I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)

Loved this dystopian world. It was very hard-hitting and really makes you think. The author is a great asset as well!

Can you imagine a future where you can become allergic to a typeface? And if that typeface is everywhere on advertising, shops, signs etc. This premise was all too believable. It a place where everyone has a helper that is half biological half machine and another that cleans up after you as go (couldn't everyone do with one of those).

It's a kind of love story between a brilliant scientist and the inventor of the machines. When she becomes allergic it is a fight to survive. Can the scientist save her?

I raced through the book, but at times got confused as to who was who. The two female voices were rather similar too. All in all a good read.

The premise was intriguing but the actual book fell flat for me. I thought it might turn into a Blake Crouch style techno thriller but it didn’t live up to the promise.

I have been more into dystopianesque books recently - which is no surprise with how the world is. I really enjoyed this, it was well written with a compelling storyline and well-developed characters. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

HellSans is a dystopian novel about a country controlled by a typeface, HellSans, which gives most people bliss, but those who are allergic to it are persecuted, and where people have personal cyborgs called Inexes. Dr Icho Smith is a scientist working on a cure for the allergy, hidden away in a top secret lab. Jane Ward is CEO of the company who makes the Inexes and is close to the Prime Minister of the country. When Icho and Jane both end up on the run from their respective lives, their paths intersect, but with warring factions in the country, the situation is volatile.

I was drawn to the book by the title, and the typeface concept is certainly unusual. The structure is notable as you are told from the start that you can read the first two parts in any order, before a final third part. I read the book just in the order it came, and it would be interesting to see if it does give a different viewpoint to read part two before part one, as I understand why you could read it in either order, but also I'm not sure if it does have an impact. As with a lot of dystopian sci fi, there's a lot to start off with that you don't understand in terms of terminology and how society functions, but you gradually pick up on a fair amount of it (though it doesn't really go into the history of how society got there, maybe to leave the reader guessing how likely it could be).

The plot is fairly straightforward, with government corruption, the demonisation of people with a chronic illness, and questions around cyborgs, sentience, and privacy. The ending has some interesting philosophical points and a fairly dramatic climax, though the later chapters of the book are a lot faster than earlier ones so it does feel quite quick. The layers of betrayal and hiding the truth are crucial to the book and, without wanting to give anything away, built into the narrative, which brings an additional element to it.

HellSans is a book with a lot to say, with plenty of clever elements (adjusting a sans serif font by adding serifs as activism is a nice touch), and even as someone who doesn't read much sci fi I found the world-building worked for me, not being too heavy or tedious but giving a decent sense of what was going on. There's a lot around treatment and cures to think about within it, but within the slightly ridiculous framework of a font that can cause bliss or pain.

A great concept a dystopian world where most of the population receives a buzz when they read adverts written in a certain font whilst another proportion develop an allergy to the font and are banished to live on ghettos
It did however take quite some time to explain this and we were nearly half way in before it was explained satisfactorily. I found myself quite frustrated by this and not really following the stories of the two women we are introduced to early on
The book moves more slowly than I wanted and I felt the final events were somehow anticlimactic
I liked the fact that the two main characters were gay women and felt the author was starting to say something meaningful about discrimination against those with long term health problems who were being increasingly seen as second class citizens.
Towards the end of the book we are introduced to the concept of self when one of the characters is bought back to life in a synthetic body .This was interesting but I felt it arrived too late in the story for me and was one too many concept
It was hard to know where the story was set but I suppose it was a dystopian Uk I would have liked more pointers to this in the story as it was there were only a few street names to suggest where in the world we were
I’m a big fan of dystopian fiction ,this book however just missed the mark for me
I read an early copy on NetGalley Uk the book is published in the Uk 11th October 2022

Sometimes you pi8ck up a book that is just different. And it takes you a moment or two to get your head around things, but once you do, you are glad you stuck with the book to start with as the story sweeps you up and pulls you along in strange and wonderful ways. And this is one of those books, without a doubt.

Set in a future time where people are given "bliss" (an euphoric feeling that leaves them pretty much stoned and compliant) by simply looking at a special type of font, there are of course those who have violent reactions to the font. And in the ways of the mass mob, those who have a reactions are called deviants and despised. The story, told from two perspectives, is from a Doctor trying to "cure" the deviants, and a millionaire who owns a tech company.

I had no idea what to expect from the story, but it swept me along with brilliant pacing and the building up on anticipation. I think this book has something for everyone, be them scifi, fantasy or just general fiction fans. It covers a broad spectrum of ideas, and the story was brilliantly woven to include it all.

People are allergic to an advertisement text that they can wear on their clothes. Robots assist humans in everyday tasks. Read it until one robot started by going by the name of Jesus.