Nic

I really liked this one - engaging mystery, humour, and some delightfully frustrating characters. It didn't quite have the emotional impact of the first book, but I guess that makes sense in the context. Though I did have fun exploring Ernest's relationship and seeing just how how much of an idiot he is - very enjoyable.
Unfortunately, like the first one, I found there to be way too much info dumped on me right at the end. Too much for me to ever guess it all, even if I can guess whodunnit based off vibes. Which is kind of annoying, because Stevenson is good at drip feeding clues - I just wish we got more of those big revelations throughout the book, so it wasn't such a leap to the solve at the end.
I hope he writes another one.

Wasn't sure what to expect coming into this and I was pretty surprised.

The writing itself was a bit lacklustre in terms of description and some of the relationships moved a bit too fast. But it was amazing to have more of the Avatar world - from a different POV, a different time and a completely different tone to the shows. The plot was exciting and fast and shocked me at times.

It doesn't at all suffer from the prequel problem - even though I know what Kyoshi becomes, I was still invested in her character and the surrounding characters and in the backstory of how she becomes.

I will be reading the next one.

I liked the characters, but the way the world worked was a bit arbitrary at times, making the plot much less engaging.

As someone not from NY, Jemisin did a great job of showing what the city is like and portraying authentic experiences - She said she did a ton of research in the acknowledgements and I totally believe it.

Fun book from my childhood!

I don't think it's the best in the series, but lots of fun with plenty of wonderful characters. It gets surprisingly intense at some points, but also a little easy for the protagonists sometimes.

Pretty writing as always and lovely descriptions.

Somehow this book is about, like...working environments? The villains get into trouble because they create environments in which their employees are fighting for dominance and trying to get the promotion from each other. The protagonists do well because they work together and let people collaborate and cooperate. Definitely not what this book is about, but also it definitely is.

Sweet, cosy, sad

a story of people living through grief, with some lovely reflections and moments

Would recommend for a short read if you like a short read about love and comforting people with food