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I love how Lamya pairs her stories with writings from the Quran. Her own personal prose and stories connect with chosen passages so well. Her anger, grief, and growth in identity are palpable from the page as she talks about race, religion, sexuality, and gender. I loved her discussion on language specifically and deconstructing how it is used

Book is amazing so far. Page 81 resonates very deeply

“Somehow, he survived the grenade blast.” That’s it?? Either have the balls to continue to hurt your characters or be creative. Literally last chapter there’s the “tense” cliffhanger where this character seemingly gets blown up but then the next chapter there’s no resolution: it’s all discussed in past tense how they got out and this guy is just fine. Piss off

“You are about to be challenged by AI the way you’ve all been challenged by nature” they’re playing fucking Scrabble, chess, or checkers against an AI rn. Be so fucking serious.

To nobody’s surprise this book is so so terrible. Nothing is ever left to interpretation and the same facts are repeated to you over and over again. Characters are shallow and there is no tension. Also these challenges are set up so that the winner of these challenges wins a billion dollars and solves the world’s problems. How does swimming in shark-infested waters prove anything about how youll help the world

Jimmy (Mr Beast) is in the book as a character who is himself 😭

“Conner Lynch left politics to host a popular podcast, in the hope that he might do more for his country there” on page fucking ix ohhh myyyy goddd

This is my first time intentionally hate-reading a book. I will update how ridiculous and awful this story is as I go!! So excited

“Don’t you know? You’re always making the world you live in, friend, right up until the moment you die. And then after that, too.”

“‘Yes, it might hurt you now and then. But everything you love is going to hurt you now and then, because it is flawed.’”