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Ignore All Previous Instructions
A script supervisor for an AI media conglomerate is caught between her intense need for an orderly life and her deeper, darker queer desires. From the creator of the Outside trilogy, a heartfelt interplanetary epic of identity, longing, and a space pirate who smuggles inappropriate stories.
Kelli Reynolds loves creating stories more than anything in the world. But on Callisto, a generative AI company called Inspiration owns everything, including all the media, and only Inspiration determines which stories can be told.
Kelli has a rare and coveted job in which her autism is to her advantage: She precisely edits AI output into “appropriate” stories for Inspiration’s massive TV audience. Her proudest creation is the pirate Orlando—a dashing do-gooder based on stories she used to tell friends.
Reenter Kelli’s ex-boyfriend Rowan, the person Kelli based Orlando on. Back when they were teenagers, their relationship was a secret. Kelli had thought that Rowan, a trans man, was her schoolmate Em, a girl.
Rowan is tangled up in the black market after he needed to get money for gender reassignment surgery. He needs Kelli’s help with something . . . illegal. So, now Kelli has to decide: Will she risk the safe, tidy story of her life now for the world she once wished for? What would Orlando do?
Passionate, dangerous, and tender, Ignore All Previous Instructions is a sweeping, poignant novel about censorship, forbidden love, and growing up.
Kelli Reynolds loves creating stories more than anything in the world. But on Callisto, a generative AI company called Inspiration owns everything, including all the media, and only Inspiration determines which stories can be told.
Kelli has a rare and coveted job in which her autism is to her advantage: She precisely edits AI output into “appropriate” stories for Inspiration’s massive TV audience. Her proudest creation is the pirate Orlando—a dashing do-gooder based on stories she used to tell friends.
Reenter Kelli’s ex-boyfriend Rowan, the person Kelli based Orlando on. Back when they were teenagers, their relationship was a secret. Kelli had thought that Rowan, a trans man, was her schoolmate Em, a girl.
Rowan is tangled up in the black market after he needed to get money for gender reassignment surgery. He needs Kelli’s help with something . . . illegal. So, now Kelli has to decide: Will she risk the safe, tidy story of her life now for the world she once wished for? What would Orlando do?
Passionate, dangerous, and tender, Ignore All Previous Instructions is a sweeping, poignant novel about censorship, forbidden love, and growing up.
320 pages, Paperback
First published May 12, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 248 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
4.0 Stars
As someone who loved The Outside and its sequels, I was eagerly anticipating this follow up novel. I am happy to announce that I was not disappointed and would recommend this book to anyone else who loved that trilogy.
One of the best elements of this novel was the inclusion of another character with autism and a queer identity, which I understand pulls from the author's own experiences. I appreciated the complexity and nuance of these representations, breaking away from certain popular stereotypes.
In addition, this novel explored the world of AI written tools and their invasion of storybased media. I found the conversations very topical and important, not saying away from the negatives of AI in creative spaces.
In terms of science fiction, this one is much softer than others, which makes it a great entry point to readers who don't read a lot of the genre. I would primarily recommend to character driven readers who don't mind a romantic element to the story. This one felt personal and left a big impression on me.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
As someone who loved The Outside and its sequels, I was eagerly anticipating this follow up novel. I am happy to announce that I was not disappointed and would recommend this book to anyone else who loved that trilogy.
One of the best elements of this novel was the inclusion of another character with autism and a queer identity, which I understand pulls from the author's own experiences. I appreciated the complexity and nuance of these representations, breaking away from certain popular stereotypes.
In addition, this novel explored the world of AI written tools and their invasion of storybased media. I found the conversations very topical and important, not saying away from the negatives of AI in creative spaces.
In terms of science fiction, this one is much softer than others, which makes it a great entry point to readers who don't read a lot of the genre. I would primarily recommend to character driven readers who don't mind a romantic element to the story. This one felt personal and left a big impression on me.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
May 14, 2026
Ignore All Previous Instructions was absolutely not what I was expecting, and unfortunately not in a good way.
Going in, I expected something sci-fi, dystopian, and definitely more adult. I knew it would be more on the cozy side, which is fine, but what I actually got was a lecture (more on that in a minute) disguised as a YA coming-of-age story that just so happened to be in space. For most of the book, I genuinely forgot this was supposed to be sci-fi at all. Aside from planetary travel, this largely felt like a contemporary story. I am a fan of YA books, but only when I am expecting them to be YA. Half of the book is narrated from the main characters' perspectives when they are thirteen years old. As I said, I do like YA stories but I don't want to be in the head of a thirteen year old for half of a book. That mismatch in expectation was a huge part of my disappointment.
But my biggest issue is that this felt like a lecture (as I mentioned above). I don't say this to be mean, but because it is the only way I can think of to express how this book made me feel. I can definitely appreciate a book that tackles important social themes. But it felt like this book was written to solely educate and not at all to entertain. There was so much heavy-handed messaging and not nearly enough plot. It felt like the author was focusing so much on how to get the reader to understand autism, queerness, and AI ethics that they forgot to tell a compelling story.
As an autistic person especially, I found the constant explanations about autism exhausting. I genuinely lost count of how many times I was directly told that Kelli gets overwhelmed by loud sounds, or that being autistic means that Kelli doesn't like to be touched, etc. instead of allowing those experiences to be shown naturally through the story. Telling and not showing is a huge pet peeve of mine.
This is not at all to say that I don't want social commentary in my books. Quite the opposite. I'm definitely in the "art is political" camp, and I absolutely love books with strong social commentary. This is actually why I picked up this book, because I was excited to see an autistic main character on a space adventure. However, the story itself needs to be interesting in addition to the commentary. In the case of this book, I was honestly so bored at the lack of anything really happening for most of the book. The plot goes like this: Kelli is roped in to help steal something. 300 pages pass by with flashbacks to their childhood and Kelli *doing something bad omg*. They steal the thing and then almost die but get saved. The end. Literally nothing interesting happened, which was so disappointing. I wanted to DNF even before the 30% mark but I continued because a) I don't like DNFing ARCs and b) I wanted to support a fellow autistic author. But I was genuinely so glad when it was finally over.
To be fair, I do think this book would work substantially better for readers (teenagers perhaps?) who are unfamiliar with autism, AI ethics, or queer identity and would benefit from a more heavy-handed, straightforward approach. But for adult readers who are used to and prefer nuance and inference in their reading experience, it might be a frustrating read.
I will give it 1.5 stars instead of 1 solely because I did appreciate learning more about trans experiences and gender dysmorphia, particularly because that is not my own lived experience. While I didn't like either of the main characters, I could at least take something away from seeing what Rowan went through emotionally. That earned .5 stars from me.
Overall, this felt like a book with strong intentions but very weak execution. I can absolutely see it being valuable for younger readers. I will probably recommend it to my teenage daughter because she would probably enjoy it. But for me, it's a huge no.
Thank you to NetGalley, Tachyon, and RB media for an advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Going in, I expected something sci-fi, dystopian, and definitely more adult. I knew it would be more on the cozy side, which is fine, but what I actually got was a lecture (more on that in a minute) disguised as a YA coming-of-age story that just so happened to be in space. For most of the book, I genuinely forgot this was supposed to be sci-fi at all. Aside from planetary travel, this largely felt like a contemporary story. I am a fan of YA books, but only when I am expecting them to be YA. Half of the book is narrated from the main characters' perspectives when they are thirteen years old. As I said, I do like YA stories but I don't want to be in the head of a thirteen year old for half of a book. That mismatch in expectation was a huge part of my disappointment.
But my biggest issue is that this felt like a lecture (as I mentioned above). I don't say this to be mean, but because it is the only way I can think of to express how this book made me feel. I can definitely appreciate a book that tackles important social themes. But it felt like this book was written to solely educate and not at all to entertain. There was so much heavy-handed messaging and not nearly enough plot. It felt like the author was focusing so much on how to get the reader to understand autism, queerness, and AI ethics that they forgot to tell a compelling story.
As an autistic person especially, I found the constant explanations about autism exhausting. I genuinely lost count of how many times I was directly told that Kelli gets overwhelmed by loud sounds, or that being autistic means that Kelli doesn't like to be touched, etc. instead of allowing those experiences to be shown naturally through the story. Telling and not showing is a huge pet peeve of mine.
This is not at all to say that I don't want social commentary in my books. Quite the opposite. I'm definitely in the "art is political" camp, and I absolutely love books with strong social commentary. This is actually why I picked up this book, because I was excited to see an autistic main character on a space adventure. However, the story itself needs to be interesting in addition to the commentary. In the case of this book, I was honestly so bored at the lack of anything really happening for most of the book. The plot goes like this: Kelli is roped in to help steal something. 300 pages pass by with flashbacks to their childhood and Kelli *doing something bad omg*. They steal the thing and then almost die but get saved. The end. Literally nothing interesting happened, which was so disappointing. I wanted to DNF even before the 30% mark but I continued because a) I don't like DNFing ARCs and b) I wanted to support a fellow autistic author. But I was genuinely so glad when it was finally over.
