“Of course Jules was alive, they had never faced a challenge whose ass they couldn’t kick, and they had the stores of righteous rage that all retail employees collected.”
― Nino Cipri, Finna“It’s okay,” Jules said. They looked….not calm, exactly, but not scared. They looked, as they had for most of their trip, thrilled that they weren’t getting misgendered while answering customers’ stupid questions about how much weight a towel rod could really hold.
― Nino Cipri, Finna
Ava works at LitenVärld and she hates it. It is the middle of winter. It is dark, cold, snowy, and Ava is newly single after ending things with her partner, Jules. If being called into work on her day off weren’t bad enough, now she has to interact with Jules, who is also her coworker, a mere three days after ending things.
Ava tells herself that if she can just make it through the day, then she and Jules can update their schedules so they don’t have to share a shift ever again. She never has the right thing to say, especially when Jules’s hurt is plain to see.
While searching for a shopper who is reported missing somewhere in the IKEA-like labyrinth showroom, reportedly before the Nihilist Bachelor cube but after the Pan-Asian Appropriating White Yoga teacher fitness corner, Ava and Jules stumble upon a wormhole.
Apparently, this LitenVärld connects to other LitenVärld’s and occasionally wormholes open up between universes. Being the most junior employees on-site that day, Ava is “volun-told” by her shift manager Tricia, that she and Jules are responsible for entering the wormhole and seeking out the missing shopper using a device called a Finna.
This novella is so damn funny, I wish it were an entire book. The plot is charming and pleasantly predictable. Ava and Jules don’t necessarily come out okay on the other side (you see what I did there). But they find a way to work together despite the mutual hurt and mistrust they both still harbor.
I’m adding the sequel, Defekt, to my TBR list.
Update: I just noticed that the cover art is Allen wrenches!