Mitch

This is a fantastic little interlude that's assembled with the same care and and quality of all the other entries in this series. This book is kind of a miracle in that It stretches what could've probably been a few pages of exposition into an entire novel that's actually worth reading! I enjoyed every bit of this and was surprised to find that very little felt extraneous or tacked on. It has great pacing, interesting characters, and meaningfully adds to the series as a whole. 4 stars!

Did not expect to describe any entry in a series called “The Murderbot Diaries” as charming but here we are. This was fast paced, funny, razor sharp, clever and yes, charming. I loved it so much. I'm a little unsettled by how much I related to the Murderbot but mostly I'm just delighted by what a good time this was. “Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency. I'd rather climb back into Hostile One's mouth.” It's packed with that kind of stuff and It's paced with the kind of efficiency you would expect from a killing machine. Not one page is wasted. Can't wait to pick up book 2.

Full disclosure, I've always hated the enemies to lovers trope. Until today? This was heart wrenching, heartwarming, and (something I never expect from these books) I actually understood how someone could love each of the characters here... AND why these characters loved each other! In my experience, fantasy romance tends to swing from an inexplicable love-at-first-sight-approach to the psychotic rollercoaster of toxicity with a strong foundation of terrible communication skills. This book deftly avoids both pitfalls and tells what actually feels like a real, romantic, love story. It's beautifully told, well paced, and keeps the characters at the centre throughout. This took me a while to pick up, but I was genuinely shocked by how much I enjoyed this book, how hard it was to put down, and how much I felt while reading it.

I really liked this. I wished it was weirder but loved the characters, story, creatures, and descriptions on display here. The language is so rich and pitch perfect for the grim fairy tale/folklore feel of this book. It's like reading something written a hundred years ago in the best possible way. It has a blend of ordinary life and extraordinary elements, that make the world and the magic feel a little more real. It's also really moving in parts, with these brilliantly drawn human stories.

“There are men who are wolves inside, and want to eat up other people to fill their bellies. That is what was in your house with you, all your life. But here you are with your brothers, and you are not eaten up, and there is not a wolf inside you. You have fed each other, and you kept the wolf away.”

Definitely worth a read and pick up Uprooted while you're at it!

This was one of those books I remembered fondly while hardly remembering anything at all. After reading Piranesi I got an itch at the back of my brain that led me back to this particular story after decades away. Andrew Ketterly? Why does that sound so familiar... Anyway, It was a very Narnia-esque experience, jumping back into a world I thought I'd left behind and a warm reminder of why these books are so loved by so many people.