Kwan Ann Tan
Union Square & Co
3 November 2026
124
eBook - EPUB
Fantasy/Interactive
ARC via NetGalley
In a future London, the rich hoard wealth and Waiters do the menial jobs no one else has time for. The city is being swallowed into the ground by “maws,” gaping holes that appear and disappear without explanation—no one knows how or why they form, only that they seem to manifest wherever will cause the most chaos. Occasionally, a maw will leave behind a person: someone who wakes up without memories or any understanding of how they came to be swallowed up by the darkness.
You are one of them. As an unnamed Waiter, you must select your jobs carefully or risk losing work credits, while also trying to keep your humanity intact. Meanwhile, a desire to understand yourself creeps in: Who were you before this? Who might you become?
A bold and imaginative debut that allows readers to chart their own adventure, this book offers a world of possibilities, with eleven different endings and countless journeys toward them. A unique, voice-driven literary experience, The Waiter prompts readers to wrestle with agency and desire in a world that feels like it’s coming apart at the seams.
As a child I remember reading and loving a lot of 'choose your own adventure' books (cheating a little at times so I didn't die!), so I was interested to see what it would be like to read The Waiter as an adult. And, I have to say, it was great fun. I read the book in a single sitting, working my way back and forth until I had experienced all 11 of the possible endings. It was super fun, and it was interesting to see the different vibe the story took depending on which way you chose to proceed. Some readings felt like a tragic/bittersweet love story, others were more like a horror or thriller tale. The book was cleverly put together to allow for all these scenarios to play out and for them all to feel reasonable and complete. I wondered if it would be hard to read this as an eBook, needing to move between sections, but it worked seamlessly, and when you reached an ending, it was easy to jump back to the exact spot of your previous choices to choose a different path. All up, this was an entertaining read that brought me some child-like pleasure in having control over the narrative. I am giving it 4.5 stars and I would definitely pick up other books by this author in the future.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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