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I'm of not two but of several minds regarding this one. Compared to other novels dealing with environmental collapse, which are mostly focused on the visual with aural coming close second, Zhang here focuses on the gustatory with an unrelenting commitment - I expected cannibalism at one point. It is an interesting premise, to pay attention to the tastes that disappear with the extinction of plants and animals, to what becomes edible in what way and for whom. Portraying the circulation of taste, Zhang maps the class all the way up to the hyper-rich, and in a particularly gruesome scene their tastescape turns every bit disgusting as they generally are. The ending of the novel, though - it's commendable that Zhang offers a positive outlook not grounded in the delusions of the West Coast tech discourse, but it feels too deus ex machina-y and way too optimistic for my liking.