Adrienne

I liked that the problem was predictable but I didn't particularly foresee the solution.

I liked the characters, and I liked the authors choice that even though the council is theoretically a group of twelve, she focused on four of them for us. That felt much more manageable.

I'm a Unitarian Universalist, so I'm open to the wisdom of other religious traditions.

The wisdom I saw in this book was a focus on community, history, joy, and repetition, to build up a life. I'll be sitting on and thinking about this one for a while.

It felt like every sex scene had story work to do, which I appreciated. I also appreciated the Caleb and Mars stories that the book closed on, because I love people talking about their relationship and working out what they need and want from one another

Okay, but probably not a reread

Too many sex scenes and the villainous ex took up too much time. I wish there had been more about turtles.

Serves as a good introduction to high control groups and a decent set of answers for at least some of why people are invested in an obvious crook.

Too sexy for me

Fun little catch ups, proportion of sex scenes to other kinds of scenes felt a little off balance, with too many sex scenes. I still liked it overall.

Great romance

I loved that each of the three guys was distinctly drawn and that you could tell very clearly why each man was drawn to Rachel and what she saw in them. The Caleb/Jacob relation felt more like something already in place than something developing, so it was ok with me that there was a little less clarity about what they love about each other. At this point, it's shared history. (The Toronto game was really great for that.)

The way they choose to handle coming out as a polycule is great and I loved to see it.

Too much of the plot depends on people flat out refusing to give October vital information, which makes the story feel needlessly frustrating.

However, the relationship work between October and everyone who makes it to the antepenultimate chapter is top notch. Don't think I'll ever reread, but I'm happy to have read.

I struggled to read this very short book because I didn't feel like I had the necessary context to understand why the Empress or her servant were important. It started very much like a series of colorful vignettes, rather than something with a solid plot, and I'm not a big fan of vignettes.

This book is decent, it's just not really my vibe.

Like the first book, this was a balm to the soul. We are introduced to more people, and they are caring and curious, as well. To the extent there are problems, it is internal, psychological dissatisfaction with the current state, which is resolved by discussing the issue and doing something to change one's own circumstances.

Love it.

This is very much the first half of a novel, rather than a complete novel in itself. The structure does make for a decent stopping place, but I am quite disappointed that I will have a several week wait at the library for the next part.

This book is a fine example of my favorite storytelling trope, of a group of disparate individuals bound together in an enterprise that cannot be adequately shared with other people.

While I am generally unhappy with despairing/depressed characters (even some of the Saint of Steel paladins are pushing it, and they have a very good reason), I really feel like Caliban deserves a lot of slack, what with being possessed, murdering people, being exorcised, and being locked up, presumably forever.

There was enough humor to keep it from being miserable, and the Learned Edmund learns to stop being such a pill before I really want to strangle him.

Looking quite forward to the next book.

Shane's self-loathing, while it took place for a reason, seemed disproportionate for most of the book.

Also, journeying is not my favorite way to structure a book, and too many of the Temple of the White Rat books involve the traveling as part of the plot. Boo! Hiss! Stay in a city!

This is something of a lesser entry in a book series I enjoy overall. I would never miss it if I'm reading through the whole series, but I probably wouldn't read it on its own.

Wren was delightful and I can't wait to read her book, and I'm quite intrigued by Judith and her position at the end of the book.

Not sure I would read this one again

The immediately presenting villain is not very good or interesting, just a psychopath with a hobby. Galen and Piper are both charming enough, but the romantic dithering felt a bit forced.

I very much liked the parts about gnole-human interaction and I would love to read a book set entirely in a gnole warren.

Farcical in a good way

This is a story of two faintly ridiculous people who are trying their best and fall in love. I chuckled through a lot of it. There was a little more pining than I like. The magic and religious system was quite intriguing.

fun time

Our love interests are two people with a lot if damage that leaves them convinced they are unloveable. They run into each other due and realize the other protagonist is wonderful and that they aren't unworthy of love. Nice humor and cast of side characters, with an interesting religious system. I enjoyed it.

More of the same, but a little different

We once again have exploration, physical extreme conditions, and a little interaction with local culture. There is less chasing dragons and more observing of them in captivity. I would, actually, have enjoyed a little more discussion of the scientific process.

I enjoyed this book very much, and greatly look forward to the next one.

This is a fun story written on multiple levels, playing with romantasy tropes. The meta involvement of the author with her characters is quite fun, the romantasy characters deflecting the outline by being more mature than the author expected was very good. It both have those characters a chance to demonstrate specific personality and commented on tropes that so often get deployed when you'd think that the characters had more pressing concerns.

On the other hand, the author's real life narrative felt a bit thin; all of the characters on that level felt like NPCs, even the Hot Editor, and we got a couple of scenes from his POV.

I rated it 5 stars because I would happily reread, but it does feel like there's maybe another 30 pages of character development that mistakenly wound up edited out.

I'm not sure this book was informative. One sign of high control groups is highly specific vocabulary and thought terminating cliches. Some sorts of identity/affiliation groups use insider vocabulary to put people in vulnerable states of mind.

I found it a little frustrating to have the sections separated by types of group, rather than by language practice. And it didn't seem to give people very good tools to protect themselves from high control groups, except to try to have more than one group

This was a very satisfying ending to this trilogy. The scene setting at the beginning takes up about half the book, which seems a bit odd from a pacing perspective. The reintroduction of many characters and the reorientation to the state of Valdemar is not unpleasant, but there came a point where I wondered why this story was being told now.

Very much enjoyed the human origin of Sunsinger and Shadowdancer, as well as the idea that the plea for the Companions was much more a cri de cœur than a carefully considered spell near the end of Valdemar's life.

One thing I continue to enjoy in Lackey's writing is the flaws in her heroes. Kordas' anxiety was #relatable.

I'm definitely glad I read it, and may want to reread the whole trilogy on a year or two.

Same travelogue, scientific discovery, girl boss vibes, same good times. I'm enjoying our protagonist's increasing emotional intelligence, especially her ability to appreciate her son as a separate person with his own interests.

Disappointed Suhail was not husband #2.

I knocked off an entire star for pacing. I would never have finished this book if it weren't for my book club. It takes about 50% of the book to discover what the protagonists' problems are and 65% of the way through to get them all in one place.

The climax also feels a bit rushed, partly as a consequence of too many about faces.

I am not a reader who typically pays attention to chapter breaks, but at the beginning of the book, every chapter ending felt like an invitation to DNF.

All that being said, the world building is quite good, the characters are likable enough, the stakes were pitched high enough to be arresting without being so world ending that one could blindly assume the good guys would win. The prose is quite good without slipping into self conscious, literary fiction, might as well be poetry land.

I would 100% read a sequel. The change to the status quo at the end of the book is interesting, especially as it's a change it's not clear people would understand even if they experience it.

Trevor's depression written really well. I couldn't enjoy the arranged marriage trips as much as I wanted because it devolved into mutual putting, which I don't love. I wanted more fleshing out on the coming out storyline.

Took me months to actually finish because their basic conflict was stupid; it was very clear Apollo's sister was over Ridge too much to cock block.

The witch persecution storyline was pretty good, but the romance was mid because the characters didn't feel like they were really getting to know each other.

the cozy sff book ive been looking for

Dex is a character struggling with their luxury space communism. Their life is fine and they don't want it. They take action to address their ennui, they are mostly but not perfectly kind to those they encounter. Like a sitcom, I liked letting them briefly live in my head, and nothing big had changed.
Looking forward to book two.