Hive Minds Give Good Hugs

I liked this book a lot. Its premise screams of a bog-standard power fantasy, but that’s a clever bit of misdirection. Instead of running through a trite plot of barely-justified violence against some improbable menagerie, the author jumps pretty quickly through the protagonist realizing the ramifications of their powers so that they can spend most of the book untangling a twist on some classic philosophical questions. Namely, what is the ethical exercise of power if inefficiency and scarcity are no longer factors?The author commits pretty hard to this bit, and if the final answer doesn’t really transfer to modern society, I still appreciate their willingness to run to the logical endpoint of the argument without searching for an excuse to pull the punch.Some of the drama does suffer a bit from a mismatch between the stakes of the story and the actual threat being leveled at the protagonist. Additionally, several secondary characters just vanish once their narrative purpose is fulfilled without any real followup.Overall, though, this was a breezy read, and I enjoyed it a bunch. In a genre saturated with interchangeable stories, the author for this one clearly had some thoughts on their mind, and I am here for it. Recommended.

A book with this silly of a title has absolutely no right to be this good or this thought provoking. Seriously, real talk here. This will make it into my top 10 books I've read this year, if not the top 5. Some of the topics that are tackled by this include: The nature of identity. The morality of killing. What does it cost to create a safe society for everyone? Are those costs acceptable? That kind of thing. The questions that are posed and the answers that are given has caused me to continue to think about this book well after I read it.In addition to that the inner monologue is top notch, and the world building is creative and consistent. The level of detail strikes the right balance of giving you enough to give you a solid idea of how all these alien designs work and gives you a clear idea of her vision on how it all looks, yet not too much to be bogged down in minutiae. There's just enough science behind it to make it believable, yet still sits firmly in the 'fiction' part of Science Fiction. You could really believe that a planet like this exists.That isn't to say that the book is without flaws. It does get bogged down in the latter half of the book when the main character eventually meets an alien civilization. You can kind of see what she's trying to do here, trying to point out how alien the mc has really become, and to drive home the character's moral center, which is completely insufferable. She's a pacifist in the way that only a middle class white girl can be. Killing another sentient being is bad no matter what. It's an act of evil in it's purest form, and the lengths in which she goes to adhere to this center is ludicrous. However, this is not the author's viewpoint. Towards the end of the book, the MC's worldview is challenged often and repeatedly, coming to a conclusion that allows for more nuance. It was a nice turn of events.All in all that doesn't really impact the rating I'm giving this book, though. I've already bought one of her other books to see if it's the same quality as this one and I eagerly await to see what score I give that one too. Seriously. Don't skip this one. 5 stars.

For once, Amazon recommended a book that I actually enjoyed. Good classic use of sci-fi to explore new perspectives as well as talk about topics like neurodiversity and culture. Also I found her reactions pretty believable for the main character who is essentially talking to herself for a good portion of the book.

I really enjoyed the exploration of a person of a single mind obtaining a hive mind. Author answered several questions I found myself wondering as I read. Emotions, ethics, sensations are all probed. Fun without being silly, provocative without making the suspension of disbelief to challenging.I think this would be a fun read for a book club. 100% would recommend.

For real, it warned me pretty early in exactly what to expect, and somehow I took that warning to heart and still found myself surprised and enthralled at every turn. Beautiful book from start to finish.

This book is excellently put together. I understand that some of the other readers/reviewers find the mental state of the main character difficult to keep up with. I would agree that it is sometimes difficult to understand or follow the main character’s thought processes. However, this is intentional on the part of the author. It is an effort to give the impression of high anxiety, attention deficit disorder, and potentially autism. So while it is sometimes difficult or outright incomprehensible, when considered from that angle it makes sense.More to the point I feel that this book sticks to the old standard of science fiction which is to pose a difficult question. The question posed in this story seems to be “If you have the power to stop bad things from happening, are you morally obligated to stop them? And, at what point are you no longer responsible?” It explores this concept quite thoroughly in my option, without trying to fully answer it.As for the aesthetic of the settings and characters they were all fairly well done. The book doesn’t develop more than about two characters besides the main character. If you are looking for a book that focuses heavily on interpersonal relationships than this is probably not the book for you.Overall I found this book to be quite excellent. I am a little bit frustrated with the cover of the book as I found it somewhat misleading. While much of the book is lighthearted and jovial, large portions are very serious and deal with very serious problems. The cover doesn’t do the books content justice in my opinion.

I honestly don't have enough words to describe this book.It was gripping and intriguing and I genuinely didn't expect the directions it went in. It tore at my emotions in ways I haven't experienced in a long time.The author's transitions between scenes are incredibly well executed and the two halves of this story blend so well together as a result.The performance of the voice actress elevates the material beautifully.Thank you for this book, I learned, I enjoyed, and I cried.

I have always been an avid reader and devoured all manner of novels. But this one stands out to me in a way few do. It is not a mere story, but a self-aware excercise in contemporary philosophy. It is touching on so many things in a grounded manner despite the fantastic premise that I truly believe it is something most people can grow from reading. I highly recommend it.

This is a weird one I cannot recommend enough. Given the title and description I expected a lighthearted, weird, and shallow attempt at an isekai story- a particular genre recently popularised by Japanese manga and webnovels where a present world human finds themselves in an unfamiliar, often magical other world. The book itself references this genre.Instead I got what I would consider excellent scifi about the morals, ethics, and consequences of using god-like abilities- or not using them. That in combination with an insightful, both painful and wholesome description of anxiety, stress, and social awkwardness.I also am not sure if the concept of a single human becoming a hivemind, rather than being integrated into one, is something that has been done before. It is maybe not handled exactly as I would have expected but it certainly is handled well. I am looking forward to a sequel.

I was a bit unsure about this book when I picked it up but soon found myself enthralled and swept away by the narrative. The science fiction concepts alone were, frankly really cool and well-written, I hadn't encountered the likes of them before. Every facet seemed well-considered and I really liked the survival using evolution and biological means as opposed to technology. The ethical considerations were also incredible as well as the main characters' processing of them within her own moral framework.Not for those with a fear of isolation or insects but otherwise a very enjoyable book and one I would highly recommend.

Somewhere I just fell in love with the hive mind concept but there aren't many story's from the view of the mind itself so this has been a delight to read as the Evelyn struggles throug her own personal problems and her own personal problems and her other own personal problems with becoming a hive mind