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厂辩耻补谤别鲁

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We think we understand the laws of physics. We think reality is an immutable monolith, consistent from one end of the universe to the next. We think the square/cube law has actual relevance.

We think a lot of things. It was perhaps inevitable that some of them would turn out to be wrong.

When the great incursion occurred, no one was prepared. How could they have been? Of all the things physicists had predicted, "the fabric of reality might rip open and giant monsters could come pouring through" had not made the list. But somehow, on a fine morning in May, that was precisely what happened.

For sisters Susan and Katharine Black, the day of the incursion was the day they lost everything. Their home, their parents, their sense of normalcy...and each other, because when the rift opened, Susan was on one side and Katharine was on the other, and each sister was stranded in a separate form of reality. For Susan, it was science and study and the struggle to solve the mystery of the altered physics inside the zones transformed by the incursion. For Katharine, it was monsters and mayhem and the fight to stay alive in a world unlike the world of her birth.

The world has changed. The laws of physics have changed. The girls have changed. And the one universal truth of all states of changed matter is that nothing can be completely restored to what it was originally, no matter how much you might wish it could be.

Nothing goes back.

144 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 2021

58 people are currently reading
3924 people want to read

About the author

Mira Grant

48books5,962followers
Mira also writes as .

Born and raised in Northern California, Mira Grant has made a lifelong study of horror movies, horrible viruses, and the inevitable threat of the living dead. In college, she was voted Most Likely to Summon Something Horrible in the Cornfield, and was a founding member of the Horror Movie Sleep-Away Survival Camp, where her record for time survived in the Swamp Cannibals scenario remains unchallenged.

Mira lives in a crumbling farmhouse with an assortment of cats, horror movies, comics, and books about horrible diseases. When not writing, she splits her time between travel, auditing college virology courses, and watching more horror movies than is strictly good for you. Favorite vacation spots include Seattle, London, and a large haunted corn maze just outside of Huntsville, Alabama.

Mira sleeps with a machete under her bed, and highly suggests that you do the same.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 202 reviews
Profile Image for destiny 鈾� howling libraries.
1,965 reviews6,146 followers
August 8, 2022
One moment, everything was normal. The next, physics and mathematics were negotiable things, and the supposed laws that had always governed biology were shattered beyond all repair.

This is a story about breaking rules, which is ironic, because it broke one of my rules as a reader. Generally speaking, I don't read a lot of sci-fi, and what I do read is what you'd consider Sci-Fi Lite鈩笍. I like stories set in space, the future, etc., but if you start bringing mathematics and physics and particles and atoms into the writing, I'll usually zone out pretty quickly. (I'm working on it, but it's slow progress.) Leave it to Mira Grant to somehow include those things in a story and still keep me nothing less than 100% engaged from start to finish.

Her masters had created a world where their own citizens couldn't trust them to help without trying to take over, where their primary goal after a world-changing natural disaster was not "how can we use this tragedy to make the world better" but "how can we use this to kill people more effectively?"

What's more, though, is that this is a story about failing government systems, people being forgotten and taken advantage of by the powers that be, and the impossibility of humanity thriving under the fists of capitalism and war. Perhaps that's part of why I loved this book so much, and why it resonated so deeply with me: it's a book written during a pandemic, referencing the pandemic and aftereffects of it, and at times, it points a jaded finger at a government that sat idly by and pursued money while its citizens died and chaos erupted 鈥� all while bearing an underlying tone of resentment that I feel in my bones, just like the author (if you follow her tweets as closely as I do, you already know).

No, the monsters weren't coming from Evanston this time. They were in Chicago, they were in the government, they were in tailored suits and boardrooms, making plans about people and profit.

And, at the end of the day, it's a story about monsters, too. From the insidious suit-and-tie wearing ones all the way to the big, otherworldly ones. It's a horrific, infuriating, painful, sometimes heart-warming story, wrapped up in Mira's distinct, beautiful, clever writing, and I loved every single page of it.

鉁� Representation: Katherine is autistic; Harris is queer

鉁� Content warnings for:

鈥斺赌斺赌�
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Profile Image for karen.
4,012 reviews172k followers
Read
June 1, 2021
okay, i did it, and i am not losing any sleep over my decision. it's already halfway sold out, and they've just posted a (tiny) excerpt

**

i love mira grant, but i can barely follow the description of this one, DO I SPEND FORTY DOLLARS YES OR NO??!!??

