*Acts of God* is a wild, philosophical adventure that blends humor and existential musings in a futuristic world turned upside down. Private detective P. Manjunath's quest to uncover global mysteries collides with the machinations of Dr. Krishna, the God-like figure in a utopian future, resulting in a series of absurd, mind-bending events. Kanan Gill's debut is a laugh-out-loud, thought-provoking romp that challenges the very nature of reality, identity, and the human condition.

How to describe this book? It is complex, interesting, engaging, humorous, thoughtful, with interesting concepts to explore and philosophical and scientific ideas to let rumble around in your head. But what is it about? Scientists create a simulated universe, and the story follows both the scientists and the simulated universe. Every universe they create runs and ends the same way, destruction. Can the scientists nudge it in a different direction? Can they do it in secret since all their work is illegal? Are the scientists in a simulation? Will their universe also end? And why is the same guy in each simulated universe disrupting the scientists' work? There is a lot here, and for me, it required a lot of concentration to put all the pieces together. But it was worth it. This book is going to live in my head for a while as I think through all the bits. Oh, and the book gets pretty meta in places where the narrator addresses the reader directly and makes fun of novels and writing. So some humor, some hard thinking, and a fun interesting story.

More of a 3.5 I think.

The author is Ofcourse a well known figure in India with his standup comedy and I’ve always been a fan of his pretentious movie reviews series. So when I saw that he had written a sci-fi series, it almost felt unbelievable. It’s already so so rare to find a desi sci-fi being written, that too from India (and not the diaspora) and on top of that, it’s someone we know - it felt too good to be true. And I definitely had the expectation that this would be absolutely hilarious, in line with his humor.

The humor is there. The weird and the absurd, the various tangents and ramblings the story goes into, the incessant philosophical themes throughout - it all felt very signature Kanan Gill but there just was something missing. The beginning was pretty confusing and it took me a while to get used to the verbose writing style and while I didn’t feel like giving up, it also wasn’t something I couldn’t put down. It almost came into its own towards the final 100 pages, where plot points converged and we got to understand the characters better and got a peek through their hearts and minds. The world created here is interesting, futuristic but still gives you a very real lived in feel, something familiar and possible in our reality. The characters are quirky and vulnerable but also have a mystery about them which takes a while to unravel, but I think I ended up liking the sentient wall the most.

Overall, this was both fun and exhausting but I’m still glad that it exists and I got to read it. I only hope it encourages more Indian writers to delve into the SFF genre and crave many more wonderful worlds for us to explore. Recommend this one to readers who love satire and philosophy and wackiness in their sci-fi books.

Come for the story, stay for the ride. The author is a fairly well known stand up comedian in India and the humor in the book stays true to form. I had been hearing a lot about this book for a while and was glad to get my hands on it. Looking forward to more!

“An Act of God causes emotional disruption to members of the Lower Reality”< Hey, that’s basically the name of the book!
I’m not sure how to even begin explaining a synopsis or my thoughts on this fantastic book. Is it too early in the year to say this is my favorite book of 2025?
Anyway, here are some short thoughts, because you obviously need to read this…
1) This book is reminiscent of the author, Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams writing style. Very humorous.
2) This book flip flops a lot with different stories within the overall story. (For the most part, it will make sense.)
3) It is funny, thought-provoking and perhaps…even pure genius.
Read it now. That is all. Now I need to go watch Kanan Gill’s stand-up comedy specials.

#ThxNetGalley #KananGill #ActsofGod