WHAT A BOOK!! I haven't been so excited to read something in AGES, as soon as it arrived I knew it was my next to read. and the Broken Binding special edition of it is absolutely amazing.

Calypso was a perfect blend of sci-fi and poetry. It kind of reminds me of the 2018 film "Annihilation" in terms of aesthetic, which is such a choice comparison to make for visuals alone, but I loved that movie and loved this book, and in some weird roundabout way, they're sort of similar! I didn't know what to expect going in, and coming out of it, I still don't fully know what I was given, but I do know that I loved it. 

Holy mother of formatting. The main appeal of Calypso is the different perspectives and the way they each speak/type. It's impossible to fully explain how each perspective speaks, but they're all so unique and stand apart from each other in a way that gives them so much character. Langmead plays around with voice, style, punctuation, capitalization, margins, spacing, and even alignment, all to create four really distinct voices that each contribute to the story in their own way: Rochelle, Catherine, Arthur, and The Herald. I had a BLAST getting to learn the characters, and it's no small feat for an author to be able to write such gorgeous characters with all different styles. 
Rochelle was the main character, so we saw a lot more of her. She had so much importance in terms of learning about who she was, who she is, and her whole story was so touching and beautiful. 
Followed closely by Catherine, who was EASILY my favourite character both for style of writing and personality 🌸 because who doesn't love a bioengineered plant woman who'll sacrifice herself for a better world? Catherine's chapters were STUNNING, especially as we neared the latter half of the book, and her perspectives made me cry at least twice. 
Arthur was the third most prevalent, but he really existed to give some exposition and to set the scene a little more, to give depth to the decisions being made. I would have liked to see more from him, but he wasn't as immediately important as Rochelle and Catherine were. 
The Herald had one "chapter"; his perspective felt a little unnecessary but I did really enjoy it regardless, and it gave a pretty good chunk of the story all within his section. 
Dotted throughout with captivating illustrations, I was just so sucked into the world.

Despite the fact that the book was definitely more of a vibes read, and that the characters carried the story, it did still have a concrete plot & a really touching arc. It was short, so it didn't explore a lot of the intricacies I usually look for in sci-fi, and it didn't add anything to the genre. This wasn't a plot that we've never seen before, or an inventive take on the genre.
If you're wanting a more concrete, realistic, or "proper" sci-fi book, this isn't it. While it was still amazing, it was meant to explore topics like humanity, history, learning from our mistakes, giving to the future, and self sacrifice, using a sci-fi setting as a tool to do that, rather than focusing on being a sci-fi piece. Maybe that makes 0 sense but I'm sure the people who need to hear it will understand it. 

I do still think that fans of sci-fi, poetry, and people who want to be immersed in vivid, tangible imagery will love this book. But just be aware going into it: it's weird! And you have to sort of embrace that, because for how great it is, it's also just so out there and wild, and I really did love every second of it. 💫 I feel like I could honestly just go on and on about this book, but you need to read it for yourself to fully understand