ARC review: Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim

This is my first /Fantasy review and my first Bingo :) I received an ARC from Tor/Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Bingo Squares: Published in 2026 (Hard Mode), Vacation Spot (if you'd like to visit Seoul), One-Word Title (Hard Mode), Author of Color; and to some extent Politics

The novel poses a question that can haunt both immigrants and those who ever dreamed of emigrating but decided against it: What would your life have looked liked if you stayed? What would your life have looked liked if you went away?
Isabel J. Kim crafts a world in which people don't have to choose, their psychology chooses it for them. When they leave to a new country (& novel sets it up as any permanent travel regardless of national borders, i.e. sailors at sea or protagonists from fairytales), they may "instance": leave a copy of themselves behind; a life split in half. From then on, they share memories of their life "before" but are essentially two different (yet the same, like clones or doppelgängers) people, living two separate lives. What's worse, people do not know if they would instance: it seems, emotions regarding the departure dictate that and one of the protagonists did not expect that but still left his instance behind. (In the marketing materials, this was compared to Severance TV show; perhaps unneccessarily - I don't hype that show lol).

The novel has two pairs of protagonists/POVs, who had instanced between South Korea/USA and have contrasting approaches to it. Soyoung/Rose instanced as a child and never got kept touch with her other self. A funeral and last wish of their grandfather results in their first meeting in years. Yujin/YJ instanced unexpectedly to himself, when leaving for college. His both "selves" talk daily, play LoL together, and try to maximize their separate experience (education, visa and green card hopes - I like how immigration to the US and its complexities were a plot point here!) and micromanage their future (i.e. one will not date if another is in a committed relationship) with the hope of "reintegrating" later. When two instances touch, they become "one" again. 

This worldbuilding with all its logic, backstories (woven into the novel as historical instances of instancing or fairytales or social commentary) and emotions (who would people become when they reintegrate? does reintegration mean "death"? which life is more important?) is fascinating and I loved this premise! Unfortunately, it seems that the author put more energy and thought into that worldbuilding than into the actual plot and stakes. First of all, the novel is marketed as Soyoung planning to "steal" Rose's life, but the emotional urgency of this plot is lacking. I don't think Soyoung's motivations were explored well, especially that her life in South Korea does not seem to be worse than Rose's: actually, it seems better as Soyoung has a fiancee and a large family, while Rose only keeps in touch with her (instanced) mother and seems lonelier. The novel tries to push a belief that life in the USA is somehow better (YJ and Yujin also aspire to it) but... does not explain why? South Korea, as described in the novel, is a joyful place without any political oppression. This plot point would work much better in a fictional dystopia or in a time setting like Soviet Union/USA when emigration seemed to have different stakes than just economy.

Because I never understood Soyoung's motivations fully, I could not really connect with her as a protagonist. I like flawed protagonists, but she was sometimes cold and calculating, and a few pages later undecided and chaotic. I could not really root for her because I did. not understand her decisions. Her evolution from a character who cares about herself to someoone who cares about the world/others was also not believable. I found Yujin to be a more interesting character but it took a while to get to his POV. 

There was a thriller/corporate thriller aspect to this novel that was not sufficiently explored and did not seem as menacing as it should have been. There was also a romance that was interesting and fun to read about, but ultimately seemed too rushed and its conclusion was abrupt and psychologicallly unbelievable. The novel seemed both too short and too long at the same time. Too short, because these thriller/romantic aspects seemed rushed and too short, because at times nothing was happening. I learned later that this debut is based on a short story and when I read it, the structure and dramatic tension was much better. Paragraphs about the worldbuilding were an essential/literary structure of the short story, while in the novel they got repetitive and tiring. I think that the author did not fully think through how to convert that story to a novel-length prose and simultaneously packed it with too much stuff but also did not develop the stakes/emotions fully. It was still an interesting read, but it was not as deep and engaging as the premise suggested.

3.5 stars rounded up (because it's a debut; but I'm sad about the lost potential).