This has a lot of promise! I hope i can change my rating to 5 stars soon! There's many ways of looking at this: 

Developmentally, i think everyone loved the premise and the setting. Personally i thought it was a bit on the nose, to the point where it reached oversaturation and made me disconnect a tad from the bleakness, but i haven't seen this feeling echoed by anyone so its probably just me. Having 3 mysteries in the first chapter serves to introduce a good foundation for short term, mid term and long term goals for the narrative in a natural way.

Structurally I think most of the first day was unnecessary. All the scenes served a purpose, they immersed us in the world and introduced us to the characters, but nothing really happens. All the info we were given could've been introduced in other manners. Luckily readers enjoyed the scenes too much to notice but it can become a problem if it keeps happening, so it's something to keep in mind for further chapters. Starting on day two right before the drone malfunctions or at the start of Julian's commute would've accelerated the pace of the story and started off from a more dynamic point. 

Ashe's narration is not distinctive enough. It is different, he doesn't talk using such a large vocab and is not as sad and languid and verbose as Julian's, plus he's got some clearly strange|self-sacrificial perspectives and goals compared to a more grounded protagonist that one would expect, however bc he's who we first read he becomes the baseline. Had his perspective been shown at the end we'd immediately know it's someone different, but bc we're introduced to one and then the other while at the same time introduced to the Exchange something falls through the cracks. 

Julian's narration is too different from his dialogue. His "voice" seems split. Which i hope is building up to some personal development. I get the dynamic re Russel and work, but we also see it happening in private moments with Amir and less so with Lark, which is surprising given how close Amir and Julian are, to the point that they have a sex routine. 

Julian's narration also falls for immersion-distancing language every once in a while. It's not immersion breaking, but does distance the reader in a subconscious level. The textbook example is "Through the window i see X or Y" rather than "There's X or Y out the window". For another example take Scipio's overuse of the word "feels" or "feeling" in Khemia.
I remember 2 moments where this happens very vividly. Waiting for the bus on the first day the narration says "Without anything in particular to do, I just take the time to savor my coffee and protein bar. Mint! My favorite. Still just a protein bar but, ykno, gotta enjoy the small things." and near the end when talking about the drone "It docks with one of the larger street cleaners, just handles statuary and gutters, that kind of thing.". Now these examples arent all bad, the first one makes Julian seem more alive and less of a blank slate, while the latter makes him out as capable and knowledgeable at robotics compared to how little the reader know about his job. They almost feel like a Second Person Perspective, with Julian telling us a story or a recollection of events.
In the long run however this kind of comments, or this wording really, draws attention to the fourth wall and distances the reader from the work. In a medium like FVNs using First Person Perspective dealing with the allegories UH is using, care is to be taken to make sure this doesn't build up. The last thing one wants is for the reader to say "I just can't relate" to the characters or the setting or the plot etc specially when the more outlandish and sci-fi elements are yet to be introduced. 

Lastly the prose seems smothered by the art and the music. They're really good, and a huge draw, but they're almost too good. I want to stop and listen to the music and it's so strong it kind of goes against the vibes of the scenes. I want to look at the art in a way that takes away from the writing and the pacing, and the art constantly changing doesn't give them time to breathe. 

All in all it's a very strong start with some small flaws, which shouldn't become noticeable|a problem unless they're allowed to in the long run. Looking forward to reading more of UH whenever Build 2 releases.

God i really hope this review comes through bc it was such a hassle getting to paste something onto the review textbox fr fr