Apple has released a real chapter of Carol's "mindless crap" romantasy novel from Pluribus

As with the Severance book the tech giant put out earlier this year, Bloodsong has been released in excerpt form for free on Apple Books, and is going to be mostly interesting in terms of what it can tangentially reveal about Pluribus’ universe. The most pertinent stuff, unsurprisingly, comes in an opening letter from Sturka, who expresses open frustration that fans won’t stop asking her why her leading man Raban isn’t on the cover of the book, before explaining that she decided, against her publisher’s wishes, to release the chapter where the book does, in fact, reveal that Raban is alive. (But amnesiac! Duh-duh-duhhhhh!) True to the character, there’s a palpable sense of spiteful frustration in the note, along with a few wink-y nods to the show. (Including Carol saying how boring it’d be if we all thought alike, which, yes, is very cute.)

As to Bloodsong itself, it seems fine, or at least not overly given to wink-y irony or “so bad it’s good” obvious joke status. Instead, it’s just a quick glance at the miserable life of sand pirate Lucasia, who recently made her Gambit-talking lover walk the plank, has a crew afflicted with a mysterious sickness that causes moonlight to burn their skin, and is described with the kind of florid prose that grants a woman “fiery hands.” Kudos to whoever actually got paid to write this thing: It flows pretty well, and doesn’t wear out its welcome, without making us instantly go, “Woof, Carol, you were right about your books.”

Apple Books users can check the excerpt out for themselves here; meanwhile, you can read our latest review of Pluribus‘ first season right here.