To be fair, I do think this book would work substantially better for readers (teenagers perhaps?) who are unfamiliar with autism, AI ethics, or queer identity and would benefit from a more heavy-handed, straightforward approach. But for adult readers who are used to and prefer nuance and inference in their reading experience, it might be a frustrating read.
I will give it 1.5 stars instead of 1 solely because I did appreciate learning more about trans experiences and gender dysmorphia, particularly because that is not my own lived experience. While I didn't like either of the main characters, I could at least take something away from seeing what Rowan went through emotionally. That earned .5 stars from me.
Overall, this felt like a book with strong intentions but very weak execution. I can absolutely see it being valuable for younger readers. I will probably recommend it to my teenage daughter because she would probably enjoy it. But for me, it's a huge no.
Thank you to NetGalley, Tachyon, and RB media for an advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
October 23, 2026
Rec. by: Rachel; title; BEL
Rec. for: Modelled citizens
So... what if humanity manages to survive the coming AIpocalypse? What if—somehow, someday—we even thrive? But then... what if that outcome is still terrible in a lot of ways, anyway?
That's what we get in Ada Hoffmann's evocatively-titled Ignore All Previous Instructions. Humanity has spread through the whole Solar System, pretty much... but we don't seem to have learned much in the process.
Kelli Reynolds lives on Callisto, one of the Jovian moons, in a colony that's wholly owned and operated by Inspiration, the company that acquired—legally, and in their entirety—the intellectual property rights to everything. At least on Callisto, and anywhere else Inspiration holds sway, you can't even publish, much less profit from, any fiction that hasn't already been run through Inspiration's AI-mediated mill.
Kelli's on the inside, though. She works for Inspiration, prompting its StoryGen algorithm in just the right ways to get new content approved...
Frankly, this sounds like Hell, to me. And, to begin with, I was under the impression that Ada Hoffmann was okay with that. But I was wrong...
Before too long, Kelli's been contacted by an old friend with a new name, someone who's been outside Inspiration's insipid ecosystem for a long time, and who now needs Kelli's help to get back in.
Then the situation gets interesting. Ignore All Previous Instructions is a book that rewards a certain amount of patience with its setup. Just so you know...
*
Ignore All Previous Instructions ticked off a lot of boxes for me. The title alone drew me in, and should be a clue for the discerning reader that Hoffmann's not exactly on board with Inspiration's use of large language models (LLMs) to enforce its all-encompassing claim to story.
Because, after all... the way LLMs actually work is to reduce creativity, to make things blander, more anodyne, more... generic. Kelli Reynolds lives in a society which has done its best to erase who she really is, and who her friends are. Inspiration's LLMs have spurred Callisto's convergence to a cruel mean, where any outliers—trans and other LGBTQTIA+ folks, for example, or people with autism—simply do not really exist.
This is some depressingly plausible extrapolation on Hoffmann's part. Society stumbles back and forth... and it's sad, to be sure, but not at all unrealistic, that a population ruled by LLMs would fail to progress beyond what we already know in the here-and-now.
Later on, Hoffmannn underscores the point that this kind of erasure can—and does—turn murderous. The storms of adolescence sometimes capsize even the tightest of little boats, after all, but... shouldn't we try even harder to save those among our children who struggle most with normativity?
This does not seem especially controversial, at least to me. Nor, I suspect, to Hoffmann. But it's one of the hinges upon which Ignore All Previous Instructions hangs...
*
As other reviewers have already noted, Ignore All Previous Instructions gets substantially better as it goes along—and this is (also, and absolutely) a good thing.
Rec. for: Modelled citizens
Kelli was a professional—a human talented enough to get a steady wage for the kind of work a machine couldn't do. It was an honor only ten percent of the population still possessed. She took it seriously, and she dressed the part.
—p.14
So... what if humanity manages to survive the coming AIpocalypse? What if—somehow, someday—we even thrive? But then... what if that outcome is still terrible in a lot of ways, anyway?
That's what we get in Ada Hoffmann's evocatively-titled Ignore All Previous Instructions. Humanity has spread through the whole Solar System, pretty much... but we don't seem to have learned much in the process.
"Friends are better than robots."
"Everything is better than robots," said Kelli.
—p.36
Kelli Reynolds lives on Callisto, one of the Jovian moons, in a colony that's wholly owned and operated by Inspiration, the company that acquired—legally, and in their entirety—the intellectual property rights to everything. At least on Callisto, and anywhere else Inspiration holds sway, you can't even publish, much less profit from, any fiction that hasn't already been run through Inspiration's AI-mediated mill.
Kelli's on the inside, though. She works for Inspiration, prompting its StoryGen algorithm in just the right ways to get new content approved...
Frankly, this sounds like Hell, to me. And, to begin with, I was under the impression that Ada Hoffmann was okay with that. But I was wrong...
Before too long, Kelli's been contacted by an old friend with a new name, someone who's been outside Inspiration's insipid ecosystem for a long time, and who now needs Kelli's help to get back in.
Then the situation gets interesting. Ignore All Previous Instructions is a book that rewards a certain amount of patience with its setup. Just so you know...
*
Ignore All Previous Instructions ticked off a lot of boxes for me. The title alone drew me in, and should be a clue for the discerning reader that Hoffmann's not exactly on board with Inspiration's use of large language models (LLMs) to enforce its all-encompassing claim to story.
Because, after all... the way LLMs actually work is to reduce creativity, to make things blander, more anodyne, more... generic. Kelli Reynolds lives in a society which has done its best to erase who she really is, and who her friends are. Inspiration's LLMs have spurred Callisto's convergence to a cruel mean, where any outliers—trans and other LGBTQTIA+ folks, for example, or people with autism—simply do not really exist.
This is some depressingly plausible extrapolation on Hoffmann's part. Society stumbles back and forth... and it's sad, to be sure, but not at all unrealistic, that a population ruled by LLMs would fail to progress beyond what we already know in the here-and-now.
Later on, Hoffmannn underscores the point that this kind of erasure can—and does—turn murderous. The storms of adolescence sometimes capsize even the tightest of little boats, after all, but... shouldn't we try even harder to save those among our children who struggle most with normativity?
This does not seem especially controversial, at least to me. Nor, I suspect, to Hoffmann. But it's one of the hinges upon which Ignore All Previous Instructions hangs...
*
As other reviewers have already noted, Ignore All Previous Instructions gets substantially better as it goes along—and this is (also, and absolutely) a good thing.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
If companies like Anthropic and OpenAI get their way, generative AI will run rampant while being controlled by megacorps who care little for human creativity. This is the future on display in Ignore All Previous Instructions, and I don’t like it—the future, that is. I liked the book! Ada Hoffmann uses their background in computer science and computer poetry to explore a contemporary issue through a futuristic lens. I enjoyed the many layers of this story: a heist, friends reunited, a parable about LLMs, a story of life on a colony of the human diaspora, and of course, a story of an autistic protagonist. Some of these layers are more sophisticated and satisfying than others. I received an eARC from NetGalley and Tachyon Publications.
Kelli Reynolds is a script supervisor for a company that owns the copyright to all the media in the Jovian system of moons. Her job is to review and tweak AI-generated scripts for AI-generated entertainment. It’s squeaky clean and sanitized. However, Kelli finds the job fulfilling. Autistic and introverted, Kelli splits her time between her quiet home and her quiet office. When her ex, Rowan, flounces back into her life asking for a suspiciously easy-to-grant favour, Kelli’s entire life is upended. She’s catapulted into an adventure closer to the life of her pirate OC than her own.
The story alternates between adult Kelli, counting up the days since her reunion with Rowan and their ill-fated trip from Callisto to Io, and younger versions of Kelli and Rowan. These latter chapters provide essential backstory for both characters, from the inception of their friendship on the playground to their romantic entanglement, breakup, and Rowan’s coming out as trans. They also provide a deeper glimpse into the sinister, hollowed-out society of Callisto and the other Jovian moons. Everything is deeply impersonal, with LLM-powered robots taking the place of a lot of human interaction.
I have to be honest: I didn’t really care for the flashback chapters. The only part of them I enjoyed was that we got a glimpse into younger Rowan’s mind, whereas the present-day chapters are purely limited to Kelli’s perspective. Otherwise, I found the flashback chapters really killed the pacing of an already languorous plot (the main story takes place essentially over a weekend).
That main plot is more interesting, and I’m not just saying that because I am biased in favour of heists! Hoffmann creates a very compelling dilemma for Kelli; I love the setup that compels her to go along with the crime. Similarly, the actual break-in and theft are tense and well done, as is the aftermath. Most heist stories are, understandably, told from the perspective of experienced, even cocky thiefs. In this case, however, Kelli is as green as they come: despite her piratical persona, she is no good as a thief in real life, and it shows.
Yet as the title of the book implies, the most poignant underlying theme is one that touches on questions of humanity, artistic licence, and the soul of creativity. It’s here that Ignore All Previous Instructions both sizzles and fizzles.
The sizzle: I love how completely Hoffmann sketches this dystopia, how believable it is given the rhetoric we are currently seeing around LLMs. Everything they have done here feels rooted in possibilities established now, in 2026, just extended into a Jovian future. On top of the LLM commentary, they’ve layered commentary around queer freedom, on the treatment of autistic people, and so on. It’s an intricate and thoughtful take that I suspect will resonate with many readers.
