WE

French author Dabos’ first dystopian novel trades the baroque, fractured worlds of the Mirror Visitor quartet for a society that’s terrifying in its coherence.

On a supercontinent governed by Instincts—biological compulsions that determine vocation, social value, even morality—citizens are raised from childhood to surrender themselves to the collective We. But as students across the Sectors disappear and buried contradictions surface, Saints and social outcasts alike are drawn toward revelations capable of shattering the entire system. Martha, a repairer unnerved by the involuntary pleasure of obedience; Goliath, a protector hungry for glory who’s desperate for sanctification before reaching adulthood; and Claire, a confidant whose existence threatens the system’s foundations, all become threads in a sprawling narrative about labor, autonomy, sacrifice, and the frightening seduction of certainty. Dabos’ writing remains unapologetically and enthrallingly complex: She layers philosophical speculation, institutional satire, conspiracy, and deeply embodied character work into a dystopia that grows stranger and more destabilizing the deeper readers follow it. Yet the novel never collapses beneath the weight of its own intricacy. Instead, Dabos and translator Serle thrust readers into the middle of an ever-evolving web of sharply observed routines and mounting emotional fractures, ensnaring them in a fragmented momentum immersive enough to feel simultaneously absurd and disconcertingly familiar. The text brings contradictions to bear, resisting the ease of moral binaries and trusting readers with questions about individuality, collectivism, purpose, and belonging that linger long after the final page.

Demanding, unsettling, and deeply rewarding.