This is such a fascinating and well written book. It touches on the prison industrial complex and our dehumanization of those within it—and the lack of accountability on actually providing rehabilitation support—with such poise and wit through very obvious and very subtle metaphors and themes. I loved the writing style, it's an acquired taste, but it is so solid and atmospheric and really makes you feel like you're there with the characters—I was an especially huge fan of the use of repetition throughout the book. The ending perhaps isn't the most clear and maybe that is the point, who knows.

I'll also shoutout the acknowledgements section because that was one of the most well written acknowledgements I've ever read. The way that Pip Adam is so aware of her identity and the way that it shapes her worldview, her writing, and her ability to even write at all is incredibly wonderful and just showcases the thought that she puts into everything. I cannot wait to reread this with fresh eyes as well as read her other works.

Audition by Pip Adam is part science fiction, part surrealism, part poetry. It takes you on a ride from present to past, uncovering the lost memories of three giants sent on a mission into space, brainwashed by “teachers” to believe they are useless. And finding a place together.
Adam’s use of language, metaphor, description all blend together into a beautiful, chaotic painting. Each chapter or chunk of this book takes on a new form, new storytelling tactics that makes it impossible to get bored reading it. Each challenges you, intrigues you and catapults you into the story. It relies on a grand metaphor to trigger the reader’s empathy and encourages a conversation around the “othering” we create within our society, the fear that imbues in us. And the concept of us all having a place, and having people who will love us.
I keep thinking back on this book since I finished it, peeling away at more of the layers and the metaphors, challenging myself to think deeper and discover my own internal biases.
This is such good sci-fi for the modern audience. I very highly recommend this to both sci-fi and contemporary fiction readers alike! Not my favourite I’ve read, but definitely one that will stick with me.

Thank you NetGalley & publishes for the DRC!!

A harrowing and complex, Audition utilizes its strangeness as a scathing take-down of the prison system.

This book is absolutely weird but in a good way. It has three sections, each varying in levels of bizarre. The first section is the strangest because we’re given absolutely no context for what is going on, and everything is told in dialogue. There’s no description, just a conversation between three people. Then follows the easier section, although it is abyssmally bleak, and then the third is bonkers again but in a different way. I won’t explain too much about this, as it’s more interesting to go into it not knowing anything. I’ll try to keep everything vague, at least respecting plot and character development.

If you don’t like books that are deliberately trying to keep you at least slightly confused, you won’t enjoy it. But if you like stuff that is a little out there, that is more concept than story, you will enjoy this. It’s deeply intellectual and interesting in the sense that you know there’s a point and you want to get to it. It’s not that hard to understand, in terms of following what is going on, but WHY the characters are where they are and HOW they become such is what is deliberately withheld from us.

The characters are deliberately not-deep. They aren’t flat, in that they are backing personality or purpose, but I took them as representing different facets of victimization within society, as well as how society, rather than dealing with problems, attempts to get rid of them, to foist them off somewhere out of sight. The book is an argument, not really a story, to be clear.

The book raises some really interesting questions, with its primary argument being that prison is a dehumanizing place that does nothing but to actually solve the problem of criminality or injustice. I agree with this and could go on and on about my opinions on prison reform and how I agree that prisons do nothing in terms of deterrence or rehabilitation, but I will desist.

The book, while it makes an excellent case, doesn’t really address the issue of what the alternative could be that still provides victims with a sense of justice being served. Perhaps it does a little, but not in a way that I found entirely satisfactory. (view spoiler)

Yet, one novel isn't going to solve the systemic justice problems in our society, but it does show how interesting, thoughtful, and challenging the book is. If you have any interest in these topics, you should check it out.

I have decided to wait for a physical release for a full reviw as I want to explore this book much more thoroughly. It's a very experimental exploration of incarceration, individuality and the faces we put on. It is not an easy book and I would say, one that needs to be read slowly. I deeply enjoy the parts I read, the prose is evocative and the ideas explored very interesting.

I was excited when I received this book to read. As soon as I started reading, I felt lost. I went with it. I like feeling lost when I read books. BUt then I couldnt connect to the book. I found it all over the place. Good writing, but not for me.

This novel was fascinating but didn't hold my attention. I really liked the premise but had a hard time staying engaged through the repetition.

Oh what a truly brilliant book.

A dear friend recommended this story to me and I have never been more thankful. Audition is a masterpiece, one that isn't just smart and beautifully written but also unsettling, funny, deeply emotional, and somehow full of plot twist?
The journey Audition takes you on is one of discomfort. Every time you think you've figured out what's going on and what it is about, it pulls the rug from under you and reinvents itself so that you see the characters and their story in a whole new light. It blew my mind so many times I had to put the book down to reconsider everything I thought it was and still, I surely haven't fully grasped it all.
That will come after a second or third reading, if I'm lucky.

I simply cannot wait to get a physical copy so I can take notes and highlight stuff.


Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada (Adult) | Strange Light for the opportunity to read this ARC. The Canadian edition of this book comes out in June 2025.

I had high hopes for this title given the intersecting of literary, queer, and Sci-Fi genres. Although I enjoyed aspects of this book, I didn't make it farther than halfway through. I deeply respect the complex themes that the author was trying to juggle, though ultimately this book was not effective for me. I also had a hard time imagining to whom I might recommend this title. It was a fever dream literary title that primarily deals with the nature of performance and incarceration. A very cool concept that felt really inaccessible to the average reader. I am sure it has an audience out there, sadly it wasn't for me.