The fizzle: the central conceit, while enticing, is too simplistic. Megacorp monopoly on all entertainment sounds great on paper (hi, Disney), yet when you actually put it on paper, you run into a few problems. One is the facelessness of the antagonist. The closest thing we have to a representative of the megacorp, other than Kelli herself, is her superior, Baz—and ironically, he is one of the most human and relatable characters. I suspect this isn’t an oversight; rather, Hoffmann is trying to make the point that this megacorp is LLMs nearly all the way down. It’s as if society is being run by phone menus. Nevertheless, as much as I appreciate the careful explanation of LLMs and then the gentle unspooling of why they are problematic/easily hacked/lacking in creative flair, I wish there were more to this part of the story.
In particular, Hoffmann dances around the actual question of storytelling with AI. They explore it mostly in relation to Kelli, whose natural storytelling abilities are subsumed by her teachers into an AI-sanctioned playground, albeit with the occasional pirate stories (in both senses of the word) with Rowan and Elaine. Rowan and Kelli have occasional debates about AI-generated versus human-generated art. I’m intrigued by and sympathetic to the portrayal of Kelli as a kind of collaborator, someone who started off very radical before eventually “growing up” into someone who upholds the system. Despite all of this, however, Hoffmann never actually explores whether the limitations of the AI-generated scripts are a result of megacorp moralizing or a fundamental limitation of LLMs producing slop. The implication seems to be it’s both—and I actually agree with this, philosophically, but I think the novel muddles these factors.
So, I liked Ignore All Previous Instructions and found it interesting, thoughtful, and engaging. It’s a good attempt. But it doesn’t quite swing big enough for me, and some of stylistic choices, like the pacing, didn’t work for me. This will definitely be a “your mileage may vary” book.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
Kelli Reynolds is a script supervisor for a company that owns the copyright to all the media in the Jovian system of moons. Her job is to review and tweak AI-generated scripts for AI-generated entertainment. It’s squeaky clean and sanitized. However, Kelli finds the job fulfilling. Autistic and introverted, Kelli splits her time between her quiet home and her quiet office. When her ex, Rowan, flounces back into her life asking for a suspiciously easy-to-grant favour, Kelli’s entire life is upended. She’s catapulted into an adventure closer to the life of her pirate OC than her own.
The story alternates between adult Kelli, counting up the days since her reunion with Rowan and their ill-fated trip from Callisto to Io, and younger versions of Kelli and Rowan. These latter chapters provide essential backstory for both characters, from the inception of their friendship on the playground to their romantic entanglement, breakup, and Rowan’s coming out as trans. They also provide a deeper glimpse into the sinister, hollowed-out society of Callisto and the other Jovian moons. Everything is deeply impersonal, with LLM-powered robots taking the place of a lot of human interaction.
I have to be honest: I didn’t really care for the flashback chapters. The only part of them I enjoyed was that we got a glimpse into younger Rowan’s mind, whereas the present-day chapters are purely limited to Kelli’s perspective. Otherwise, I found the flashback chapters really killed the pacing of an already languorous plot (the main story takes place essentially over a weekend).
That main plot is more interesting, and I’m not just saying that because I am biased in favour of heists! Hoffmann creates a very compelling dilemma for Kelli; I love the setup that compels her to go along with the crime. Similarly, the actual break-in and theft are tense and well done, as is the aftermath. Most heist stories are, understandably, told from the perspective of experienced, even cocky thiefs. In this case, however, Kelli is as green as they come: despite her piratical persona, she is no good as a thief in real life, and it shows.
Yet as the title of the book implies, the most poignant underlying theme is one that touches on questions of humanity, artistic licence, and the soul of creativity. It’s here that Ignore All Previous Instructions both sizzles and fizzles.
The sizzle: I love how completely Hoffmann sketches this dystopia, how believable it is given the rhetoric we are currently seeing around LLMs. Everything they have done here feels rooted in possibilities established now, in 2026, just extended into a Jovian future. On top of the LLM commentary, they’ve layered commentary around queer freedom, on the treatment of autistic people, and so on. It’s an intricate and thoughtful take that I suspect will resonate with many readers.
The fizzle: the central conceit, while enticing, is too simplistic. Megacorp monopoly on all entertainment sounds great on paper (hi, Disney), yet when you actually put it on paper, you run into a few problems. One is the facelessness of the antagonist. The closest thing we have to a representative of the megacorp, other than Kelli herself, is her superior, Baz—and ironically, he is one of the most human and relatable characters. I suspect this isn’t an oversight; rather, Hoffmann is trying to make the point that this megacorp is LLMs nearly all the way down. It’s as if society is being run by phone menus. Nevertheless, as much as I appreciate the careful explanation of LLMs and then the gentle unspooling of why they are problematic/easily hacked/lacking in creative flair, I wish there were more to this part of the story.
In particular, Hoffmann dances around the actual question of storytelling with AI. They explore it mostly in relation to Kelli, whose natural storytelling abilities are subsumed by her teachers into an AI-sanctioned playground, albeit with the occasional pirate stories (in both senses of the word) with Rowan and Elaine. Rowan and Kelli have occasional debates about AI-generated versus human-generated art. I’m intrigued by and sympathetic to the portrayal of Kelli as a kind of collaborator, someone who started off very radical before eventually “growing up” into someone who upholds the system. Despite all of this, however, Hoffmann never actually explores whether the limitations of the AI-generated scripts are a result of megacorp moralizing or a fundamental limitation of LLMs producing slop. The implication seems to be it’s both—and I actually agree with this, philosophically, but I think the novel muddles these factors.
So, I liked Ignore All Previous Instructions and found it interesting, thoughtful, and engaging. It’s a good attempt. But it doesn’t quite swing big enough for me, and some of stylistic choices, like the pacing, didn’t work for me. This will definitely be a “your mileage may vary” book.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
December 4, 2025
I'll be honest, the title is what sold me to this book. I ~ love ~ the concept of jailbreaking models. I have a lot of Big Feelings about AI (even with all of the fiction/sci fi I consume where AI is central to the plot in a neutral presentation), but this one got me thinking more deeply about how bias can lead to censorship/erasure as a step beyond creative freedom. Overall? Speculative fiction that feels both cozy and high stakes? I love the vibe. I appreciated the dual timeline and the completeness of our characters here. The biggest draw back for me was that it definitely felt like YA at times and I wanted a little more punchiness.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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January 4, 2026Find me elsewhere: My Patreon | My Bluesky account
Read for blurbing and absolutely loved it. I'll do my best to put my blurb here once it's public :)
____
Source of the book: Print ARC from publisher
Read for blurbing and absolutely loved it. I'll do my best to put my blurb here once it's public :)
____
Source of the book: Print ARC from publisher
July 30, 2026
Ada Hoffmann did an incredible job while writing this book. I have so many thoughts and notes, which means how immersed I was in it. The story introduces Kelli, who's autistic and works for the AI company Inspiration, where she "writes" a story using ScriptGen - which is a common practice on Callisto (one of Jupiter's moons), as the company runs all of the moons and their system - everything is connected to AI. Some of the descriptions of the practices and how life looks there are so dystopian, yet it feels like that's where we're heading on Earth right now.
All of the information available on the Inspiration data facilities is taken from all languages from Earth (stories, mythologies, poetry, etc.), put in a data centre on Earth, and the workers, including Kelli, can just access their work and "write" stories. In reality, they are just 'prompt managers' - their job is to get outlines generated by Inspiration's algorithm and create a story: "it took into account the plot beats of previous episodes, their position in the season, their viewership numbers, sentiment analyses from the fan feeds, the desires expressed by fans in their democratic polls, and the underlying company mission statement; then spat out the best possible idea for next episode." (5%) This feels so dystopian, yet AI-generated stories are not that crazy anymore - just look at TikTok and their 'fruit drama series'. Whole stories are based on stereotypes and unethical comments (racist remarks, cheating, and sexual exploitation of women) spread across the Internet, from where GenAI models get their "inspirations". That is why, we get hundrets of videos with the same plot, just different fruits.
Another quite important part of the story is the Kelli-Rowan relationship and flashbacks to times when Rowan was Am, a girl. Rowan is an ex of Kelli's; before he transitioned, he was Kelli's best friend and girlfriend when they were 14 - now they're 24. The LGBTQ+ politics in the Jovian system vary between the moons - on Callisto, lesbian relationships are allowed but have to be outside of the public eye, but transitioning is illegal as "Basic Healthcare wouldn't pay for it because it wasn't, well, basic; and the hormones involved, especially for trans men, were a controlled substance." (6%) Thus, Rowan's transition was illegal, and his drugs were supplied by dealers. What is important to mention is that most of the population on Callisto doesn't work - they live in Basic Housing and have access to Basic Healthcare as they are the "Basic Income" class. Kelli grew up in the Basic Income neighbourhood, and while she was growing up, trying to learn how to deal with being autistic, her therapist was an AI-powered robot who always spat out the same "tips" for Kelli - for example "say hello and introduce yourself" was the most common one, when Kelli said that she was struggling with making friends.
