Alice in Waterdeep

I kind of disliked this one. This was my return to Agatha Christie after at least five or six years and it wasn't as glorious as I thought it would be.

I found most characters to be uninteresting and annoying, and I didn't really care what happened to them. When my beloved Poirot showed up I thought here we go, but no. He was barely even around! We didn't get to see him investigate or interview the suspects all that much. I was waiting for his solution to the mystery to raise my rating of the book last minute, but... it did not happen. We didn't even see Poirot solve the mystery. The revelation, if it can even be called that, happened so quickly and felt so shallow. Not a fan :(

I didn't hate it, but it's not for me. I wanted a light read after I read a book that dragged on forever but, as it turns out, it took me almost a month to read this one too? Wow. Not that it's a race, but it says a lot about my engagement with the story.

I am not a fan of misunderstandings that last almost the entire book, even more so when characters are childish for no reason. So I had a hard time with the whole dynamic between Bee and Levi, not to mention the Twitter exchanges - these two brilliant engineers didn't realize they were talking about each other? Not even once? Not even a tiny doubt? Please.

For me, Levi was the most interesting character. We see more of his personality and development through small things rather than Bee's. In fact, dare I say there's no development whatsoever for Bee? I feel like this is becoming a trend with books in this genre I've been reading, but: so much unexplored potential. So much. I think her commitment issues were quite interesting, but of course trauma is magically solved after one act of kindness and suddenly she's not scared anymore. Man do I wish real life worked like that.

I started appreciating the story around the 80% mark when shit started happening, but again: wasted potential. And the resolution floored me, and not in a good way. You're telling me that someone whose intelligence is praised throughout the entire book and who has the cards to be hired at NASA, uses the same simple password for every account she has? I facepalmed so hard my forehead hurt.

Despite all that, and despite not liking the writing, I still somewhat enjoyed reading this, but then the epilogue ruined everything. Flash forward to less than one year later and they're married (also, she eloped to avoid getting paralyzed with fear by the thought of being left at the altar??? Girl that's not how you heal trauma), and of course they mention kids. I know, I understand, I get it - but can we have a happy couple that doesn't need marriage and babies to prove they're now very much in love and "complete"? I'm begging.

This one wasn't my favorite: admittedly, some parts felt a bit boring and I struggled to focus and not get distracted while listening to the audiobook. But I loved it regardless and it's 5 stars because I freaking love Murderbot, though I think Network Effect still holds the crown. Seeing Murderbot deal with trauma was so heartbreaking and relatable.

As someone who struggles with focusing on audiobooks, I was terrified by the length of this one compared to the other books in the series. But it was great, I was hooked from the beginning, the hours simply flew by and I found myself frustrated when I didn't have time to listen on a given day.

This one made me feel many emotions ("ugh", as Murderbot would say) and it might just be my favorite in the series so far. I loved all the characters, loved ART, Murderbot's development and those closing thoughts about how change is terrifying. Beautiful. I will have to experience it again in book form at some point.