- as they do in Venice -- will go out to marry the sea.
❤️ The sheer creativity was delightful. Such a diversity of characters and voices, weaving the story forward. In reading the acknowledgements, I was not shocked to find the author had a distinct memory of a friend reading Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities out loud in August 2021 in a still mostly empty Venice.
💔 I sometimes felt that this was all excellent background material for something with actual stakes. On the upside: this could inspire some excellent fanfiction.
✉️ The power of belief is a central theme, as is the complexities of life in a city so otherworldly as Venice.
👥 For the odd ones. For those missing Venice.
📍 Read, sadly, not in Venice, though my winter trip there continues to haunt my daydreams.
❗Thank you Tor (@torbooks) for providing this book for review consideration via @NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
💫 Mesmerizing and strange, Everybody's Perfect is as shifting as the mists blanketing the canals of Venice on a winter night.
✏️ This book is written in a unique form, almost like interviews for a documentary or glimpses of a rumor as it flits through a city. Except in this city, belief is enough to change reality.
"The Serenissima is Venice's magical shadow-self on another plane of existence, the gateway to the out-worlds and a source of her power."
The masks of Venice are the faces of the Serenissima, where creatures from across the worlds -- cat-faced Gatta, dog-eared Andoman, the Zanguo with their manes and domino and the Bauta with their blank faces -- mix in a city without sun or stars, where time doesn't quite make sense
Each featured character tells their bit of the story, one after another. The tale weaves between them, starting with a dream, and then a fortune-teller, and then the rumor, the belief, is everywhere: a cure for the blight is coming and soon the Serenissima will have its own doge, a doge who -- as they do in Venice -- will go out to marry the sea.
❤️ The sheer creativity was delightful. Such a diversity of characters and voices, weaving the story forward. In reading the acknowledgements, I was not shocked to find the author had a distinct memory of a friend reading Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities out loud in August 2021 in a still mostly empty Venice.
💔 I sometimes felt that this was all excellent background material for something with actual stakes. On the upside: this could inspire some excellent fanfiction.
✉️ The power of belief is a central theme, as is the complexities of life in a city so otherworldly as Venice.
👥 For the odd ones. For those missing Venice.
📍 Read, sadly, not in Venice, though my winter trip there continues to haunt my daydreams.
❗Thank you Tor (@torbooks) for providing this book for review consideration via @NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
3.5
This book was technically excellent in many ways but was also - and the fault may lie in the reader here - a bit unsatisfactory.
The structure was well-executed and a pleasant change, the POVs shifting with each chapter to bring the story along - or, indeed, to completion of a circle. The world-building is excellent too, and the author could have bogged us down with, I am sure, far more detail on all the different species and their home worlds, but the seasoned author knows when less is more, as in this case. And, of course, that suits the nebulous, morphing atmosphere of the Serenissima itself, a dreamlike state where things can change or come into being almost, it seems, with the power of belief, or will.
The characters were engaging and fully-drawn, given the short time each one is with us, and their views of the other characters give the reader a wonderfully rounded picture of this world between worlds.
In truth, the only fault, if such it is, lies in the theme or plot of the book - there are no huge objectives or explosive action sequences, this is more a book of philosophy, that can be applied to our own, more mundane (or completely similar) lives. This might be a book to be read when in a particular mood, but this is also what makes this book a gentle treasure; in its quiet way, with its slightly provacative ending, it invites us to question universal themes and, perhaps, be satisfied with the knowledge that there will always be questions.
My thanks to Edelweiss for the DRC, all opinions are my own.
This book was technically excellent in many ways but was also - and the fault may lie in the reader here - a bit unsatisfactory.
The structure was well-executed and a pleasant change, the POVs shifting with each chapter to bring the story along - or, indeed, to completion of a circle. The world-building is excellent too, and the author could have bogged us down with, I am sure, far more detail on all the different species and their home worlds, but the seasoned author knows when less is more, as in this case. And, of course, that suits the nebulous, morphing atmosphere of the Serenissima itself, a dreamlike state where things can change or come into being almost, it seems, with the power of belief, or will.
The characters were engaging and fully-drawn, given the short time each one is with us, and their views of the other characters give the reader a wonderfully rounded picture of this world between worlds.
In truth, the only fault, if such it is, lies in the theme or plot of the book - there are no huge objectives or explosive action sequences, this is more a book of philosophy, that can be applied to our own, more mundane (or completely similar) lives. This might be a book to be read when in a particular mood, but this is also what makes this book a gentle treasure; in its quiet way, with its slightly provacative ending, it invites us to question universal themes and, perhaps, be satisfied with the knowledge that there will always be questions.
