Aqiul
Here we are, at the end of book 7! It doesn't even feel odd giving another book 5 stars in this series. Just the natural thing to do.
Took me 2 months to read this due to my lazy and slow pace. For a while there, this book could have been a 4 star candidate because of how slow and draggy the middle of the book felt. But, as usual, everything in this book happens for a reason and that reason is eventually revealed in all its glory. Oh such glory it was.
I'm going to keep this short, so let's start.
Be warned, spoilers ahead!
Sigh, that feeling of loss when Ruin stabs Kettle. I had a feeling Kettle wouldn't make it to the end of the book because of how she had been sidelined on the trip. But still, it hurt. But there were such good things to come from that chapter! I was so happy to finally see Quick Ben kick some ass at levels way beyond his expectation! It's like SE has been hiding his potential for all these books and I've just been waiting for it to happen!
One of the reasons why the Malazan army is so good is because it has the best mages in its ranks. With Bottle, Quick Ben and now Beak (omg, mind blown) it's not even a fair fight for their enemies. Why'd they have to kill Beak? :( And fuck, Hood came to welcome him personally!
We got to see the Grey Swords and finally see what happened to Toc Anaster after his last appearance in Memories of Ice. It breaks my heart that Tool was not able to reunite with Toc after all this time. Just a convenient plot here to bring up some sad memories.
Trull Sengar was at his peak in this book after the events of the last book while fighting Icarium. Trull is one of the few remaining Edur with a brain and his friendship with Onrack is a joy to watch. Again in usual plot fashion, Fear Sengar dies just as he sees Trull Sengar. Brothers reunite just in name. It was really really terrible watching Trull die. He was such an amazing character.The Sengar family really got a raw deal in the books. Completely wiped out, barring the child Seren is pregnant with.
So many other memorable characters in here,
- Fiddler keeps getting better with each book, the best sapper there ever was.
- Hedge becomes one of the first Bridgeburners to start affecting the real world after dying.
- Mael and Tehol could have their own series of 10 books and I would read them all.
- The Errant, well, I am just curious to know what Mael did to him. Hope he got his ass kicked and stuck under an altar.
- Karsa Orlong and Samar Dev, wow. I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of reading any chapters involving Karsa. He is a legend unto himself.
- Icarium, what the fuck did he do there with the white fire? He tried to do something like what K'rul did to make the warrens but I am curious! Show me!
This book was full of deaths. So many named characters died this time around and some really good ones too :(
Off to Toll the Hounds! 5/5
Read about 20% before I decided to give up. Nothing in the book connected for me, if there is a great story here, I just can't get to it past the first 20% which bored me. At first the story of the laptop seemed interesting but it didn't really make any sense at all. Pretty much nothing in the book made me want to continue reading on.
Sorry, this goes in the DNF pile for me.
I went into this book not knowing what it was about and having never read anything else from the author. I was skeptical but it turned to be quite an experience!
The Hike is a book of varied themes. A flawed man on a journey of self-discovery. A path that demands endurance, suffering and offers a talking crab and some magic seeds in exchange. There's a theme of completing quests and overcoming more and more difficult obstacles as the story goes on which definitely reminds of video games.
The story is pretty well written and I was absorbed into the book within the first hour. The plot moves fairly quickly but never leaves you confused. This is a rare skill and I commend Drew Magary for it! Our hero, Ben, explores the Path, whatever it is. Ben is a well fleshed out character with a past that haunts him and which make his path difficult. We get to see Ben's childhood and teen in flashbacks which starts to make sense with things happening on the path. We get to see Ben forge friendships with companions and make sacrifices when the path demands it. Ben, for all his flaws, loves his family and just wants to get back to them.
The book is funny, dark and sometimes vague just like its protagonist. I was expecting some sort of a fantasy experience but I got more than I asked for. Would definitely recommend this book!
4/5
I think I could sum this review up in a single line;
A fitting end to an amazing series!
