Matt's Reviews > State of Paradise

This was a really solid, unique blend of sci-fi and litfic, with even some horror elements. I felt like the synopsis doesn’t really do the book justice, and it does take a while for all of the plot to be introduced.

Van den Berg paints a quirky picture of an alternate post-pandemic Florida, where lots of people have become addicted to a VR-esque technology and its users have suddenly started seemingly vanishing into thin air. I’d say that is the *main* thread of the story, but there are bits of other things interspersed like information on our narrator’s past, some bizarre cultlike behavior from her mother, and her bellybutton becoming a void. I’ve never read anything quite like this before and this has me excited to read more from her!