My thanks to Edelweiss for the DRC, all opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This book had such a dream-like quality to its writing, it was heavy on the worldbuilding, but I don’t think it was for me. The pacing was sooo slow.
the worldbuilding and exposition can be great at times, but the way exposition is told is simply told to the audience through the character’s PoV. I’m not a huge fan of it cause it’s not all that natural and unless it’s your vibe, it might come across as boring. Don’t get me wrong it is so creative. I especially love the idea of gender being assigned based on what time of day you were born. That’s so cool. I am always down to see gender explored in ways unlike our own. I’m here for all the weird details about the species and cultures. I especially like that with each new PoV there’s a little description. That’s helpful.
Characters were okay, but I couldn’t really get into any of them strongly and the plot was very weird I just did not connect. This book is a lot more about the vibes and the weirdness than anything else. I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of reading anything like it. It was a unique experience.
Like others have said it was meandering, which for me left it a little dry, especially reading paragraphs after paragraphs of text and worldbuilding. So if you want a book that’s less about plot and more a grand overview of a place, then this is for you. It was not for me.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The Serenissima is a world of mists and uncertainty, a mythical shadow of Venice and the crossroads of the nine worlds, and on a level of reality that is just a little less fixed than any of the worlds. Here anything can be true is people believe strongly enough that it is, and anything unobserved or believed in may disappear entirely.
It's hard to say exactly what this book is about. Structurally it passes from hand to hand through the peoples of the Serenissima, each story flowing smoothly into the next. It starts when Tiry dreams that the doge will marry the sea (which is strange because the Serenissima has never had a doge) and ends the next day when it comes to pass, but from one point to another it goes through many different lives, most of whom couldn't care less about the city having a doge.
This is a strange, dreamlike book that throws the reader into the deep end. For the first few chapters I had no real idea what was going on. However, as the world started to breathe (and I had enough context to understand anything), I found myself compelled. For a book that is less than 300 pages long, this is absolutely overflowing with ideas and contemplations on disease, perfection, faith, and love. I think this is a book that would have a lot to offer on a reread, and I could definitely see myself doing that in the future.
It's hard to say exactly what this book is about. Structurally it passes from hand to hand through the peoples of the Serenissima, each story flowing smoothly into the next. It starts when Tiry dreams that the doge will marry the sea (which is strange because the Serenissima has never had a doge) and ends the next day when it comes to pass, but from one point to another it goes through many different lives, most of whom couldn't care less about the city having a doge.
This is a strange, dreamlike book that throws the reader into the deep end. For the first few chapters I had no real idea what was going on. However, as the world started to breathe (and I had enough context to understand anything), I found myself compelled. For a book that is less than 300 pages long, this is absolutely overflowing with ideas and contemplations on disease, perfection, faith, and love. I think this is a book that would have a lot to offer on a reread, and I could definitely see myself doing that in the future.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
**I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley.**
It took me a minute to find my feet with this one (the blurb gives the impression that it's going to be a book-length game of telephone so I had to adjust when I saw this wasn't that!), but once I did I really enjoyed this. Getting the descriptions of the other cultures and their place in the Serenissima made each new POV exciting, and the connection to Carnevale masks is so cool. Ditto the final POV, which is a great surprise and wonderfully lush.
That said, re: the ending, as I much as I do enjoy that last chapter I couldn't help but want to check in with more of the characters for longer. Especially Yix, whose chapter - maybe because she's the youngest - feels the most like the starting chapter to a whole book. But I get why we couldn't get more than that. The mist shifts, reveals, obscures again, and now you're in a different place. (Still wanted it though!)
There's something very tender about this book and so I think it'll appeal most to readers looking for a softer take on how people can be. (If you liked the tone of The Goblin Emperor you'll probably like this.) I would definitely recommend it.
It took me a minute to find my feet with this one (the blurb gives the impression that it's going to be a book-length game of telephone so I had to adjust when I saw this wasn't that!), but once I did I really enjoyed this. Getting the descriptions of the other cultures and their place in the Serenissima made each new POV exciting, and the connection to Carnevale masks is so cool. Ditto the final POV, which is a great surprise and wonderfully lush.
That said, re: the ending, as I much as I do enjoy that last chapter I couldn't help but want to check in with more of the characters for longer. Especially Yix, whose chapter - maybe because she's the youngest - feels the most like the starting chapter to a whole book. But I get why we couldn't get more than that. The mist shifts, reveals, obscures again, and now you're in a different place. (Still wanted it though!)
