Science fiction challenges our assumptions about the world and gets us to think about the world and our place in it in a new way. That’s what good science fiction should do.

Invisible Things does exactly that.

The city-in-a-bubble created in the book allows Mat Johnson to play around with the power of denial, social stratification, the insidiousness of caste structures, and the incredibly relevant playbook for how to steal an election… among other things. A lot of suspension of belief is required to go along for the ride. But the story is grounded in a cast of well-drawn characters who make the magic real. I appreciated the range of personalities and attitudes portrayed. Even slimy, manipulative weasels are given sufficient dimension to be interesting (if not a little terrifying).

Not everything is explained in the end (no spoilers here), but the ending is powerful nonetheless. Everything else is left to the reader.

The audiobook was expertly narrated by Nicole Lewis, who handled dozens of voices and attitudes very well.