As all media is controlled by Inspiration, and the language models, there are only appropriate texts available, there are no occult texts, political texts, and, of course, porn. This goes for both literature and visual media, and those are never done with actors. Rowan's job is to smuggle media; it is something that we learn he's been doing from a young age. That's how he (with the help of his cousin) and Kelli got LGBTQ+ texts when they were younger to learn about lesbians. What stood out to me was a sentence with which I actually somehow agree: "In the old days, actors had been mercilessly exploited, forced to do everything on camera. (...) All the actors had ended up with substance addictions and eating disorders, and even post-traumatic stress. AI animation models were more humane: and with today's technology, appropriately supervised, nobody could even tell the difference." (16%) This is not completly false, many actors, espcially actors from the early 2000s have struggled with variety of problems; thus, AI animations can be seen as humane - at least in this point of view, with surely, a lot of propaganda. More so, Kelli says that AdventureVerse shows (created by Inspiration) "never lingered so long on a mundane scene like this, without anybody talking or fighting or explaining what was going on." (16%) If you think about it, this is literally what can be seen in those AI fruit dramas, and even more with movies and shows on streaming platforms. Actors constantly have a dialogue, or even say what they're currently doing just so that the viewers can do different stuff, such as scrolling on their phone, while watching the show, just to make sure the viewer will not be lost. This definitely has an impact on our attention span and our thinking process.
What I think suits the best as a warning before using GenAI is this quote: "Inspiration imagines a mind like that ... and then it cuts almost everything back out. It's not just because they have policies against queer people and sex and violence. (...) It's actually inherent in the structure of the language model. Taking the most likely continuation of any set of words - the cliché, the things everyone will agree with - and then trying to make a story out of just those things. Think about your mind again, and think about everything in it that doesn't match that baseline, universal response. Everything that makes you, you. Inspiration won't put that in a story. It literally can't." (32%) Come to think about it, this is where our world might be heading. Even in those AI fruit stories - they are based on many stereotypes, often having straight relationships and lots of racist undertones. Most of us proabably do not agree with what is shown in these videos, but one day our minds might be 'fried' to this level that we will no longer disagree with what we're seeing. More and more people view AI as something funny, creative, or even romantic - that is DYSTOPIAN.
Ada Hoffmann did their PhD focusing on teaching computers to write poetry; thus, this book is highly accurate and very well researched. If you're able to read this book - even if you don't like Sci-Fi - please read it, you will enjoy it. Trust me.
All of the information available on the Inspiration data facilities is taken from all languages from Earth (stories, mythologies, poetry, etc.), put in a data centre on Earth, and the workers, including Kelli, can just access their work and "write" stories. In reality, they are just 'prompt managers' - their job is to get outlines generated by Inspiration's algorithm and create a story: "it took into account the plot beats of previous episodes, their position in the season, their viewership numbers, sentiment analyses from the fan feeds, the desires expressed by fans in their democratic polls, and the underlying company mission statement; then spat out the best possible idea for next episode." (5%) This feels so dystopian, yet AI-generated stories are not that crazy anymore - just look at TikTok and their 'fruit drama series'. Whole stories are based on stereotypes and unethical comments (racist remarks, cheating, and sexual exploitation of women) spread across the Internet, from where GenAI models get their "inspirations". That is why, we get hundrets of videos with the same plot, just different fruits.
Another quite important part of the story is the Kelli-Rowan relationship and flashbacks to times when Rowan was Am, a girl. Rowan is an ex of Kelli's; before he transitioned, he was Kelli's best friend and girlfriend when they were 14 - now they're 24. The LGBTQ+ politics in the Jovian system vary between the moons - on Callisto, lesbian relationships are allowed but have to be outside of the public eye, but transitioning is illegal as "Basic Healthcare wouldn't pay for it because it wasn't, well, basic; and the hormones involved, especially for trans men, were a controlled substance." (6%) Thus, Rowan's transition was illegal, and his drugs were supplied by dealers. What is important to mention is that most of the population on Callisto doesn't work - they live in Basic Housing and have access to Basic Healthcare as they are the "Basic Income" class. Kelli grew up in the Basic Income neighbourhood, and while she was growing up, trying to learn how to deal with being autistic, her therapist was an AI-powered robot who always spat out the same "tips" for Kelli - for example "say hello and introduce yourself" was the most common one, when Kelli said that she was struggling with making friends.
As all media is controlled by Inspiration, and the language models, there are only appropriate texts available, there are no occult texts, political texts, and, of course, porn. This goes for both literature and visual media, and those are never done with actors. Rowan's job is to smuggle media; it is something that we learn he's been doing from a young age. That's how he (with the help of his cousin) and Kelli got LGBTQ+ texts when they were younger to learn about lesbians. What stood out to me was a sentence with which I actually somehow agree: "In the old days, actors had been mercilessly exploited, forced to do everything on camera. (...) All the actors had ended up with substance addictions and eating disorders, and even post-traumatic stress. AI animation models were more humane: and with today's technology, appropriately supervised, nobody could even tell the difference." (16%) This is not completly false, many actors, espcially actors from the early 2000s have struggled with variety of problems; thus, AI animations can be seen as humane - at least in this point of view, with surely, a lot of propaganda. More so, Kelli says that AdventureVerse shows (created by Inspiration) "never lingered so long on a mundane scene like this, without anybody talking or fighting or explaining what was going on." (16%) If you think about it, this is literally what can be seen in those AI fruit dramas, and even more with movies and shows on streaming platforms. Actors constantly have a dialogue, or even say what they're currently doing just so that the viewers can do different stuff, such as scrolling on their phone, while watching the show, just to make sure the viewer will not be lost. This definitely has an impact on our attention span and our thinking process.
What I think suits the best as a warning before using GenAI is this quote: "Inspiration imagines a mind like that ... and then it cuts almost everything back out. It's not just because they have policies against queer people and sex and violence. (...) It's actually inherent in the structure of the language model. Taking the most likely continuation of any set of words - the cliché, the things everyone will agree with - and then trying to make a story out of just those things. Think about your mind again, and think about everything in it that doesn't match that baseline, universal response. Everything that makes you, you. Inspiration won't put that in a story. It literally can't." (32%) Come to think about it, this is where our world might be heading. Even in those AI fruit stories - they are based on many stereotypes, often having straight relationships and lots of racist undertones. Most of us proabably do not agree with what is shown in these videos, but one day our minds might be 'fried' to this level that we will no longer disagree with what we're seeing. More and more people view AI as something funny, creative, or even romantic - that is DYSTOPIAN.
Ada Hoffmann did their PhD focusing on teaching computers to write poetry; thus, this book is highly accurate and very well researched. If you're able to read this book - even if you don't like Sci-Fi - please read it, you will enjoy it. Trust me.
May 26, 2026
Ada Hoffman's Ignore All Previous Instructions is a genuinely fun read that also has substance. The novel is set in what might be our solar system in another century or so, with Earth devastated and human colonies on a number of moons of outer planets. Individual colonies belong to particular corporations and/or crime bosses, so the novel presents a kind of billionaire's capitalist wet dream.
If you're on a corporate colony, everything on that colony is controlled by the corporation, including story. Media is produced via AI, with a small bit of human suggesting involved now and then. And media is intended to be utterly uncontroversial—the kind of stuff that people can absorb all day long without thinking about the world outside their own doors or without thinking at all.
One of the controversial elements to be avoided/denied/repressed is anything falling on the spectrum of queer identity and gender beyond binaries. Our central character, Kelli, is a closeted lesbian "writer": she makes suggestions to the AI that really controls the creative process; she doesn't write anything herself. When she's unexpectedly contacted by a childhood friend who has transitioned genders and become a space pirate, her life begins to change rapidly, and she finds herself doing things she never would have considered previously.
So we have dystopia, corporations, crime bosses, a lesbian, a trans man, a series of daring heists—and a genuine moral core to our story. Because Kelli has worked hard her entire life to become a "writer" and is obsessively careful (self-protective, really) about not breaking rules, even though she did break some rules she was younger. The moral dilemma is how one decides what right and wrong are when one can no longer trust the corporations' rules for living.
This book will keep you entertained while simultaneously requiring that a) you consider the human future and b) how to make ethical choices once you accepted that you can't play by the rules, but must decide on your own what is "right" and what is Right.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss+; the opinions are my own.
If you're on a corporate colony, everything on that colony is controlled by the corporation, including story. Media is produced via AI, with a small bit of human suggesting involved now and then. And media is intended to be utterly uncontroversial—the kind of stuff that people can absorb all day long without thinking about the world outside their own doors or without thinking at all.
One of the controversial elements to be avoided/denied/repressed is anything falling on the spectrum of queer identity and gender beyond binaries. Our central character, Kelli, is a closeted lesbian "writer": she makes suggestions to the AI that really controls the creative process; she doesn't write anything herself. When she's unexpectedly contacted by a childhood friend who has transitioned genders and become a space pirate, her life begins to change rapidly, and she finds herself doing things she never would have considered previously.