There's something very tender about this book and so I think it'll appeal most to readers looking for a softer take on how people can be. (If you liked the tone of The Goblin Emperor you'll probably like this.) I would definitely recommend it.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Jo Walton delivers a series of connected stories in Everybody’s Perfect that ask us to think about the power of belief and its effect on reality. Inspired in part by Marguerite Youcenar’s A Coin in Nine Hands, these tales connect characters via a strange dream that ends up transforming the magical city of Serenissima. Like its earthy counterpart, Venice, the Serenissima lives for trade, connecting different worlds in an ever-changing mix of peoples, ideas, and faiths. Unlike our Venice, the Serenissima can only exist as long as people believe that it exists. Any slight change in that belief can affect the city in unexpected ways...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Serenissima is a place made of mists and timelessness, desire and will. What is not attended to will fade away; what is believed will become. Like Venice, it is a city of islands and canals, where trade is the lifeblood of the economy. It sits at the edge of nine worlds, between reality and Chaos. People come from eight worlds to mingle and trade, some for a short while, some for a lifetime.
This story is a mosaic, told in the from the perspective of an individual from each of the peoples resident here. The characters are both strange beyond imagining and very familiar and relateable.
A powerful work by an ever-inventive writer.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This story is a mosaic, told in the from the perspective of an individual from each of the peoples resident here. The characters are both strange beyond imagining and very familiar and relateable.
A powerful work by an ever-inventive writer.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
A lovely jaunt into a parallel Venice where different sentient species travel from their particular dimensions to meet, fall in love, study, and heal each other. Framed as an oral history surrounding the ascension of a Doge, a representative from each species hands off the baton to another citizen of Venice to keep the narrative churning. The world building in this story, particularly around the magic system, is first rate, especially in so short a book. This book delivers the same strange and wonderful vibes offered by Piranesi.
NetGalley provided me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
NetGalley provided me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
February 28, 2026
Very interesting book but it’s also very weird and it’s left me a lot of questions. This book makes me feel like I’m missing a lot of things.
I enjoyed the fact that each chapter had the point of view of a different character, which makes it fun and you get to know about the world more but I’m still a bit confused about what exactly world is?
Is it a dream like cloud world or parallel magical world with human like creatures?
It was still enjoyable I just really couldn’t get into it even though I do like Venice.
I enjoyed the fact that each chapter had the point of view of a different character, which makes it fun and you get to know about the world more but I’m still a bit confused about what exactly world is?
Is it a dream like cloud world or parallel magical world with human like creatures?
It was still enjoyable I just really couldn’t get into it even though I do like Venice.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
It took me a few chapters to get into this one and even then I would pick it up and put it down. Each chapter is a different viewpoint during overlapping stories in an interesting but heavily Venetian fantasy city, all different intelligent nearly human species. Kind of ambitious and I think there might be other people who like this book more than I do...the writing is excellent as you get to see most of the viewpoint characters in the other chapters and they don't always look like they do inside their own heads.
Want to Read
June 2, 2026***Why?***
I am going to be honest, the only reason I want to read this is because I once read a book by Jo Walton which were dragons in the regency era? (I think I am remembering that correct).
I did not really liked that book but I do remember the writing style. There was something about it...
Ok, let's see if I was in my taking-notes-era: I was! Sorta... Nothing about the writing style but something about the plot. Hmm...
I am going to be honest, the only reason I want to read this is because I once read a book by Jo Walton which were dragons in the regency era? (I think I am remembering that correct).
I did not really liked that book but I do remember the writing style. There was something about it...
Ok, let's see if I was in my taking-notes-era: I was! Sorta... Nothing about the writing style but something about the plot. Hmm...
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Weird in a good way. I was expecting a certain amount of dreaming about Venice -- which this delivers. I wasn't expecting science fiction, and that is a very interesting journey. On the whole I liked it -- good characters, an unexpected plot, themes of contagion and alienation from community and the creation of communities; themes of magic and wandering. A bit of a slow burn of a book.
Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss.
Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss.
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January 21, 2026Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Some authors write the same book over and over, and I love it. Some authors reinvent themselves with every book, and Jo Walton is one of those. This is a strange and beautiful book.
Want to Read
March 10, 2026Piranesi AND Swordspoint?! This is also giving Stravaganza for adults and I am here for it
March 11, 2026
A rather slow but fascinating narrative,at times confusing,but a wonderful world building. I would recommend the read.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Quiet treatise on magic, belonging, the power of being seen, and how interconnected we all are. Beautifully written, as all Ms Walton's books are.
I found it very soothing.
I found it very soothing.
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