Overview

We are dropped into a near future Britain where a single government approved typeface, HellSans, is forced onto every sign, screen, and public surface. For most people it is harmless, even comforting. For a small group, labelled HellSans Allergic or HSAs, it causes severe physical pain. As their suffering is dismissed, control tightens. When a powerful CEO suddenly develops the allergy herself and underground resistance begins to form, the font becomes a clear marker of who is allowed to function and who is meant to vanish.

Writing & Atmosphere

We found the writing sharp, tense, and deliberately uncomfortable. Dundas moves between glossy corporate spaces and angry street level protest with ease. The satire cuts close to real systems of branding and compliance, while the body horror elements stay focused and purposeful. The pressure never fully lifts.

Characters

Jane Ward begins as a confident corporate leader who believes in the system she profits from. Watching her status collapse once she becomes an HSA is gripping and unsettling. Dr Icho Smith, a scientist forced into hiding, adds urgency and moral tension. We appreciated that no character is clean or simple. Everyone is shaped by fear, ambition, and compromise.

Themes

HellSans explores how design and language enforce obedience. We read the allergy as a direct reflection of disability and exclusion within rigid systems. The book asks who defines normal, and what happens when your body refuses to comply. Power here is quiet, bureaucratic, and brutal.

What Worked

• Original concept: typography as control feels fresh and deeply unsettling.
• Political clarity: the system is familiar enough to feel real.
• Relentless pace: the tension keeps driving the story forward.

Minor Quibbles

• The scale of ideas sometimes outpaces tidy resolution.
• The mix of satire and body horror may feel intense for some readers.

Final Thoughts

We found HellSans bold, angry, and sharply observed, using a strange idea to expose how power hides in plain sight.

Rating: ★★★★½☆ (4.5/5)