So we have dystopia, corporations, crime bosses, a lesbian, a trans man, a series of daring heists—and a genuine moral core to our story. Because Kelli has worked hard her entire life to become a "writer" and is obsessively careful (self-protective, really) about not breaking rules, even though she did break some rules she was younger. The moral dilemma is how one decides what right and wrong are when one can no longer trust the corporations' rules for living.
This book will keep you entertained while simultaneously requiring that a) you consider the human future and b) how to make ethical choices once you accepted that you can't play by the rules, but must decide on your own what is "right" and what is Right.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss+; the opinions are my own.
October 23, 2026
A solid three stars.
I wanted to like this book better than I did. It's set in a future that brilliantly reflects a lot of issues of our times: The tension between creating stories all by oneself versus with the help of AI; humanity spread throughout the solar system a lá a Bezos or Musk dream; the struggles of growing up queer in a society that still refuses to accept it. Kelli and Rowan, the two main characters, are both interesting and layered. The heist plot, when it finally got going, was clever and gripping.
But ... the pacing was too slow for me. Flashbacks to Rowan and Kelli's childhood together started getting inserted before I felt like I knew either of the well enough to care about their backstory; I barely cared about their present story yet. And the flashbacks kept showing up after every one to two present-day chapters, so whatever is happening, no matter how engaging, gets interrupted. I tried skimming them to maintain the flow and energy, but I kept worrying that I would miss something that actually mattered, so it didn't help as much as I hoped.
Because of that lack of flow, it was a really slow read. I was shocked at how few pages I got through each day, due to losing momentum over and over. I may reread this in the future, but I think I would reread it as two books: all the present-day chapters in a row, then all the flashbacks in a row.
This has great worldbuilding and really interesting ideas in it, so my three stars are very enthusiastic about that. I really admire the author for creating this story and making it feel real while keeping track of a lot of threads. But the way the book is put together just wasn't for me.
I wanted to like this book better than I did. It's set in a future that brilliantly reflects a lot of issues of our times: The tension between creating stories all by oneself versus with the help of AI; humanity spread throughout the solar system a lá a Bezos or Musk dream; the struggles of growing up queer in a society that still refuses to accept it. Kelli and Rowan, the two main characters, are both interesting and layered. The heist plot, when it finally got going, was clever and gripping.
But ... the pacing was too slow for me. Flashbacks to Rowan and Kelli's childhood together started getting inserted before I felt like I knew either of the well enough to care about their backstory; I barely cared about their present story yet. And the flashbacks kept showing up after every one to two present-day chapters, so whatever is happening, no matter how engaging, gets interrupted. I tried skimming them to maintain the flow and energy, but I kept worrying that I would miss something that actually mattered, so it didn't help as much as I hoped.
Because of that lack of flow, it was a really slow read. I was shocked at how few pages I got through each day, due to losing momentum over and over. I may reread this in the future, but I think I would reread it as two books: all the present-day chapters in a row, then all the flashbacks in a row.
This has great worldbuilding and really interesting ideas in it, so my three stars are very enthusiastic about that. I really admire the author for creating this story and making it feel real while keeping track of a lot of threads. But the way the book is put together just wasn't for me.
August 20, 2026
This book is about stories and about creativity, which is largely suppressed by a corporate monopoly on the moons of Jupiter, where it takes place. The main character, Kelli, has significant autism. She has always largely related to the world via stories, and now has a job editing AI-produced serials
The book alternates between the present and Kelli's school days. I prefer books with just one timeline, and the book starts out slow; not much action in either timeline, so I didn't get hooked until about halfway in. From there, I loved it.
Kelli is happy with her life working with stories. Jobs are scarce, and she can live in a nice apartment and not have to be in Basic, where she grew up. She doesn't care that she has no friends; life is better when everything is predictable. Then, her school sweetheart Rowan shows up with a request that sounds (and turns out to be) risky. She keeps herself functional by deciding what her favorite character that she writes, the pirate Orlando, would do in a similar situation.
The book is very queer, in a culture where queerness is underground, probably not persecuted as long as it stays there. Another theme is naivety. I loved how the author pulled the various people, timelines, and themes together.
The book alternates between the present and Kelli's school days. I prefer books with just one timeline, and the book starts out slow; not much action in either timeline, so I didn't get hooked until about halfway in. From there, I loved it.
Kelli is happy with her life working with stories. Jobs are scarce, and she can live in a nice apartment and not have to be in Basic, where she grew up. She doesn't care that she has no friends; life is better when everything is predictable. Then, her school sweetheart Rowan shows up with a request that sounds (and turns out to be) risky. She keeps herself functional by deciding what her favorite character that she writes, the pirate Orlando, would do in a similar situation.
The book is very queer, in a culture where queerness is underground, probably not persecuted as long as it stays there. Another theme is naivety. I loved how the author pulled the various people, timelines, and themes together.
August 11, 2026
4.5 Rounded up. The only thing I'm really taking the half star away from is cuz this ended too soon for me and is a standalone cuz I wanna see this relationship repair itself more than what we got at the end. I loved the dual timelines so we could see the journey for both characters as they were kids/teens and then back to adults. It was a wonderful way to bridge the story. I was so invested in these characters and extremely relatable especially on the autism representation. Extremely authentic and a worthy read.
April 6, 2026
Thank you to the publisher for a gifted ARC to review!
Read if you like:
-Space colony and planet-hopping adventure
-Creative impacts of AI and corporate oversight
-Found family
-Queer resistance
-Autism and trans rep
“Was there a story that could hold people like her and Rowan in it, that could tell the whole truth of them and even the truth of the fire, and still deliver them at the end to a kind of happiness? If there was, Kelli didn't know what it would look like. She had never seen a story like that in her life.”
When I read the synopsis for this book, I knew it was made for me. A queer, autistic, rule-abiding young woman who works for an AI media conglomerate goes on an interplanetary adventure with her ex, who smuggles illegal creative media as part of a queer resistance network? Sign me up! I am thrilled that my enthusiasm paid off.
I had so much fun with this story. Well, fun may not be the right word—there are parts of this novel that were unexpectedly dark and intense (big TW for ). But on the whole, IGNORE ALL PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS was extremely tender and engaging. The pace moved quickly, the stakes felt high, and I was eager to see how the danger the MCs were in would unfold.
I think Hoffmann did an excellent job weaving several important themes throughout the story: corporate control, AI dominating creative fields, censorship, queer exploration, transphobia, neurodivergence. Though they’re distinct, the author shows how they’re all interconnected (in the worst ways).
Inspiration, the corporation our FMC Kelli works for, has purchased the rights to all IP in the universe and created AI “storytelling” software designed to produce the most censored, palatable nonsense that placates the masses but doesn’t encourage rebellion. This includes squashing queer stories—especially trans ones—which is supported by a “behind closed doors” tolerance of queer expression and a ban on hormones and other medical care needed to transition. This AI is also responsible for Kelli’s traumatic upbringing as an autistic woman as she’s taught to mask and repress her needs, rather than live authentically. When her ex, Rowan, shows up and reveals that he is A) trans and B) a smuggler of “inappropriate” (read: authentically queer and often smutty) media, Kelli learns the importance of real representation and struggles to re-acquaint herself with an identity that’s been suppressed for years.
I felt particularly seen by Kelli’s character. Her level of autism appears similar to mine, and her symptoms felt authentic to my experience. She’s independent and successful enough to be one of only 10% of the population with a “real” job—in fact, her autism is a benefit in her Inspiration editor role, not a hindrance. But in day-to-day life, she experiences sensory overwhelm, she masks as a default, she’s constantly torn between the rules and her desires, she’s easy to lie to and prone to deception, and she melts down in “ugly” ways when everything gets to be too much. I really appreciated the way she was portrayed with both the unsavory and strong pieces of her on display from start to end.
My main pieces of criticism is that the story timeline was a little hard to follow at times. It jumps between present and flashbacks, but they’re not completely linear. I think the order of these timelines and the introduction of some ideas (like Kelli’s autism minder robot/Rowan’s hacking) could have been tweaked slightly to make it a little easier to follow. I also would have liked the side characters to be a little more fleshed out—in writing this review, I really can’t remember much of anything about them or why they were important, aside from saving the MCs in a few instances to push the plot along.
I don’t know if this book will hit as strongly for everyone since its representation is pretty specific, but it was absolutely for me. It’s extremely timely with the rise of AI in creative fields, attacks on the trans community and persistent ableism. I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in exploring those ideas.
Read if you like:
-Space colony and planet-hopping adventure
-Creative impacts of AI and corporate oversight
-Found family
-Queer resistance
-Autism and trans rep
“Was there a story that could hold people like her and Rowan in it, that could tell the whole truth of them and even the truth of the fire, and still deliver them at the end to a kind of happiness? If there was, Kelli didn't know what it would look like. She had never seen a story like that in her life.”
When I read the synopsis for this book, I knew it was made for me. A queer, autistic, rule-abiding young woman who works for an AI media conglomerate goes on an interplanetary adventure with her ex, who smuggles illegal creative media as part of a queer resistance network? Sign me up! I am thrilled that my enthusiasm paid off.
