After humanity learns their world is a simulation, a diverse group of travelers—including two lifelong friends facing mortality—embark on a cross-country bus tour to visit the "Impossibles," bizarre glitches that defy reality. As they encounter mind-bending anomalies and confront personal secrets, the journey becomes a humorous and heartfelt exploration of meaning, connection, and what it means to be real in an artificial world.

Reader Review Summary

Set in a world where it has been publicly revealed that reality is a digital simulation, the story follows a week-long bus tour across North America to visit the 'Impossibles'—physics-defying glitches and anomalies that appeared after the Announcement. The narrative centers on JP, an engineer with terminal cancer, and his best friend Dulin, a comic book writer, as they join a diverse group of travelers on the Canterbury Trails Tours bus. The cast includes a nun searching for God, a pregnant influencer aiming to make her unborn child famous, a podcaster and his son, a professor on the run from a cult, a group of octogenarians, and others, each with their own motivations for joining the tour. The journey takes them to increasingly bizarre locations such as a tunnel outside of time, a zero-gravity geyser, and ultimately Ghost City, a site rumored to hold answers about the simulation's creators. The narrative structure alternates between multiple points of view, with each character's backstory and perspective gradually revealed, and the story is interspersed with humor, philosophical questions, and moments of emotional depth.

Readers appreciated the book's character development, noting that the large ensemble cast was distinct and memorable once the initial introductions were navigated. The shifting points of view and the way each character's motivations and personal struggles were explored were frequently highlighted as strengths. The humor, described as witty, biting, and sometimes tongue-in-cheek, was cited as a major draw, as was the emotional resonance of the friendships and relationships, particularly between JP and Dulin. The imaginative world-building, including the creative design of the Impossibles and the simulated world's rules, was also praised. Many readers found the pacing engaging, the dialogue sharp, and the philosophical exploration of meaning, faith, mortality, and humanity in a simulated reality to be thought-provoking. The audiobook narration received positive feedback, and several readers mentioned that the story lingered with them after finishing.

Some readers found the book's large cast of characters overwhelming at first, with several reviews mentioning difficulty keeping track of everyone and their storylines, especially in the early chapters. The length of the novel and its pacing were cited as issues, with some feeling that the story was longer than necessary and that the middle section dragged. A few readers found certain action scenes or settings, such as the Zipper, confusing to visualize. There were also comments that some characters felt like caricatures or were less compelling than others, and that the tone could shift abruptly from humorous to overly dramatic or contrived. A minority of readers were put off by the book's vulgarity or found the plot less engaging than expected, with one reviewer noting that the story was more character-driven than plot-driven. The ending, while generally seen as satisfying, left some readers confused or wishing for more clarity on certain plot points.

The book draws inspiration from The Canterbury Tales, structuring the journey as both a literal and philosophical quest, and incorporates references to contemporary culture such as The Matrix and The Sims. The narrative includes a seating chart at the beginning to help readers track the characters, and the story is told through both physical and audiobook formats. The novel explores themes of existentialism, faith, free will, and the search for meaning in an artificial world, with characters representing a range of beliefs and responses to the knowledge of living in a simulation. The story balances absurdist and comedic elements with moments of poignancy and introspection, and includes thriller elements involving a character on the run from a cult. The book was published by Saga Press and has received an average rating of 4.14 out of 5 from over 300 readers.