Sublimation

by Isabel J. Kim ★★★★☆

In her thought-provoking debut novel, Isabel J. Kim explores a world in which copies of people are created when a person chooses to immigrate to a new place. "Instancing" happens when the person crosses the border, and does so with intention.

"It's not curiosity that creates instances. Not the desire to know the world outside your own boundaries. Marco Polo famously didn't instance. You can travel the whole world and still return home and stay singular. It's not a bad thing, to instance. But it means that you were of two minds. It shows a desire beyond wonder. It suggests a desire for escape, and understanding that either the world outside is so beautiful it must be permanently inhabited or the world inside is so terrible that it should be escaped.

In the novel's open, we meet Rose, the instance of Soyoung. Rose and her mother immigrated to America when Rose was a child, leaving Soyoung and an instance of Soyoung's mother behind in Korea. The relationship between instances varies; we meet one character in the book, Soyoung's friend Yujin, who talks to his American instance YJ daily. But in the case of Rose and her mother, there was no contact with their former selves. "An instance is you, until you make enough choices that you are no longer them. An instance is what would have happened if you had gone, or if you had stayed. It does not feel like having a twin."

Rose returns to Korea for the first time since her instancing twenty years prior to attend her grandfather's funeral. He had requested she be there for it, and she feels enough obligation to this family member who she hadn't seen in two decades to make the trip. When she arrives, Soyoung presents Rose with documentation that wills her grandfather's house in Korea to Rose, not Soyoung. Soyoung also tells Rose that her grandfather wished for them to reintegrate.

Reintegration happens when two instances touch. They merge back into a singular being, a process that creates an internal conflict of contrasting memories that feels somewhat schizophrenic. To prevent accidental reintegration, a company called MERGEBREAK has created a device that does just what their name suggests: it prevents unwanted reintegration when both instances wear their MERGEBREAK bracelets. Soyoung has the bracelets for her and Rose. Rose has no desire to reintegrate, but Soyoung isn't not sure that reintegration isn't the right direction for the two of them to go.

The novel can be a bit mind-bending at times, but Kim does a good job of keeping perspectives clear. There is extensive exploration of the psychological impact of immigration. The characters have never considered a world without instancing, because that world has never existed. "Instancing is a fact. It's how the world is. Like gravity and stars and needing to sleep." But at some point they begin to ask themselves if instancing is a good thing, and would the world be better if you didn't have to leave a copy of yourself behind. And if that world existed, who should have control over that decision? Is it the individual or the government?

I give Sublimation high marks for creativity, although parallel's to Apple TV's Severance are inevitable. Like top-notch sci-fi, it tackles of-the-moment topics in a creative way, in this case forcing readers to consider immigration and border control through a different lens. There's room for improvement with the plotting and pacing, but overall it was an interesting novel to read and one that will keep me thinking for a while.

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Quick Facts

• Title: Sublimation

• Author: Isabel J. Kim

• Publisher: Tor Books

• Release Date: June 2, 2026

• Format: Ebook

• ISBN-13: 978-1250376800

• Pages: 368