Well, that's that. I'd like to add that OMG what a fantastic finale! I absolutely love Lila Bard. She is by far the best character across all three books. She plays so many roles and has such a foolhardy way of living that you can't help but like her.
The character I felt really bad about was Holland. Especially in ACOL. The one thing that's great about him is that he is and has never been an evil person. The situations around him have twisted whatever he has tried to do. All the amazing backstory about Holland has further made me feel bad for him. He just can't get a break. All he wants to do is improve his world and oh god he's tried so hard. The Dane twins really messed him up. The scene at the end in the trees was really heart-breaking. He just wanted to die peacefully in his world. But he had to see it one last time back in its original failing state.
Kell and Rhy were fantastic too. Their bond was explained a lot better and the scene at the end of book 2 and beginning of book 3 was enough to make you want to punch the stupidity out of Kell. Kell wouldn't last long without Lila. Or Holland.
Alucard played a good supporting role in this book and it was sad to see what happened to Aneesa. His goal since book 2 was clear and he kept working on that which was great to see.
There's too many characters to talk about so its best to say there were none that were bad. The King and Queen played their parts impeccably and the Vesk can go stuff themselves.
5/5
Another epic installment in what is the most mind-boggling, brain-screwing series I have read! The Bonehunters is an excellent addition with more plots than seems possible to fit in a single book.
The book is brimming with some of the best writing, dialogue and humor! I think Sgt Hellian is a great addition to the Fourteenth and her drunken behaviour, witty banter and her obsession with Banaschar was well done. This was the first book to reveal so much about the Shadow realm that I kept highlighting it all for future reference. The Crippled God continues to move his pieces around the board and you can only admire the finesse with which it is all done. A war in the heavens sounds epic and I can barely wait to continue the story with Reaper's Gale.
So many of my favorite characters have come back, met, fought and yet will continue on their ill-fated or worse, fatal journeys. The loss of Dujek Onearm was a big blow and what was worse is that he died essentially off-screen. Whiskeyjack and now Dujek. I wonder if Dujek was ever a part of the Bridgeburners and has ascended as well?. There are so many new characters to love! Bottle, who reminds me of how Quick Ben was in Gardens of the moon, Telorast and Curdle, Sinn and so many more in the fourteenth. And what the hell, I want to see more of Cartharon Crust!
Icarium is more of a weapon here than in any past book! I kept my fingers and toes crossed when he was unleashed and came face to face with Quick Ben! Had he killed Quick, I would have hated him forever. We've more or less lost Kalam, I'm not sure how and when he will come back now and if he comes back, will he be an ascendant? For Shadowthrone to personally deliver him to the Azath was probably one of the few nice gestures he has done so far. I am extremely interested to find how who Temper is now! Same with Obo!
I think the biggest asshole award in this book should go to Laseen first and Shadowthrone second. There is something about being a Malazan Empire ruler that brings out the absolute worst in people I think. I don't know how Cotillion even likes Shadowthrone's company, being a polar opposite. The scene at the end where Cotillion sits with his head in heads was heart-wrenching. The way he feels sorry for what happened to Cutter and what has happened to Apsalar shows he is probably the nicest god around. Also, what kind of a sick, sadistic person is Tayschrenn! I can't decide if I want to like him or hate him!
I am waiting for the showdown between Rhulad, Karsa and Icarium. Oh boy, will that be something!
5/5 without a question!
This book turned out to be exactly what I was expecting out of it. It was a good, quick read about various Norse goods which filled in some details like how Thor got his hammer and who Hel is etc.
Reading this book almost felt like reading the background of the Thor comics. Loki is quite an interesting character who feels compelled to do evil when he doesn't really need to. His motivations are a mystery.
Most of the stories are quite interesting and fun to read. My personal favorites were,
Treasures of the Gods
The Children of Loki
Freya's Unusual Wedding
Neil Gaiman has done a wonderful job of bringing these mythological stories to readers and adding a lot of the story of how the world came into existence, what will Ragnarok be like and more. Almost feels like a required reading before watching the next Thor movie! :D
4/5!
