Ava Forme’s Struth Mate! Is This Hell? is a mad, cosmic ride through a metaphysical reality where life, death, religion, science and philosophy collide. This isn’t your typical sci-fi or religious satire, it’s a sprawling, layered universe that takes big swings at answering life’s biggest questions: Why are we here? What happens after we die? Are we just meat machines or does something greater move us? Picking up from the model of the universe developed in the first book in this series, this volume throws us into the “scosmos,” a parallel spiritual plane, where spirits use life (and specifically the heightened abilities of human life) to try to solve some of the universe’s ultimate puzzles.

I found the writing style both wild and strangely charming. Forme’s world is complex and stuffed to the brim with ideas. It’s like reading someone’s fever dream if that dream had been outlined by a philosopher-turned-sci-fi author with a very dry sense of humor. The way new words are formed by slapping an “s” in front of them (like “slife” for spiritual life or “swalk” for spiritual walk) is weird at first, but it grew on me. It added to the surreal, alien-but-familiar tone of the book. I especially loved how Don, our narrator, walks us through Heaven like a sarcastic Airbnb host explaining self-image manipulation, spiritual politics, and bisexuality in the afterlife like it’s all totally normal. His personal discomfort, curiosity, and heartbreak over his lover Lesley’s secret identity as the reincarnated spirit of Adolf Hitler is told with emotional vulnerability and dry wit that somehow makes it all land.

That said, Struth Mate! isn’t a light beach read. It’s dense. There’s a whole metaphysical system introduced in the preamble and “Chapter 0” that includes spiritual echelons, reincarnation mechanics, and a universal information network called the sinternet that provides access to all knowledge stored in dark matter. It’s a lot. But that’s also what makes it fun, if you like a bit of brain-stretching fiction. One of the more memorable concepts was the “Kali Objective,” a mission given to gods (yes, there are many, and they retire like presidents) to stop the universe from continually cycling from Big Bang to Big Crunch by understanding and mastering cosmic forces. It’s ambitious, almost laughably so, but it hooked me. I caught myself wondering, “What if?” more than once.

Emotionally, the book lands harder than I expected. The way Forme explores spiritual longing, identity, and purpose hit close to home. Don’s inner conflict, especially when he finds out Lesley is not only God now but also carrying the spiritual echo of Hitler, is both bizarre and strangely touching. It makes you reflect on how we process trauma, identity, and destiny. The book might be dressed in cosmic technobabble and telepathic networking, but at its core, it’s about people (or spirits) trying to find meaning and connection in a chaotic universe.

If you need linear plots, clear-cut good guys and bad guys, or simple language, you’ll probably get frustrated. But if you’re the kind of reader who digs The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy mixed with The Good Place, stirred up with philosophical rambling and a healthy dose of irreverence, you’ll be in for a hell of a time. I’d recommend it to fans of speculative fiction, agnostics wrestling with cosmic meaning, or just anyone who likes their sci-fi on the strange side.

Pages: 511 | ASIN : B0F32RBYYG