Limited: 1250 signed numbered hardcover copies: $40
Profile Image for Craig.
5,945 reviews156 followers
February 16, 2022
This is a nice science fiction/horror story that begins in a post-pandemic 2022 that suffers a sudden breaching of dimensional barriers causing havoc and mayhem to be unleashed. It tells the story of two sisters who find themselves on opposite sides of the barrier and how they come together despite manic muons, crazy kaiju, and the short-sighted efforts of the industrial/military establishment to weaponize children who have been changed by the events. It's a fun Stranger Things or '80's X-Men kind of story, with perhaps a bit more female empowerment. The book is divided into seven chapters, which are labeled #'s 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, and 49, and I found that a little bewildering, so perhaps there's more that went over my head. It's a fast paced and well written story in any event.
Profile Image for Trish.
2,332 reviews3,727 followers
January 31, 2023
Mira Grant is the alter ego of Seanan McGuire. Apparently, she uses this pen name when she writes scifi/horror stuff.

17 years ago, there was an incursion where rifts opened and monsters came out. Weird optimal stuff happened, driving a lot of people to suicide. Sisters Susan and Katharine ended up on two different sides of one such rift in the fabric of reality.
Now, Susan is a government-employed scientist while Katherine has successfully fought for her life in an alternate world.

If the premise sounds like a mix between Lovecraftian stories and Pacific Rim, you're on the right track.

This might be a novella, but it was full of funny pop-culture references, creepy stuff and things that go bump not just in the night.

Seriously, the altered laws of physics (and biology) were awesome and I loved the worldbuilding even more than the characters. In general, I loved the story so much, I wished Netflix was making a show about this.
Profile Image for Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany).
2,656 reviews4,561 followers
December 18, 2022
4.5 stars rounded up

This is what I want from a sci-fi novella! It's fun, fast-paced, and intriguing with a sense of a larger world. I think it's gutsy to write a dystopian sci-fi with alternate dimensions set in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it also gives the novella a greater sense of realism. This is about twin sisters separated by a disaster of epic proportions. I won't say more that that, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The audio narration is excellent as well. I received an audio review copy via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
Profile Image for Schizanthus Nerd.
1,317 reviews292 followers
January 5, 2022
One moment, nature had laws and generally followed them, unenforced and unpoliced. One moment, everything was normal. The next, physics and mathematics were negotiable things, and the supposed laws that had always governed biology were shattered beyond all repair.
Seventeen year old Katharine and her fourteen year old sister, Susan, are almost close enough to one another when the incursion happens. Almost.

Now an adult, Susan works in 鈥渞ift physics鈥�, the world she knew as a child changed in ways her and other scientists are still trying to come to grips with. Katharine, meanwhile, is on the other side of the rift. Susan doesn鈥檛 even know if her sister is still alive. That side of the rift is where the monsters came from, after all.
鈥淪ometimes you have to be inside a thing to understand it鈥�
I preordered this book in May 2021 and may have accidentally burned the cover image into my brain since then. It had me expecting more monsters per page than I actually encountered but the monsters I met were well worth the anticipation.

I loved Katharine and Susan and the ways they looked after one another as kids. I loved the science and how easily I believed all of this was not only possible but potentially imminent.

Just in case this novella winds up in the non fiction section, it鈥檚 been really nice knowing you. No matter which side of the rift I end up on, it鈥檚 practically a certainty that I鈥檓 a goner. Maybe I鈥檒l be too mesmerised by the impossible colours to notice the monsters. Maybe I鈥檒l be too curious about the possibilities of the other side of the rift. Maybe I鈥檒l irritate the wrong kid.
鈥淪hould I be alarmed?鈥�
鈥淚t won鈥檛 change anything if you are, so I wouldn鈥檛 bother wasting the time if I were you.鈥�
Bonus points for the delightfully appropriate chapter numbering and Susan鈥檚 Project title.

Now, if someone would please commission a companion novella written from Katharine鈥檚 point of view or a sequel, I鈥檇 be a really happy soon to be squished, melted or otherwise mangled rift casualty. And if that could happen some time in the next, oh, 130 days, that鈥檇 be awesome.

Heads up: the incursion happens on 16 May 2022. Don鈥檛 say I didn鈥檛 warn you.
鈥淭his is a safety light!鈥�
Blog -
Profile Image for Julia Sarene.
1,600 reviews194 followers
January 28, 2025
Square3 by Mira Grant is a very quick story I devoured in one afternoon.

At the start I didn't really know where it was going, but was easily drawn by the narrative voice.

The farther I got the less I knew what was actually going on, as everything I learned opened 5 new questions - but in the good way! It is thought provoking and fascinating to try to find out what happened to the world, and the characters.

