Book Review: We Are Raccoons by Jim Munroe

We Are Raccoons by Jim Munroe. 9798211698024. 241pp.

I loved this book. I took a chance and bought a physical copy in 2022 when I found out that each of them had a different cover generated by Midjourney AI, using a different quote from the novel. It took me a while to get around to reading it (my to-read pile is deep, my eyes slow), but I haven’t enjoyed a book this much in a while.

It’s the story of six game designers who, while working on a common NPC they can each use for their games, create an AI. It starts in 2019 and stretches into 2031. It’s written in short sections organized into chapters involving one or more characters, including AIs. The non-explaininess worked for me, along with the brief views into each of the characters’ lives over time, as they find their place in what has become of the world and figure out the part they played in creating it.

More details would ruin it, but I urge you got give it a shot. Cory Doctorow and Charlie Jane Anders blurbed it. There are no more physical copies available, but a PDF is free, and you can pay what you like for an Epub or Mobi file if your eyes need help like mine do. (Worth noting: I’d have enjoyed this book as a teen, too.)

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