I had so much fun with this story. Well, fun may not be the right word—there are parts of this novel that were unexpectedly dark and intense (big TW for ). But on the whole, IGNORE ALL PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS was extremely tender and engaging. The pace moved quickly, the stakes felt high, and I was eager to see how the danger the MCs were in would unfold.
I think Hoffmann did an excellent job weaving several important themes throughout the story: corporate control, AI dominating creative fields, censorship, queer exploration, transphobia, neurodivergence. Though they’re distinct, the author shows how they’re all interconnected (in the worst ways).
Inspiration, the corporation our FMC Kelli works for, has purchased the rights to all IP in the universe and created AI “storytelling” software designed to produce the most censored, palatable nonsense that placates the masses but doesn’t encourage rebellion. This includes squashing queer stories—especially trans ones—which is supported by a “behind closed doors” tolerance of queer expression and a ban on hormones and other medical care needed to transition. This AI is also responsible for Kelli’s traumatic upbringing as an autistic woman as she’s taught to mask and repress her needs, rather than live authentically. When her ex, Rowan, shows up and reveals that he is A) trans and B) a smuggler of “inappropriate” (read: authentically queer and often smutty) media, Kelli learns the importance of real representation and struggles to re-acquaint herself with an identity that’s been suppressed for years.
I felt particularly seen by Kelli’s character. Her level of autism appears similar to mine, and her symptoms felt authentic to my experience. She’s independent and successful enough to be one of only 10% of the population with a “real” job—in fact, her autism is a benefit in her Inspiration editor role, not a hindrance. But in day-to-day life, she experiences sensory overwhelm, she masks as a default, she’s constantly torn between the rules and her desires, she’s easy to lie to and prone to deception, and she melts down in “ugly” ways when everything gets to be too much. I really appreciated the way she was portrayed with both the unsavory and strong pieces of her on display from start to end.
My main pieces of criticism is that the story timeline was a little hard to follow at times. It jumps between present and flashbacks, but they’re not completely linear. I think the order of these timelines and the introduction of some ideas (like Kelli’s autism minder robot/Rowan’s hacking) could have been tweaked slightly to make it a little easier to follow. I also would have liked the side characters to be a little more fleshed out—in writing this review, I really can’t remember much of anything about them or why they were important, aside from saving the MCs in a few instances to push the plot along.
I don’t know if this book will hit as strongly for everyone since its representation is pretty specific, but it was absolutely for me. It’s extremely timely with the rise of AI in creative fields, attacks on the trans community and persistent ableism. I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in exploring those ideas.
July 3, 2026
In a solar system where all narrative is controlled by a single LLM-obsessed corporation, the only way to break free is to be gay and do crimes. Choose the crimes carefully, though.
June 25, 2026
Unbelievably perfect. This book deserves to be read for its representation, the silliness of its plot, and for its decision to make AI companies the ultimate villains of the story, even when there's an actual captain-hook-esqe-bad-guy-on-a-power-trip kind of villian right there to play the role for a while.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for providing this ARC!
4 stars. Ignore All Previous Instructions is so evidently a labour of love.
My favourite thing about this story is the way it’s told.
The main plot is told using the point-of-view of the main character as she finds herself wrapped up in an intergalactic heist with an ex she hasn’t seen in ten years. But woven into the story are flashbacks of said ex’s perspective as they both grew up together, and then an inside look into her mind using second person when she prompts herself as her imagined character Orlando.
I found that this format gave the novel so much dimension and really made it feel so immersive.
I loved that through all these perspectives, the reader really gets to know the main character and understand her in an intimate way. Which is why I’m probably so willing to move past the fact that the actual heist was not as action-packed or eventful as I had initially hoped it would be. With how much I enjoyed the storytelling, I really don’t mind.
If anything, I went into this novel because of the premise of a space-heist, but I latched onto the effort the author put into showcasing neurodivergence in a complex way, advocating for self-expression, creativity, and the freedom and safety to be who we are meant to be through art and media.
Additionally, the focus on mental health was also especially touching to me.
And although there were parts of the book I may not have enjoyed as much or wished were done differently, the experience of reading this story and the feelings that emerged afterwards were worth it.
(Bonus points for the author’s comments and discussion questions at the end of the book!)
4 stars. Ignore All Previous Instructions is so evidently a labour of love.
My favourite thing about this story is the way it’s told.
The main plot is told using the point-of-view of the main character as she finds herself wrapped up in an intergalactic heist with an ex she hasn’t seen in ten years. But woven into the story are flashbacks of said ex’s perspective as they both grew up together, and then an inside look into her mind using second person when she prompts herself as her imagined character Orlando.
I found that this format gave the novel so much dimension and really made it feel so immersive.
I loved that through all these perspectives, the reader really gets to know the main character and understand her in an intimate way. Which is why I’m probably so willing to move past the fact that the actual heist was not as action-packed or eventful as I had initially hoped it would be. With how much I enjoyed the storytelling, I really don’t mind.
If anything, I went into this novel because of the premise of a space-heist, but I latched onto the effort the author put into showcasing neurodivergence in a complex way, advocating for self-expression, creativity, and the freedom and safety to be who we are meant to be through art and media.
Additionally, the focus on mental health was also especially touching to me.
And although there were parts of the book I may not have enjoyed as much or wished were done differently, the experience of reading this story and the feelings that emerged afterwards were worth it.
(Bonus points for the author’s comments and discussion questions at the end of the book!)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 23, 2026
This book has a lot to say and a lot it wants to impart, and the fact that Hoffman manages to convey it all as well as she does, along with some liner notes in the back for some things that people might think feel familiar but they're not sure from where, is genuinely impressive. I read and loved Hoffman's short story collection within the last few years, but this is honestly a hell of a novel, and has so much to say about the censorship of queer portrayals, the actual goals of AI, and how maybe it just fucking isn't worth it to mask. There's also some exquisite use of the second person pov, which I am a sucker for, and there may have been a few times where I stepped away from the book for a few days because I identified so much with what Kelli was feeling (yay recent mid 30s ASD diagnosis!). This comes out in May, preorder it the next time the Barnes and Noble presales come along. Also, A++ usage of Virginia Woolf references with Orlando, ngl.
June 27, 2026
This gets 1 bonus star from me because this, dispite the summary, was not my genre, and that's okay.
This is mostly easily decribed as a YA romance that just happens to be set in space. And, while, yes there technically is a heist, and yes, that centers around a capitalistic AI mega-corporation that the main characters are trying (kinda?) to take down, this is not an action-filled Scfi.
Good yet surface-level exportation of the potential societial impacts of genAI, and was empathy-building for me to see more intimately the lived experiences of both people with autism and of queer and gender queer people.
The writing was just so, so poorly executed. I nearly DNF'd multiple times. I do not recommend unless you are a romance reader.
This is mostly easily decribed as a YA romance that just happens to be set in space. And, while, yes there technically is a heist, and yes, that centers around a capitalistic AI mega-corporation that the main characters are trying (kinda?) to take down, this is not an action-filled Scfi.
Good yet surface-level exportation of the potential societial impacts of genAI, and was empathy-building for me to see more intimately the lived experiences of both people with autism and of queer and gender queer people.
The writing was just so, so poorly executed. I nearly DNF'd multiple times. I do not recommend unless you are a romance reader.
Want to Read
December 25, 2025new book from the author of my favourite scifi trilogy?! thank you 2026
June 15, 2026
there’s a lot of heaviness in this book: we’re in a universe where a single company owns a lot of planets and has eroded a lot of what humans human with AI—all stories have to be written by AI, therapists (for poor ppl) are AI, people don’t have to work… except they do actually do some work but it’s not paid (everyone gets basic housing, income, and food) so you don’t feel like you contribute much and you spend most of your day watching the bland cartoonish tv shows the company creates—and there’s also a major plotline about (spoilers, but this is imo a very necessary content warning for anyone who’d be interested in reading this book) a young trans kid committing suicide. so yeah. really hard stuff.
but there’s also a lot of joy and light. of course, there are more human settlements then the ones controlled by the company. queer people, who can only exist in private in the repressive society, still do exist and create content which is sent around on the black market. a heist is pulled off to get a sixteen year old girl full control of her fictional crush.
what really made me love this book, besides the incredibly topical and gut wrenching allegory (is it even an allegory???) about where AI and anti-queer sentiments/laws/“progress” are taking us, was the two main characters. as someone who doesn’t normally love flashbacks, this book made me love flashbacks.
kelly, autistic lesbian, lover of pirate story writing, is a really complex character with great internal dialogue and a strong sense of herself, even as she changes throughout the book. brilliant autism rep, though i wouldn’t expect less from hoffmann, and a great job of making her experiences so integral to the story and plot.
but rohan. god i loved him. we get his pov, kinda uniquely, as a child, before he transitions (tho we do see him think about trans stuff/show inclinations v young. also GOD the reason why he chose his name!!!! ugh i love him). his care and love for kelly, seeing him move towards the path he takes, the child’s view of the world which is simple and complex and lovely. i love their relationship as children, the way they were always drawn to each other and embedded in each other and meant the world to each other. and then to be estranged as adults but he still talks about her to everyone…… she’s the one who got away…….
