A review by bratatouille
PET by Akwaeke Emezi

2.25

This accomplishes what it sets out to do. I’d even argue that it does it well. This book is essentially the “society if leftists took over” that right wing people are so afraid of. It discusses the demons that live within people who know and love and how impossible it can be to identify them. It normalizes gender queerness, non cis-het relationships, accessibility, and has a fuckin cool/scary angel creature. The reason the rating is so low is because it has the Barbie Movie problem. Everything is perfectly spelled out for the reader because it’s meant to introduce them to broad strokes of clear concepts. As someone who is not new to any of these topics, I found it to be like reading a middle grade woke book. Which is good for new audiences but I am not that; so it impacts my experience. All of the conflict was predictable, even down to the character responses to it. Similarly, the resolutions were underwhelming. I like some of Emezi’s writing and do believe this story holds a lot of merit. It just wasn’t intended for me.