Aside from the setting, the characters were definitely my main draw, and I must say it didn't feel like a novella to me, but like a way longer novel, the way I got a feel for them and the world. This is in my eyes always the mark of a great short format, if it doesn't feel "short" but perfectly right.
Profile Image for Howard.
1,930 reviews111 followers
December 2, 2023
4 Stars for Square3 (audiobook) Mira Grant read by Rachel F. Hirsch.

Sisters and separated as the fabric of the universe is ripped apart. One sister struggles to understand the bizarre physics in this new strange world and the other sister gets to deal with monsters and leaning to live in a world of mayhem.
Profile Image for Devann.
2,460 reviews184 followers
January 1, 2022
A decent story with an interesting premise and I'll always read anything Seanan writes but I think that either I'm getting the point where I'm not enjoying novellas very much or she's getting worse at writing them because usually I feel like she does a really good job fitting a lot of information and character development into a small page space but everything just felt incredibly rushed here to me. Love the bones of this story but it really just left me wanting more at every turn and I would have loved to be able to take some time and get to know the characters and the world more.
Profile Image for Matthew Galloway.
1,079 reviews50 followers
February 18, 2022
I'm just going to keep this review short because it's a slim novella without a ton to explore. Which isn't a criticism. This focuses on one real idea and explores it well. However, that idea is NOT kaiju or other monsters, really, other than the human kind. That made it hard for me to realize that I really was enjoying the book at first -- the description and cover had me so ready for giant critter mayhem that is pretty minimal and tangential to the actual plot.
Profile Image for Rian *fire and books*.
608 reviews210 followers
December 30, 2022
鈥淚 told you so.鈥�

This is my favorite of the Mira Grant novella鈥檚 I鈥檝e read and probably my second favorite after Into the Drowning Deep.

This was compulsively readable, fresh, exciting, and delightful. I want more of this.
Profile Image for Roz.
684 reviews199 followers
January 2, 2022
Somehow this felt more like a Seanan McGuire novella than a Mira Grant one and I like her MG stuff more.
Profile Image for Sam (she_who_reads_).
780 reviews17 followers
September 8, 2022
I鈥檓 not entirely sure I鈥檓 smart enough to have fully grasped everything that was going on with this one, but man did I still enjoy myself!
Profile Image for Brok3n.
1,360 reviews94 followers
August 12, 2022
Square-Cube Laws conspicuously absent

Here's how the publisher's blurb for begins:

We think we understand the laws of physics. We think reality is an immutable monolith, consistent from one end of the universe to the next. We think the square/cube law has actual relevance.

We think a lot of things. It was perhaps inevitable that some of them would turn out to be wrong.

I'd like to take a moment to appreciate what a great intro that is for a book. But not THIS book. It is not even slightly relevant to what's inside .

The rest of the blurb, thankfully, is better. It's a pretty good summary of the plot, and I will not repeat it. Like many stories ( is of course a pen-name of 's, but the books she publishes as have a distinctive character), this one is centered an a relationship between two people who love each other. In this case it is a pair of sisters, Susan and Katharine Black, who are separated from each other by an extradimensional incursion 16-May-2022. (I read this 8-Aug-2022, and noted with relief that the date of the predicted tragedy had already passed without incident. Presumably we are now safe.)

Like most stories, this one contains a super-obnoxious scientist cosplayer (the aforementioned Susan Black) and . I enjoyed the read, but less than most of 's work. It all seemed very sketchy, not well thought out. The relationship of the sisters was the best part, but fairly minor in the sense that most of the words and pages concern other things.

Just for the Hell of it, since square/cubed laws appear nowhere in the book outside the publisher's blurb, here's what they are. There is no such thing as "THE square/cube law", rather, there are a bunch of them. They are the reason that you can't have giants. For instance, the physical strength of a limb (such as a leg) goes as the square of its linear size, i.e. as "size times size". The weight of a body goes as the cube of the linear size, i.e. "size times size times size". If you take any animal, for instance a human, and scale it up proportionately, the weight increases much faster than the strength. Like, a person twice as big as normal would weigh eight times normal, but be four times as strong as normal. So a giant human would collapse. (In actual fact, very tall people have serious health problems.) The largest animal that has ever lived is the blue whale (yes, bigger than dinosaurs) -- it survives in part because it lives in water and doesn't need to support its weight. There are similar relationships for respiration -- the amount of oxygen you need goes as the cube of size, while your ability to taken in oxygen from the air goes as the square of size. Dinosaurs were possible in part because there was more oxygen in the air in the Cretaceous. For flying animals, lift goes as square of size, while weight, as already stated, goes as the square. Thus animals with true flight are relatively small.