lovely, sweet relationship between two great characters (also an autism adhd ship which i’ve never read and not enjoyed). really interesting dystopian sci fi world, with hope and queerness and stories and just so fricken topical. i listened and enjoyed the audiobook a lot, for some reason minuteman library owns 79 copies of this one and no one had it checked out😭😭😭😭. def a hard book to read at moments but never in the way that i didn’t want to keep listening. this one drew me in and i could have done it in one sitting if not for things like sleep and friendship…. anyways, def recommend if you have strong feelings about AI and like a good childhood friends to lovers to estranged to lovers!!! (the romance in the present is v much at the end tho. it’s not a romcom, but the whole thing is deeply romantic)
but there’s also a lot of joy and light. of course, there are more human settlements then the ones controlled by the company. queer people, who can only exist in private in the repressive society, still do exist and create content which is sent around on the black market. a heist is pulled off to get a sixteen year old girl full control of her fictional crush.
what really made me love this book, besides the incredibly topical and gut wrenching allegory (is it even an allegory???) about where AI and anti-queer sentiments/laws/“progress” are taking us, was the two main characters. as someone who doesn’t normally love flashbacks, this book made me love flashbacks.
kelly, autistic lesbian, lover of pirate story writing, is a really complex character with great internal dialogue and a strong sense of herself, even as she changes throughout the book. brilliant autism rep, though i wouldn’t expect less from hoffmann, and a great job of making her experiences so integral to the story and plot.
but rohan. god i loved him. we get his pov, kinda uniquely, as a child, before he transitions (tho we do see him think about trans stuff/show inclinations v young. also GOD the reason why he chose his name!!!! ugh i love him). his care and love for kelly, seeing him move towards the path he takes, the child’s view of the world which is simple and complex and lovely. i love their relationship as children, the way they were always drawn to each other and embedded in each other and meant the world to each other. and then to be estranged as adults but he still talks about her to everyone…… she’s the one who got away…….
lovely, sweet relationship between two great characters (also an autism adhd ship which i’ve never read and not enjoyed). really interesting dystopian sci fi world, with hope and queerness and stories and just so fricken topical. i listened and enjoyed the audiobook a lot, for some reason minuteman library owns 79 copies of this one and no one had it checked out😭😭😭😭. def a hard book to read at moments but never in the way that i didn’t want to keep listening. this one drew me in and i could have done it in one sitting if not for things like sleep and friendship…. anyways, def recommend if you have strong feelings about AI and like a good childhood friends to lovers to estranged to lovers!!! (the romance in the present is v much at the end tho. it’s not a romcom, but the whole thing is deeply romantic)
Want to Read
February 18, 2026ARC received. Thank you so much ❤️
May 31, 2026
[3,5]
eu me importei muito mais com os personagens durante os flashbacks do que no atual pra ser sincera.
eu me importei muito mais com os personagens durante os flashbacks do que no atual pra ser sincera.
June 16, 2026
did not expect to like this as much as I did, but yassss space heist!
July 21, 2026
Sometimes a book finds you exactly when you need it to, and tells you exactly what you need to hear.
September 20, 2026
You would think autistic, lesbian space pirates wouldn’t be boring…
October 9, 2026
3.5 Stars, rounded down
I had a good time. I didn't have a great time.
I had a good time. I didn't have a great time.
June 6, 2026
3.5 stars. I found the premise really interesting and I loved the characters but I really wanted more world building, like why did only 10% of the population get a job and what did the rest of them do? What was basic housing and basic income? Left me feeling a bit dissatisfied because those questions weren't answered.
July 17, 2026
so true, we do need to be killing ai more :)
June 17, 2026
My Selling Pitch:
Be gay, do (IP) crime! In space! Great autism and trans rep, more campy vibes than plot.
Pre-reading:
Really blitzing the dystopian books rn.
(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
So Kelli is autistic and me lol.
This is the narrator who read Vanishing World. It’s so weird when I can clock an audiobook’s narrator immediately.
It's almost reminding me of Ripe right now.
I feel like Orlando is an odd choice for a pirate captain when Orlando Bloom is right there.
This is very ‘I swear it’s not Disney or Star Trek, guys. Please don’t sue me!’
Not the romanticizing the autistic girl by making her a manic pixie dream girl. Oh no, book, oh no.
I like the fanfiction aspect and like genderbending your crush.
I love little neurodivergent magnet children.
This AI storytelling trademark commentary is good, and the book has an easier time too because it’s explained to an eight-year-old. You know, if something is left out or not argued perfectly, you can just be like oh, well, the eight-year-old isn’t recalling everything.
Isn’t that K-pop Demon Hunters?
Sometimes I can’t tell if this book’s voice reminds me of Paradise Logic. Like it does because it’s autistic rep read by the same audiobook narrator, but like very different vibes, but I still might keep it as a comp title. (I think it is a comp title if you go in knowing that that book is a horror.)
AI chatbots are fucking evil and the worst thieves around.
Sotto voce always sounds pretentious and ridiculous.
I feel like Elaine committed suicide, and I’m gonna be really sad. (Yup.)
I think this book is really fixated on equal opportunity to be mean, and I’m just like don’t be mean! Why is your goal be mean? The world does not get better if women get mean too. I just think it’s weird framing that part of the reason Am wants to transition is so he can be mean and hurt others. Like that’s a selling point to him.
‘You take the girl and force her’ is such an icky quote to me. It reads like dubcon noncon fantasy, and I can’t help but go there because earlier the book specifically pointed out that part of the reason she liked their relationship was because Am had to ask for her consent every step of the way. And then it was tainted because Am liked pushing her to say no and eroticized constantly pushing her boundaries. And you know I’m down for some push and pull desire, but it gets creepy to me when you start fetishizing denial like that and ascribing that denial to gender roles. It’s not women’s job to police men’s behavior, and it’s not unladylike to allow sex to progress. And now the book’s treating this forced action like a universally relatable fantasy. I also just hate the control freak character needs to loosen up and get the stick out of their ass trope.
That's not the way a boy would. That's the way a rapist would. For being such an expansive gender identity book, it really has pretty binary roles for men and women. I feel like part of that might be the flawed fourteen-year-old perspective we’re seeing, but some of the conclusions it reaches in the younger chapters are really annoying.
Abbreviated Latin with no translation is crazy work.
Title drop.
Aww, what a good and hopeful place to end.
Post-reading:
Another 3.5 we’ll be rounding up. I’m really riding a wave of new releases that are better than average, but still flawed enough to need some critiquing. This book is more valuable for its identity representation than its plot. The plot is definitely secondary and left pretty open-ended. I think it’s a fittingly hopeful conclusion, but it might disappoint readers who like more concrete closures. There’s room to revisit this universe and these characters, but it’s solid enough to stand on its own.
The book does an excellent job portraying autism and adhd. It’s probably a very relatable coming of age story for queer and trans children. I think it does an excellent job of illustrating how harmful censorship is, and how income disparity makes for inadequate healthcare. There’s a big hey now, this is totally not about Disney, please don’t sue vibe to this. I think it’s a valid, if exaggerated critique. There’s a quirky toned campness to this book that I think Emily Austin fans will enjoy. I don’t think it’s hard enough sci-fi or a toothy enough social critique if you go into this anticipating a dystopian. It’s a speculative second chance romance that’s not all that romantic. I think it’s got enough going on in the representation department that the character development can carry the book anyway.
For a queer book, there were a couple off quotes. You can argue that some of the problematic statements are being colored by a teenaged character’s beliefs, but they still made me pause and frown every time I read them. The book’s a little preoccupied with gender roles and how boys will be boys. And that’s just not true and not something I want to see a gender expansive book reinforce even accidentally. Abuse isn’t gender role specific or sanctioned, but there’s a pretty pivotal scene that implies the threat of acting without someone’s consent is inherent to malehood. I HATE when a book makes me argue not all men, but it’s irresponsible! That behavior isn’t acting like a boy, it’s acting like a rapist. Let’s not get it twisted.
I think the heist part of this book could’ve been more elaborate. It goes off without a hitch. I think it could’ve injected some much needed stakes and tension into the book if they struggled to steal the character file. It ends up reading a little passive. Both the audience and Kelli are just along for the ride. The flashbacks also make for inconsistent pacing.
I still liked it though. The characters are incredibly endearing. I think it’s worth the read if you like coming of age stories about queer youth, but I’d give this a wide berth if you’re expecting a biting social critique or any semblance of a thriller. I’d read the author again if another release interested me, but I wouldn’t purposely seek her out because this isn’t totally my genre.
Who should read this:
Queer romance fans
Autism rep fans
AI vs creativity commentary fans
Ideal reading time:
Anytime
Do I want to reread this:
No, I’ll remember it
Would I buy this:
Yes
Similar books:
* Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin-campy, lit fic, contemporary, cozy mystery, queer romance, family drama, autism
* Is This a Cry for Help by Emily Austin-campy, lit fic, contemporary, queer romance, family drama, social commentary, autism
* Eleanor Oliphant is Complaining Fine by Gail Honeyman-lit fic, family drama, social commentary, autism
* Local Heavens by K. M. Fajardo-classic retelling, sci-fi, dystopian, queer romance, heist, social commentary
* Overgrowth by Mira Grant-sci-fi thriller, queer romance, trans, autism, social commentary
* Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski-short story collection, litfic, scifi, social commentary, queer, autism
* Paradise Logic by Sophie Kemp-tonally very different because it’s a horror but same voicey autism rep, psychological horror, unreliable narrator, social commentary, satire
* Picky by Julie T. Kinn-lit fic, family drama, ocd, autism, social commentary
* The Phoenix Keeper by S. A. Maclean-campy, urban fantasy, cozy mystery, queer romance, autism
* Gumshoe by Brenna Thummier-campy, children’s graphic novel, cozy mystery, autism
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Be gay, do (IP) crime! In space! Great autism and trans rep, more campy vibes than plot.
