"A searing work of speculative fiction." –Kirkus Reviews
"The High-Rise Diver is chillingly beautiful dissection of perfected capitalism. Lucadou creates a horribly convincing world where every aspect of existence has been monetised. In a taut, delicate narrative an implacable and disinterested cruelty faces the human ache for tenderness, mercy, contact and affection." –A.L. Kennedy
"Straightforward and cool, the author's short, unadorned sentences reveal how the promise of salvation through greater efficiency, growth, and individual luck actually represses, stifles, and destroys the very essence of life: spontaneity, pain, dirt, emotion, poetry." –Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
"A glistening novel about the blockade of welfare that is closing in on the entire world." –Clemens Setz, author of Indigo
"What makes Julia von Lucadou's novel so impressive is the accuracy with which she describes this high-gloss, modern, but by no means completely fictional world. Every detail is so precise that, lurking beneath the flawlessness of the text, the central theme of perfidious self-optimization seems to always be present." –Süddeutsche Zeitung
"Julia von Lucadou's science fiction is close. Against the backdrop of the gleaming images used to portray this Orwellian-style city-state, the tragic moments of direct human encounters take on a dimension of clever criticism." –Spiegel Online
"The author's precision in depicting the process of decay, later marked by delusional episodes, is the explosive force behind this text. It meticulously states the consequences of a society governed by totalitarian control and optimization. Welcome to neo-liberalism 4.0!" –Berliner Zeitung
"In literary and discursive terms, the most exciting debut of the autumn season." –Kulturnews
"With clear analysis and precision, Julia von Lucadou describes the merciless surveillance of the world of big data." –Inforadio
"The High-Rise Diver is a highly intelligent, prescient, and entertaining novel about our brave new world of voluntary surveillance. An outstanding debut!" –WDR
