Quick Take
- Narration: Sarah Beth Pfeifer handles Julietta’s first-person voice with the vulnerable intensity the shapeshifting identity crisis demands.
- Themes: Identity and bodily autonomy, survival in an apocalyptic world, superpowers as metaphor for self-determination
- Mood: Tense and propulsive, with genuine emotional weight beneath the action
- Verdict: A shapeshifter apocalypse novel that earns its nearly 24-hour runtime through exceptional character work and a premise that keeps paying out.
I stayed up considerably later than I intended with Are You Even Human: Volume 1, which is exactly what one reviewer reported happening to them. Natalie Maher has built a following through her previous serialized fiction, and this first volume in what is clearly an ongoing series arrives with real ambition. The premise is specific enough to feel original: in 2025, the moon hatched and its child died. That opening line lands with the deadpan confidence of a writer who knows exactly what kind of story she is telling and trusts readers to follow without extensive orientation. I found that trust well-placed.
Julietta gains the powers of a shapeshifter on her eighteenth birthday, which is also the day the sky splits in half and begins killing people. She can become any living thing she has touched, mixing and matching biological components with apparent fluidity, except when she tries to return to her original form. That exception is the book’s emotional engine, and Maher develops it with considerably more care than the genre typically brings to its power mechanics. Julietta is not trapped in a borrowed body because the plot requires it. She is trapped because the question of what her original form actually is has become genuinely uncertain.
Our Take on Are You Even Human Volume 1
Sarah Beth Pfeifer narrates, and she is the right choice. Julietta’s first-person voice needs to carry both the practical urgency of survival behind enemy lines and the more interior anxiety about identity that accumulates across the book’s considerable length. Pfeifer handles both registers with consistency, which matters across nearly 24 hours of listening. She does not iron out the character’s emotional volatility into audiobook professionalism, which would have been the easy choice and the wrong one.
The worldbuilding is one of the book’s genuine achievements. Extradimensional invaders, human superpowers that appear without systematic explanation, a war that has been going badly for longer than Julietta has been alive, these elements accumulate into something that feels lived-in rather than freshly assembled for narrative convenience. A reviewer who was initially worried this would be too similar to another shapeshifter series found the premise and characters distinct enough that it stood entirely on its own. That distinctiveness comes from the specificity of Maher’s details, the particular way the powers work, the particular texture of the apocalypse, rather than from avoiding familiar genre territory.
Why Listen to Are You Even Human Volume 1
The pacing is one of the book’s strengths through most of its runtime. Reviewers consistently note being unable to put it down, with one finishing it during finals week in two days and another staying up until early morning. Pfeifer’s narration contributes to this quality; she reads with the forward momentum of someone who knows where the story is going and trusts the listener to keep up.
At 23 hours and 51 minutes, this is a serious commitment. The LGBTQ Plus genre classification is relevant: Julietta’s relationship to her own body, her gender presentation, and her identity while inhabiting other forms carries genuine weight in the narrative rather than serving as background texture. Readers who came to the book through that framing will find the identity themes fully integrated rather than ornamental.
What to Watch For in Are You Even Human Volume 1
One reviewer noted that inner monologue sections could be trimmed, finding themselves skipping passages of introspective reasoning about disability representation and social dynamics. That is an honest critical note. Maher writes with evident conviction about the ethics of ability and judgment, and some of those passages extend beyond what the narrative requires. Listeners who find internal philosophical digression disruptive to plot momentum should be aware this quality exists, though it surfaces in specific sections rather than throughout.
The book ends without full resolution, which is standard for a series opener but worth knowing in advance. The cliffhanger has generated the reaction serialized fiction courts: multiple reviewers reported needing Volume 2 immediately. If you dislike investing in incomplete stories, wait until more volumes are available. If you are comfortable with ongoing series, the worldbuilding and character investment here will make the wait feel worth it.
Who Should Listen to Are You Even Human Volume 1
Readers who enjoyed post-apocalyptic fiction with strong character interiority, superhero origin narratives that prioritize identity over action spectacle, and LGBTQ themes embedded in genre frameworks will find this exactly calibrated to their interests. Fans of Natalie Maher’s previous work will want this immediately. New readers should know the book requires patience with its runtime and comfort with an unresolved ending. Those who want tight, complete stories without series commitments should wait for additional volumes to accumulate before investing the 24 hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Are You Even Human Volume 1 suitable as an entry point for readers new to Natalie Maher’s work?
Yes. This series is independent of Maher’s previous work. Reviewers who came to it cold had no difficulty engaging, and the worldbuilding is self-contained within this volume.
How central are the LGBTQ themes to the plot, and do they require genre-specific expectations from the listener?
Julietta’s identity questions, including gender and bodily autonomy, are structurally integrated into the shapeshifter premise rather than handled as separate social content. Readers of all backgrounds can engage with the identity themes through the SF framework without prior familiarity with LGBTQ fiction conventions.
Does the nearly 24-hour runtime feel padded, or does the story earn its length?
Most reviewers felt the length was justified by the worldbuilding and character development. One reviewer noted that inner monologue sections in specific passages could be trimmed, but the overall consensus is that the story earns its runtime through consistent forward momentum.
Is Volume 2 available, and does the series have a projected completion?
Based on release date metadata, Volume 1 was published in June 2025. As of early 2026, Volume 2 had not yet been released per reviewer comments expressing urgency for the next installment. The series appears to be ongoing.
