This was such an interesting, entrancing and at times bizarre read! I was drawn to this arc firstly by the cover art, and secondly by the tag line "Some climaxes take a little longer to build". Instantly I needed to know what on earth this story was about, and I'm so glad I gave it a go.

The pacing of the story was excellent, I enjoyed the continuity of going from home to work to therapy and how it felt almost like different storylines while being only one. It held that similar monotonous feeling of what life is like working a corporate job, but you made it so fascinating and had me hooked. I loved how Nora made the presence of constant different body parts around her feel so normal and almost boring, while the concept still remained so bizarre. I also really liked the Epilogue! At first I was confused, but when it clicked - brilliant!

If you like any of the following themes, you should definitely give Lemniscate a read:
>Exploration of the weight of corporate ambition
>Activism
>Questioning ethics & morals
>Trauma and mental blockages
>Nudity desensitisation
>Social structures and behaviours
>Futuristic themes, teleportation, VR
>Speculative fiction

This book has a lot of graphic descriptions of nudity and body parts, so please take note of this before deciding if it is for you.

Out of curiosity once I finished reading I had a little google to see what the word Lemniscate meant. I have learnt that it is the mathematical term for the shape of what we know as an infinity symbol. As we know the symbol itself signifies spiritual growth and endless potential, as well as the balance of opposing forces. This brings so much more meaning to the title for me as it can be applied differently to both the main character in regards to her growth and healing, as well as the ambition of the corporation that is 'Lemniscate' and its creator.

I can't eloquently articulate all of the themes throughout this book, but I genuinely had such a good time reading it and will be adding it as another success on my list of speculative fiction.

4.5*
This was so interesting! I haven’t read too many speculative fiction novels but I really enjoyed this one. I liked how the reader could follow the main characters journey both at work and through elements of her personal life and only realised at the end that we never know what her name is as she is only referred to by nicknames or employee number. I did find the descriptions of everyone’s genitals a bit much but overall it was an interesting read. I would recommend ‘Lemniscate’ but with a warning about the amount of nudity descriptions. I will also be looking out for more of Doeliza’s work in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and Starfish City Publishing for the advanced copy. Review to be posted on Goodreads and StoryGraph when published.

Thank you to Net Galley and Starfish City Publishing, LLC for the ARC. Lemniscate is a work of genius, and I can't wait to read the other books in this series. I'm impressed with how the author ties fawning, capitalism, and power. The character arc and the world building and themes are all so well connected.

I don't usually find novels about the working experience to be very interesting, because those novels tend to feel like the working experience - either boring, numb, or depressing. But this was so true to the experience but also such a fun read. I literally could not put this book down, something about the writing just made this so compelling. The main character's journey is also very interesting. I liked reading about who she was before the job, who she became through the job, and who she wanted to be, and how she tackles all of that.