Some giant monsters make a brief appearance in . I suppose, in a pinch could point to that to justify the title.

.
Profile Image for 鈽曪笍Kimberly  (Caffeinated Reviewer).
3,450 reviews764 followers
January 23, 2023
A great incursion occurred, ripping the fabric of our existence. From those rips monsters broke through. Now the areas are quarantined and heavily guarded. Anything that comes out dies, as does anything that goes in. When the incursion occurred, Susan and Katharine Black were separated. Susan made it out, but their home & parents did not. Now Susan works for the government, studying the altered physics of these zones. Humans live within the zone, but are also altered. Susan has never given up hope that her sister, Katherine is among them.

The tale that unfolds held me captive from the beginning. Grant is a master at world-building and creating a reality that feels grounded in science. When a camera picks up a signal, Susan races to the containment area and what she discovers will forever change her. I found myself invested in the characters, and curious for more of this world.

Of course mankind tries to use this incurion to their advantage against world powers. Will we ever learn? I did not want the story to end and image there are more stories to be told. In truth, I would have enjoyed a full-length version of this tale.

An exciting and riveting tale, perfect for a snowy weekend or day trip. Rachel F. Hirsch did a wonderful job setting the tone and bringing the characters to life.
Profile Image for Judy.
3,345 reviews29 followers
January 7, 2024
I read this for the 2024 Popsugar Challenge prompt #13 "a book originally published under a pen name".

This is a short but thought-provoking novela about the aftermath of a catastrophic event in which the world is split into two types of environments. The main character was separated from her sister at that time, and has been working ever since then to try to understand what happened to her sister. Suddenly her sister is able to signal her and she begins to try to help rescue her niece and nephew. The physics in the plot is pretty much above my head, but the rest of it was interesting, although as usual I prefer longer and more fully fleshed out stories (my personal hang-up, no reflection on this book). 3.5 stars
Profile Image for Meredith.
Author听3 books10 followers
December 31, 2021
Riveting and chilling - I'm tempted to sit back down and read it again immediately. I think the cats and dogs will stick with me most - and the colors.
Profile Image for Steven.
1,198 reviews440 followers
April 29, 2024
I鈥檇 love some more in this world! That was a blast.
Profile Image for Angela.
77 reviews16 followers
December 16, 2022
Mira Grant is a genius. I do not know how she does it but she can take scientific data and web it into such engaging stories - if you like Sci-fi of course ;)
What I love about her books- including Square 3- is that she makes the science referenced so sound, so believable that the story itself feels so real, feels so possible. This short story captivated me in science and in a sisters pursuit for truth.
The book begins with two sisters, Susan and Katherine (Kitty) who developed a "safety" signal which does end up significant as the world as they know it changes in an instant. Susan and Kitty are separated - unknown if the other is safe. Susan buries herself in studies, determined to find out everything she can about these mysteries rifts and monsters. Without giving any spoilers, the story follows Susan, her studies, the people around her and she is surprised at what she finds. Its truly a fantastic short sci-fi story of love and a bond between sisters regardless of time. If you've enjoyed other Mira Grant stories, this is another one to be sure to pick up.

ARC provided by netgalley. Thank you very much for the opportunity to devour this audiobook!
Profile Image for Paul Preston.
1,410 reviews
December 22, 2022
I perked up right at the start of listening to this. SQUARE3 by Mira Grant @seananmcguire had its hooks in me right from the beginning of this audiobook.
Two sisters were separated by mere feet when the incursion occurred, rifts opened in all the major cities of the world. Everything on the inside was devastated and nothing could enter the area without dying. New fields of physics were created to study and try to understand what happened. The only thing that was known was any pregnant woman who lived in the incursion areas gave birth to children with special abilities.
Years went by and everyone on the inside was believed to be dead, until a message came through.
As soon as I started listening to this I knew I needed a physical copy, however it only is available as a special edition from Subterranean Press. You can get an ebook and now the audiobook is available and it was so much fun. @rachelfhirsch does a fantastic job on the narration, she really brings this story to life.
Profile Image for No茅mie J. Crowley .
629 reviews106 followers
April 14, 2022
Un beau jour de 2022, plusieurs failles s'ouvrent 脿 travers le monde, d茅truisant des villes enti猫res, laissant entrer des monstres informes, et cr茅ant des "barri猫res", rendant impossible l'茅change de personnes ou d'objets. Les lois de la physique changent du jour au lendemain ... Et Susan Black en a fait les frais.

