Tierra

Not really related to the story, but I love that this series is narrated by Kevin from Welcome to Nightvale.

This one starts a little slow (full disclosure: however, I'm fresh off a reread through of Dungeon Crawler Carl and this would be extremely slow by comparison) but it does pick up around the half way mark.

By the point I was definitely intrigued and wanted to keep going. It's structured as a bit of a whodunnit and it's fascinating to see in what areas of personality Murder Bot has changed. It still is incredibly dry and sarcastic, but seems to be adapting more "human" attributes.

If you like the series, I say just push through.

As a huge John Green fan and a nerd fighter, I'm not sure why I put this one off for so long. It was heartbreaking and frustrating, but it also left me wanting to do more and learn more rather than feeling utterly hopeless.

John Green narrates this beautifully, and you can absolutely hear how important this book is to him. He makes you lean in and want to care as much as he does. He also explains why this topic is so close to his heart. In the end, you really start to get that everything really is TB.

John also lists a variety of books for further reading

I really wanted to like this book. I love horror movies and the game Until Dawn, and I thought I would be a perfect short read.

The book starts out rough and choppy. The sentences don't flow well, and it's hard to get an idea of the pacing. However, it improves slightly as the book goes on.

Additionally, none of the characters are likable and are one-dimensional. I'm not sure why I should care about their situation, and I'm also not convinced I should care if any of them make it out.

There is also the over-reliance on tropes. If there's a trope you can think of, then it's likely in this book. There is also twist after twist after twist. At some point, I wasn't even surprised at the “shocking” twist. Lastly, The wrap-up at the end is somewhat predictable and not very fulfilling. It feels like there are still a lot of loose ends where there shouldn't be.

However, what the author does do well is suspense. It's not great, but it did keep me intrigued enough to finish the book.

Overall, I don't think I'd ever reach for this book again or anything else by this author.

It's rare that I rate a book as a 5, but I think this one truly deserves it. This is my 3rd Emily Henry read and I've been impressed every single time. This one might be my favorite so far.

I love her characters. They are snarky, funny, and perfectly imperfect. She makes you want to root for January and Gus and leaves you wanting more of them at the end.

This book was steamy, but not gratuitous. It's emotional in all the best ways and the flaws if the characters is what makes you root for them. They aren't trying to fix one another, but rather so them in a different more positive light.

If you're new to Emily Henry, I think this would be a perfect first read.

The premise is cute, and the execution is good enough. However, parts of the book felt a little clunky, and the ending left me wanting a true conclusion to this story. The main characters feel pretty one-dimensional.

It was a quick, easy read and oh-so-steamy. The spicy scenes were well-written and felt realistic.

After a slow 3rd book in the series, this 4th installment feels like a return to form and a breath of fresh air. I still feel like there was too much minutiae, and everything moved much too quickly to take it all in. Although, I really enjoyed the pacing and overall tone of this one. You can tell that things are really only just now getting started, and Carl, Donut, and the other crawlers are in for much, much worse. Overall, I really enjoyed this one and will reread the series at some point to pick up on other things I might have missed.

This Dungeon Crawler book was a bit more of a slog than the first two. It felt clunky and convoluted in a way that the first two weren't. However, I am still enjoying the series. The first two were fantastic, and I'm confident the next three will keep me entertained.

My advice is to just power through and try not to think about all the minutiae while reading.

This book is the perfect metaphor for how trauma and depression can change you and people won't understand. However, the message in the end is that it doesn't have to define you and with a little bit of work you can change. This would be a great book for starting a discussion in the classroom or at home about how things that happen to us affect how we act.