As a mental health provider I was intrigued by this concept but it ultimately fell flat for me. I appreciated the aim to share the experience of psychosis, and even enjoy an unreliable narrator. But I struggled to connect with the journey or identify a message beyond the bare elements. It felt a bit forced at times.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I feel very weird about this book, which perhaps was the intention. I did enjoy reading it, and I liked that it was not holding any punches. It had just enough plot points and twists to overwhelm the reader to the point of sympathising with the character, but not feeling exhausted.
That being said I can see how it can be seen as insulting or insensitive, which seems to be a common criticism. I liked that the language was not sanitised, but at times it read as thoughtless on the editors and writers side, which I do not appreciate.

There were quite a few things that I liked and found interesting about this book, but ultimately it had some icks that make it so I can't really say I recommend this book - one big one that I just can't get over was a comparison made with the singular Muslim character to a Neanderthal, like. No. Bad author, bad take. Toss on some fatphobia and outdated terms like "multiple personality syndrome" instead of DID, I just. I wouldn't be comfortable telling someone to read this book, tbh. I finished because it was an ARC, but I'll ok with deleting it now. Still 2 stars for an interesting concept I guess? I dunno if I even really feel comfortable giving it that but my CAWPILE system averaged it higher than that and I deducted for the icks already :/

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Here's my honest review: WHAT IS GOING ON??!!
No, seriously. This book was incredibly bizarre, like, I wouldn't know, but I imagine that the experience of reading this has to be somewhat similar to an acid trip. At no point could I predict what was going to happen next. I read this all in one sitting, and I'm not gonna lie, it legitimately put me in the weirdest headspace for like an hour afterwards.

The story contains multiple sequences which the narrator "imagines" to happen, but didn't actually happen. Or did it? The protagonist has to be the most unreliable narrator I've ever read, because its literally impossible to know which parts of the story were real and which parts were imagined. The chapter numbers are in reverse, so the first chapter is numbered with the last number, and the last chapter is chapter one, which sort of makes sense, because the structure of the story is kind of circular, like the way each sequence flows into the next ends up repeating what happened before, but differently. This entire book loops in on itself like a mobius strip.

I don't have schizophrenia, or know anyone with schizophrenia, so I'm not able to judge the accuracy of its depiction. I have seen some reviews criticising the way the protagonist talks about "crazy" people and fat people, as well as some of their actions, which is definitely problematic, but I'm not inclined to hold the protagonist's views against them because I feel that the point of the book is to present a realistic and complex portrayal of a person living with schizophrenia, major flaws and all, rather than to educate people about the right language to use. I also noticed that the book uses some outdated terms for mental illnesses, for example saying "multiple personality disorder", which I'm pretty sure is called dissociative identity disorder now. I understand that the author might have a different perspective on this, but personally, I feel like using the modern terms for mental disorders are important and is something that can be easily researched.

Overall, a thrilling and visceral read.

A totally unique take on a novel. Schizotopia is no John Dies at the End. However, it does offer an unusual look at schizophrenia from the inside of a character’s mind. Unfortunately, a schizophrenic narrator does not structure their ideas in a coherent manner. I would call this book more interesting than good. But, if you have a friend or family member with schizophrenia, this is an eye-opening read. 3 stars

Thanks to Uplit Press and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

"Schizotopia" by Andy Siege tells the story of our main protagonist wading through the everchanging landscape and mindscape of Schizotopia in search of their partner, Flora.

Our main character has paranoid schizophrenia and goes through psychosis during different stages of this book. Of what my close friend has told me about their experience of living with this diagnosis, I initially felt it sounded quite similar to their lived experience. I think this book did many great things, among them creating a vivid and exciting story of the world and all the mind paths one can travel down. I think the plot of the book was quite exciting, how the story weaves together the different realities and truths our MC experiences, in a way that is not confusing yet still so "twisty".

Unfortunately, I felt the book lacked depth, especially when talking about other mental illnesses. I felt there was a lack of research on Depression, Borderline Personality Disorder, and Manic Depressive Disorder, not to mention the use of older language. I have some reservations about being too judgemental as the author comes from a different part of the world than I and we might have different words and understandings on the diagnosis, even medically. I think this book would be more effective if it didn't try to deal with mental illness on a wider scope, but instead focused on just Schizophrenia and how it can affect and communicate with gender (something I wanted more of).

There were some tasteless choices in the book, in my opinion, regarding how it talked about fatness, homelessness, and the stereotyping of Medella, the trans side character, to mention a few. In regards to the writing, I wasn't a big fan of how the MC was talking at the reader, referring to us as "you", but that's just my taste within narration and not a reflection of how good or. bad the book was written.

In general, I had some fun while reading this and I see great potential in what the book is trying to explore, how it's told, and the way it does so. It is really unfortunate that there were just too many small things that got in the way for me to enjoy it the way I wished to.

I want to start off by saying that I understand what this book wanted to do. However for me personally, there were too many things about the story and the way certain topics were discussed that I simply can’t give it a positive review.