In a word, incredible. At first I was a bit turned off because this book was going off on a completely different set of characters and a brand new story. Slowly though, the characters were revealed to be absolutely fantastic and the book just drew me in.
There are so many good things about this book and so many things that I wish it explained. The most crucial one being the shorning of Trull. I expected that to definitely happen at the end of the book but it didn't!. The introduction to the Tiste Edur and the Letherii is incredibly well done. The Ceda Kuru Qan and his Cedance has me excited. An almost new form of magic sounded extremely interesting and I kept wanting to learn more.
The Beddict family are the shining gems of this book. So much of what happened in this book is either directly their doing or a consequence of what they did. Bugg is another fantastic character and the wit and funny dialogue that passes between him and Tehol is brilliant. There are a few things I didn't really understand fully, one of them being why Hull is killed by the Nerek. It seemed as if the Nerek did not want the Edur to succeed but the author chose not to explain it any further in this book. Also, why has Mael taken such an interest in the lives of the Letherii. Does he feel personally responsible for what happened to the warrens due to his request to Gothos?
There were a ton of mysteries in the book and the special appearances by so many Forkrul Assail makes it even better. I am certain they are going to play a bigger part in the next few books. I'd like to see Calm again, hopefully in Bonehunters. When I started the book, it felt like it was based in the past. The Edur and Lether empire have not been mentioned in the preceding books which led me to this conclusion that Midnight Tides is possible a retelling of events from before the Malazan empire existed. Eventually when the Crimson Guard showed up and spoke of warrens, that theory went out the window.
I'm going to run out of adjectives soon enough for this series. What a fantastic book! And this takes me halfway through the Malazan journey!
A definite 5/5.
It's surprising that I never got around to reading this book earlier. I read it last week because it was the subject of our podcast discussion.
I can tell why the book is referred to as controversial but my overall take was that the book is enjoyable and puts forth some ideas and questions that make you wonder. I'm not sure whether I would refer to the society in the book as fascist; there's a lot of personal freedom, no racism, some sexism and peace. Heinlein was way ahead of the curve when he wrote this book nearly 60 years ago. The fact that the book remains completely readable even today is a testament to his vision of society.
A lot of his ideas seem a bit difficult to digest. The analogy between housebreaking a puppy and raising a child seem a bit too archaic. The existence of an elite class (the citizens) and the fact that only citizens can vote is interesting. Our society could do with a good balance of authority and responsibility as the book so clearly believes in. Still, the book can be enjoyed without subscribing to the author's beliefs.
While war and military service is glorified, Heinlein has chosen to avoid discussing the downsides of war. The emotional and mental toll it takes on soldiers. While PTSD may not have been recognised as a side-effect of combat when the book was written, it is clear that war has adverse effects on those who participate in it and are witness to the horrors of it. Our hero makes a lot of friends and tends to lose them fairly quickly but does not seem affected by it at all.
The book is definitely worth your time and a must read. 4/5
It's clear why Steven Erikson can write such intricate stories; he is the God of Story Telling.
The Malazan series gets better and the story richer with each book. The story is heart wrenching in many chapters that concern Felisin, Onrack's past and the realization of who the Whirlwind Goddess is, Bairoth Gild and Delum Thord and the Jaghut encounter.There are so many memorable characters here that it would be hard to write about all of them. But by far, my favorite has been Karsa Orlong.
It's becoming very clear that he is going to play a major role in the future books and this book has spent a good amount of pages developing his character. He is unlike any other character in the book. He already feels like an Ascendant, though he is not one. I really really loved his part towards the end of the book where he completely pissed on the House of Chains plan. He squashed every possible gambit from Bidithal to the Deragoth.
Strings is yet another fantastic character in this book who is becoming a personal favorite. There were a few surprise characters in the book that are a mystery till now. Traveller and Grub were two of them early on. Now Scillara and Greyfrog have joined those ranks. One of the happiest moments in the book was when Quick tells Kalam that the Bridgeburners, all of them, have ascended! And then Hedge saves Fiddler's life! I love the Bridgeburners and want them back now!