Je dois dire ne pas 锚tre une fane de nouvelles, trouvant le format tr猫s frustrant. Ce livre, avec ses id茅es passionnantes, m茅ritent d'锚tre une trilogie de 500 pages chaque tellement il y aurai 脿 d茅velopper. Du coup, c'est g茅nial, mais pas assez ! J'en veux plus !
Sortez moi des pav茅s, please !
Profile Image for Jamie.
221 reviews50 followers
December 19, 2022
Thank you Netgalley and Tantor Audio for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this novella. I actually wanted it to be longer. This is why I gave it four stars and not five. There was so much more information that I wanted, but didn't get. However, the premise and execution of this story were fantastic. I loved the science aspect. I wanted to know more about the Incursion. I wanted to know more about the children. I wanted more from Susan. I just wanted more. I finished this quickly as it grabbed me from the first line.

Fantastic narration. I would highly recommend this story. I hope eventually there will be more stories in this world.
Profile Image for Todd.
9 reviews
January 2, 2022
Another great science horror from Mira Grant

This is shorter than her usual work, but it packs a punch. This is post-pandemic the Before Times are gone fiction that imagines the world in fascinating and terrible ways. I don't want to spoil too much, so I won't detail plot or characters. Suffice it to say that everything follows logically as the world unfolds. The horrible inevitability of what people do and the absolute need to remain humane, rational and subversive are the very timely messages.

And I never trusted Pokemons. Not one little bit.
Profile Image for Julie.
987 reviews22 followers
November 11, 2022
I enjoyed reading this - actually reminded me a little bit of Roadside Picnic in some ways. I did feel like I was expecting to find out more about the square-cube idea but it seemed a little bit like pseudo-science to me.
Profile Image for GiGi.
754 reviews4 followers
January 29, 2023
Interesting setup but its execution was childish and unrealistic.

The narrator's audible swallowing was jarring.
Profile Image for Geekess.
182 reviews16 followers
February 10, 2023
Nice concept, cute little novella. But it lacked the usual Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire oomph, sorry.
3 stars out of 5, barely.
Profile Image for Christine Z.
88 reviews3 followers
May 11, 2025
I loved this book, the only problem was that it wasn鈥檛 long enough! Very unique story, I cared about all the characters and I liked the ending. I may read it again. A big thank you to my sister for recommending this little gem.
Profile Image for Berni Phillips.
627 reviews4 followers
January 6, 2022
This is a stand-alone novel by Seanan McGuire's SF alter-ego.

Teenaged sisters Susan (age 14) and Katherine (age 17) were as close to each other as they were different from each other. They had to be close because their parents really didn't know or care how to be good parents. Riding bicycles, Katherine (or Kitty) notices that the sky has gone the green that heralds tornadoes. She wants to turn around and go home before it strikes, but her reckless little sister doesn't want to go home. This is a pattern: Kitty is hyper-responsible, looking out for the wild and heedless Susan. Kitty finally has to evoke their safety word (or phrase), safety light, to signal that she is not playing and they really need to do this.

Too late, an alien rift appears between the two sisters. A monster comes out and starts doing what monsters do, destroy things. Susan never saw her sister again.

Skip ahead and we see adult Susan, who has gotten her Ph.D. and is a researcher working to discover the science behind those rifts. The land never healed, and children that are born near these places begin manifesting super-powers. There are still places that never recovered from these rifts, dead zones where nothing can safely pass or come out alive.

Susan is working in a lab nearest the rift that opened near her. She hears that there has been a sighting of a safety light inside this area. This immediately makes her think of her sister so she goes there.

I'm going to stop with the plot summary here. When that rift appeared and she lost her sister (and her parents, but that she didn't mind so much), Susan grew up. She grew up and became the sort of woman her sister was headed to be: a careful researcher, no longer a daredevil, obsessive about trying to find what happened to her sister.

Funding for any such project is generally from the government and more specifically the military. They're always looking for new weapons and this rift is an opportunity. Children with super powers - imagine if baby Kal-El had landed in DC and been found by someone seeking to use this infant as a secret weapon. If you were the leader of another country, wouldn't you want to get your own super-baby?

You can tell the story becomes Susan trying to do good against the dehumanizing power of her employers. I liked this and the super-powered children she encounters are rather scary. But they are scary in the okay-until-you-do-something-you-shouldn't way, not the this-is-mindless-evil way. Only a fool would get on their bad side. Susan can't go back and undo her reckless ride which separated her from her sister, but she can try to make amends in a different way.

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