Firstly my biggest issue is the discussion around mental health. As a psychology student there were several cases where the language used was not appropriate nor accurate. Multiple times in the book ‘multiple personality disorder’ is mentioned even though the term for this disorder was changed to ‘dissociative identity disorder’ 30 years ago. The consistent incorrect use of the term perpetuates stigma and misinformation. Other things regarding mental illness that I did not enjoy was the continued use of the word ‘crazy’, the oversimplification of certain disorders like depression and inaccuracies such as “borderline personality syndrome’ which is actually ‘borderline personality disorder’. These may seem like small mistakes, however I am of the opinion that if you decide to write a book about mental illness you should do enough research. These are very nuanced and personal topics and should thus be treated with a lot of care.

Secondly, this book is pitched as “A darkly comic journey through mental illness, trans identity, and hope“ which I find very misleading. I picked this up because I want to read more stories centring trans characters. While I understand that this book tried to take a very metaphorical and complex route of exploring this, I really don’t think it served the story. As for the comedic part, I did not laugh once, I found it very jarring and unsettling. The aspect of hope is something that I definitely cannot find in this story, and I think it is not accurate to put that in a main description of the novella.

There were also some scenes that I found very disturbing due to lack of consent and the blatant disregard for other peoples wants when it came to intimacy. This is more complicated due to the nature of the story but I still think it is important to address because I found it uncomfortable. And even having read the whole book, I believe it was unnecessary. Furthermore, it is not mentioned in the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book.

Some last little things I did not enjoy: a few comments about ‘fat’ people, specifically people who are mentally ill, and the multiple times we hear about mentally ill people in particular being more violent than “normies”.

I really wish I had more positive things to say because I really went in to this book hoping to get an insightful and unique queer perspective on life with schizophrenia.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

thank you netgalley for the chance to read this!

this was truely unlike anything i have ever read. as a scifi reader im used to confusing stories, but this was a whole new level. i loved it.
this was perfectly confusing, and i enjoyed it so much, even though i didnt understand anything at any point of it. this will stay in my mind for a long time im sure

It's hard to describe what this book is about and for good reason, it's a look into the mind of a paranoid schizophrenic. Jumping through one reality to another, or are they really? With a diverse cast of characters that evolve along with each new delusion, who can tell what's really going on. While the premise of this story drew me in, I felt disappointed by the end.
To start with some positives, the formatting is unique with chapters that count down instead of up. I thought that added a layer to the ever growing corruption of reality. The way characters and places are named was unique as well, once you spot the theme it's fun to spot. I enjoyed the evolving delusions that connect to each other.
Unfortunately for me the things I disliked far outweighed the above. I found the representation of mental illness and transgender folk to be lacking and rather problematic at times. There's use of stigmatizing language that I didn't see much purpose in. One of the primary delusions for the protagonist has a racist background for the conspiracy theory and I didn't care for it.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone but especially not to anyone who has suffered from mental illness or who is transgender.

What can be appreciated about the story is the relationship between first-person narration and plot. With a paranoid schizophrenic narrator, the story weaves in and out of the narrator's realities, contradicting, paralleling and converging plotlines. If the metaphoric story doesn't do much to satiate you, then its craft should do the trick. An interesting read, indeed.

Thanks to Netgalley and UpLit Press for providing me with the e-ARC/DRC in exchange for an honest review.

I did not finish this so I might have missed what others have liked about it, but I felt that it was a bit problematic. I know someone who is a paranoid schizophrenic and nothing with this main character was similar to how he is and talks. And at one point the main character said that "depressed people want to die" which suggested that everyone suffering from depression are suicidal. Has this author heard of nuance and variation? And unfortunately it wasn't very well written either. All this was very disappointing due to it's very important subject.

This novella, is a masterpiece. I honestly don’t know what to say about it except that it was incredible. It is very hard to describe, and I think the book jacket does a great job. I would recommend it to everyone, except be aware it’s basically a walking trigger warning.

It is twisty and turny, and the reader is somehow both completely lost and able to follow what’s happening fairly easily. It’s a brilliant study of the intersectionality of mental illness and gender. This novella was somehow both science fiction and a very real and grounded look into the worldview of someone with schizophrenia. It was also successful in all fronts.

I know this is a novella that I will be thinking about for a while.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to Review Shitzotopia from Andy Siege. I am deeply impressed, how really detailed this fictional story describes the illness of shitzophrenia. It is at the same time an exitiing Story and an insight in the mind and soul of a Person with shitsophrenia. I couldn't essily put the book away and was dran in to the Story. So i can highly recommend this book to anyone who can endure the tension of the changing roles of Iddy and Flora. Very good book!

I really enjoyed the novella because the topic of paranoid schizophrenia is a rather unknown field to me. Therefore it was a refreshing change to delve into this uncommon topic.
Andy Siege manages to embed this rather avoided and negative topic into a story that grabbed and carried me away from the first page. The narrative style makes it easy to identify with the feelings, thoughts, certain primal fears and self-doubts of the narrator, which are more or less inherent in each of us. Thus a quick and captivating introduction to the plot is ensured, which surprises with unforeseen twists. I couldn't help but read the novella in one sitting!
Definitely a recommendation for anyone who wants to broaden their horizons. An enrichment of our cultural landscape. Thank you, I'm looking forward to more creative output!

I thoroughly enjoyed this twisty novella which provides a compassionate yet humorous insight into living with schizophrenia. The concept is brilliant and the twists are unexpected. It's dark, certainly, but there is an uplifting thread of hope and humanity woven throughout that left me feeling connected and empathetic. The exploration of trans identity was hard-hitting and thought-provoking. Highly recommended for anyone with a slightly warped sense of humour.