I love a book with a twisted protagonist, and that is what originally drew me into Lessons in Birdwatching. However, I could not get over the writing style - it is written in a third person omniscient that made it difficult for me to connect with any of the characters or really feel in touch with their personalities, even Wilhelmina, who was most interesting to me from the start. This is both a thrilling dystopic adventure and a thoroughly dark novel, which left me with a bit of a hollow nihilist feeling upon finishing it. There is also a significant horror element which I wasn't quite expecting, mostly in terms of body horror and the grotesque. I would mostly recommend this to fans of darker science fiction literature who don't mind lit that prioritizes plot over person.

Lessons in Birdwatching is a fascinating book that takes an unusual approach to its characters and narrative. It could become a standard response for those asking for a book in its specific niche. I haven't read much else like it.

The ostensible protagonist, Wilhelmina Ming, is evil. She's not an anti-hero. The usual arguments of "greater good", "good intentions", "misguided", "following orders", "indoctrinated" or anything else in an attempt to justify actions don't apply. All she wants is power and the freedom to do whatever she wants to whomever she wants. This is evident from the beginning. It's not some later twist or reveal. If this were Star Wars, she'd be a Sith apprentice, and by that analogy she finds her Sith Master. This isn't a bad thing. There are secondary viewpoint characters, but I found them to be far less salient and mostly only existing to show what was going on elsewhere.

I'm also conflicted and I hope what I've written reflects that, though it may come off as far more critical than intended. I like the book. It's more so that there are limiting factors to my enjoyment. If this is the first book of a series, then it could go in all sorts of ways and retroactively improve my rating. I'd read more. If it's standalone, then well, huh. The greatest limitation to my enjoyment is that when I finished it, it felt entirely incomplete, not in terms of its narrative, which has a fully contained story, but rather of meaning. It felt like a body without an animating force, or to use an in-universe term, the book itself was a tama. It frustrates me that I feel like I don't have any idea how far away I was from its intended perspective.

The description provided by the publisher was the primary draw for to me read this. It states that the book is a "...a darkly comic, politically charged novel set in a post-earth future, where beings—human and otherwise—careen towards annihilation in service of zealotry and nihilism alike." I thought that would be an exaggeration, but maybe its nihilism is the entire point. There's a scene where the book's title could be literally meant, probably as a morbid joke, though I don't agree with it being called darkly comic. If the title is metaphorical then I can only guess wildly. Another part reads "...ravaged by a time distorting illness" which is true, though the mind and body horror aspects of the illness are more of a focus. The time distortion does have a major role, but it's not that relevant to where the story's focus lies. I admit I was a bit disappointed when the "psychedelic antidepressant and group sex" turned out to be not much more than a k-hole cuddle puddle, at least by how the scene was briefly described. The erotic grotesque scene made much more of an impression, not in a bad way, though that's not really my thing.

I received this DRC from Angry Robot through NetGalley.

This is an incredible dystopian sci-fi full of rich worldbuilding. Lessons in Birdwatching draws you right in to this suspenseful adventure with a great cast of characters navigating life through a civil war and many other political problems. I loved all the characters and seeing how they each reacted to life in this dystopian world. Overall I really enjoyed this and thought it was an amazing sci-fi.