Pre-reading:
Really blitzing the dystopian books rn.
(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
So Kelli is autistic and me lol.
This is the narrator who read Vanishing World. It’s so weird when I can clock an audiobook’s narrator immediately.
It's almost reminding me of Ripe right now.
I feel like Orlando is an odd choice for a pirate captain when Orlando Bloom is right there.
This is very ‘I swear it’s not Disney or Star Trek, guys. Please don’t sue me!’
Not the romanticizing the autistic girl by making her a manic pixie dream girl. Oh no, book, oh no.
I like the fanfiction aspect and like genderbending your crush.
I love little neurodivergent magnet children.
This AI storytelling trademark commentary is good, and the book has an easier time too because it’s explained to an eight-year-old. You know, if something is left out or not argued perfectly, you can just be like oh, well, the eight-year-old isn’t recalling everything.
Isn’t that K-pop Demon Hunters?
Sometimes I can’t tell if this book’s voice reminds me of Paradise Logic. Like it does because it’s autistic rep read by the same audiobook narrator, but like very different vibes, but I still might keep it as a comp title. (I think it is a comp title if you go in knowing that that book is a horror.)
AI chatbots are fucking evil and the worst thieves around.
Sotto voce always sounds pretentious and ridiculous.
I feel like Elaine committed suicide, and I’m gonna be really sad. (Yup.)
I think this book is really fixated on equal opportunity to be mean, and I’m just like don’t be mean! Why is your goal be mean? The world does not get better if women get mean too. I just think it’s weird framing that part of the reason Am wants to transition is so he can be mean and hurt others. Like that’s a selling point to him.
‘You take the girl and force her’ is such an icky quote to me. It reads like dubcon noncon fantasy, and I can’t help but go there because earlier the book specifically pointed out that part of the reason she liked their relationship was because Am had to ask for her consent every step of the way. And then it was tainted because Am liked pushing her to say no and eroticized constantly pushing her boundaries. And you know I’m down for some push and pull desire, but it gets creepy to me when you start fetishizing denial like that and ascribing that denial to gender roles. It’s not women’s job to police men’s behavior, and it’s not unladylike to allow sex to progress. And now the book’s treating this forced action like a universally relatable fantasy. I also just hate the control freak character needs to loosen up and get the stick out of their ass trope.
That's not the way a boy would. That's the way a rapist would. For being such an expansive gender identity book, it really has pretty binary roles for men and women. I feel like part of that might be the flawed fourteen-year-old perspective we’re seeing, but some of the conclusions it reaches in the younger chapters are really annoying.
Abbreviated Latin with no translation is crazy work.
Title drop.
Aww, what a good and hopeful place to end.
Post-reading:
Another 3.5 we’ll be rounding up. I’m really riding a wave of new releases that are better than average, but still flawed enough to need some critiquing. This book is more valuable for its identity representation than its plot. The plot is definitely secondary and left pretty open-ended. I think it’s a fittingly hopeful conclusion, but it might disappoint readers who like more concrete closures. There’s room to revisit this universe and these characters, but it’s solid enough to stand on its own.
The book does an excellent job portraying autism and adhd. It’s probably a very relatable coming of age story for queer and trans children. I think it does an excellent job of illustrating how harmful censorship is, and how income disparity makes for inadequate healthcare. There’s a big hey now, this is totally not about Disney, please don’t sue vibe to this. I think it’s a valid, if exaggerated critique. There’s a quirky toned campness to this book that I think Emily Austin fans will enjoy. I don’t think it’s hard enough sci-fi or a toothy enough social critique if you go into this anticipating a dystopian. It’s a speculative second chance romance that’s not all that romantic. I think it’s got enough going on in the representation department that the character development can carry the book anyway.
For a queer book, there were a couple off quotes. You can argue that some of the problematic statements are being colored by a teenaged character’s beliefs, but they still made me pause and frown every time I read them. The book’s a little preoccupied with gender roles and how boys will be boys. And that’s just not true and not something I want to see a gender expansive book reinforce even accidentally. Abuse isn’t gender role specific or sanctioned, but there’s a pretty pivotal scene that implies the threat of acting without someone’s consent is inherent to malehood. I HATE when a book makes me argue not all men, but it’s irresponsible! That behavior isn’t acting like a boy, it’s acting like a rapist. Let’s not get it twisted.
I think the heist part of this book could’ve been more elaborate. It goes off without a hitch. I think it could’ve injected some much needed stakes and tension into the book if they struggled to steal the character file. It ends up reading a little passive. Both the audience and Kelli are just along for the ride. The flashbacks also make for inconsistent pacing.
I still liked it though. The characters are incredibly endearing. I think it’s worth the read if you like coming of age stories about queer youth, but I’d give this a wide berth if you’re expecting a biting social critique or any semblance of a thriller. I’d read the author again if another release interested me, but I wouldn’t purposely seek her out because this isn’t totally my genre.
Who should read this:
Queer romance fans
Autism rep fans
AI vs creativity commentary fans
Ideal reading time:
Anytime
Do I want to reread this:
No, I’ll remember it
Would I buy this:
Yes
Similar books:
* Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin-campy, lit fic, contemporary, cozy mystery, queer romance, family drama, autism
* Is This a Cry for Help by Emily Austin-campy, lit fic, contemporary, queer romance, family drama, social commentary, autism
* Eleanor Oliphant is Complaining Fine by Gail Honeyman-lit fic, family drama, social commentary, autism
* Local Heavens by K. M. Fajardo-classic retelling, sci-fi, dystopian, queer romance, heist, social commentary
* Overgrowth by Mira Grant-sci-fi thriller, queer romance, trans, autism, social commentary
* Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski-short story collection, litfic, scifi, social commentary, queer, autism
* Paradise Logic by Sophie Kemp-tonally very different because it’s a horror but same voicey autism rep, psychological horror, unreliable narrator, social commentary, satire
* Picky by Julie T. Kinn-lit fic, family drama, ocd, autism, social commentary
* The Phoenix Keeper by S. A. Maclean-campy, urban fantasy, cozy mystery, queer romance, autism
* Gumshoe by Brenna Thummier-campy, children’s graphic novel, cozy mystery, autism
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 12, 2026
The cover makes this book look very unserious (and I suppose there is a little bit of that “overstated pulp sci-fi” vibe to the story), but it has a lot of really important things to say.
I really liked how GenAI was handled, in this society where very few people are expected to make it past basic schooling and into an intelligent workforce. Where AI chatbots are seen as a reasonable equivalent to therapy or person-driven behavioral coaching. I like how it broached the homogenization of AI generated content (shaving off the bits that don’t apply to the majority until the minority is erased completely) and the sort of brainless dependence that can come from a world where one’s creativity and independent thought are not only not encouraged but actively repressed.
I also really liked the choice to show specifically how that directed but also kind of inadvertent censorship can negatively affect queer youth. There’s a lot of darkness in this silly little heist book.
{Thank you Tachyon for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review; all thoughts are my own}
I really liked how GenAI was handled, in this society where very few people are expected to make it past basic schooling and into an intelligent workforce. Where AI chatbots are seen as a reasonable equivalent to therapy or person-driven behavioral coaching. I like how it broached the homogenization of AI generated content (shaving off the bits that don’t apply to the majority until the minority is erased completely) and the sort of brainless dependence that can come from a world where one’s creativity and independent thought are not only not encouraged but actively repressed.
I also really liked the choice to show specifically how that directed but also kind of inadvertent censorship can negatively affect queer youth. There’s a lot of darkness in this silly little heist book.
{Thank you Tachyon for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review; all thoughts are my own}
February 17, 2026
One of those where the ideia is amazing, the characters are super complex and interesting but the plot is super boring.
The pacing is off as well, there are parts where it’s super engaging and the story absolutely absorbs you and then there are other times where I contemplated giving up..
I liked the ending though! And I liked the characters and their stories, and their backgrounds.
The secondary characters are also super interesting!
I would even consider reading more in this world, because it sounds amazing and different!
Just this particular story didn’t do it for me, I find it completely pointless and even though it’s fiction it sounds super far fetched!
The pacing is off as well, there are parts where it’s super engaging and the story absolutely absorbs you and then there are other times where I contemplated giving up..
I liked the ending though! And I liked the characters and their stories, and their backgrounds.
The secondary characters are also super interesting!
I would even consider reading more in this world, because it sounds amazing and different!
Just this particular story didn’t do it for me, I find it completely pointless and even though it’s fiction it sounds super far fetched!
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