I'm very excited for book 5!
It's taken me a few days to prepare myself to write this review. This book has taken all my expectations of it and flushed it down the drain. Then it gave me some outstanding moments in return. Moments of human accomplishments, monumental failures and some incredible moments of love that was never meant to be.
Beware, minor spoilers ahead. Major ones are hidden.
When I finished the book, I was drained. Throughout the book I kept hoping against hope that please, let something go right for these people, at least one thing. From hoping for the survival of humanity, I started feeling hopeless because of what the dark forest had done to the universe overall. It slowly started to sink in and at that point I just gave up hope. The world out there was hopeless and how could puny humans stand up to that?
When Trisolarans showed a fear of humanity's progress in science and used Sophons to stop that progress, I felt awed. An alien species was fearful of what humans are capable of. I knew humans would find a way around that lock and build the weapons that were needed to fend off the Trisolarans.
Even though the lock stayed in place, humans built a massive space fleet and saw their hopes shatter against a single Trisolaran probe. It was time to feel awed by what a Trisolaran battleship would be able to do if their small scout did this. The battle of doomsday was an eye-opener for humans. It showed the effectiveness of Trisolaran Sophon lock. It made me mad. Luo Ji was the only reason humans weren't completely wiped out back then.
In comes Cheng Xin. Suddenly humans are on a quick trip to the dump. It terrified me watching the scenes unfold as billions of humans are sequestered in Australia. And even more terrifying when Sophon announces what I called "The Hunger Games" as a method of survival for the rest of humanity. For the Trisolarans to do this was maddening. I felt bad for Cheng Xin. The weight of the world was on her shoulders and the consequences weren't fictional anymore.
I whooped in joy when Trisolaris went boom. Even though you knew Earth would be next, there was a feeling of things coming a full circle. Trisolarans were responsible for everything that happened with Earth. They were eventually responsible for their own destruction. I didn't feel a bit of remorse for them.
What comes next can only be described as a slow dance in a burning house. The dimensional attack on the Solar System was one of the best chapters of the book. The details of the attack from discovery to realization are simply amazing. Humanity's first Curvature drive and its final sprint to save 2 humans was another exhilarating moment. Watching all the other STL ships get flattened into 2D and escape the final death of humanity crushed my hope.
Its only later that you realize that the burning house is in fact the entire known and unknown universe. The realization that the universe was one 10 dimensions and that due to the dark forest, it was now down to 3 dimensions and going to become 2 dimensions soon was one of the most scary things I have ever read. How could anyone do this!? The realization that there were 1.5 million known intelligent species and so many of them took part in the destruction of the universe is astounding. Would humans have joined in the dark forest and hunted other species if the Trisolarans never threatened them? I think they would have.
Time to end this review. I would give this entire series a 6/5 if it were possible. Thank you Liu Cixin for this story. Reading these books was one of the most fantastic experiences I can recall.
Wow! That was one crazy book! The stories are ridiculous and amazing at the same time. It's important to mention that not all the stories are good but most of them are!
My personal favorites are,
Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons - This was by far my favorite. It had a Ocean's Eleven kind of vibe going on and then things take a...well a different path.
The Lady Who Sailed the Soul - Ah! A story of romance across the decades! Fantastic.
A Planet Named Shayol - A prison world with a secret and its population of desperate but hopeful inmates paints a very grim picture. One thing I didn't understand is what drug were they referring to that they refused to name on comms? Can't be stroon right?
The stories are definitely out there even for the scifi genre and Cordwainer Smith was a genius at writing these stories. In my opinion, Under Old Earth was the weakest and the slowest of the stories but every other story was thoroughly enjoyable.
Definitely worth a read! 4/5
Fantastic! The story was really exciting and the plot kept getting more and more complex. There was a point where I couldn't see how this book could end without tears. I felt a variety of emotions towards the end and I can say that I was satisfied with how the book wrapped things up.
The plot is super-crazy-dunk-your-face-in-chilli-sauce good! The surprise and mystery in the first few hours is intense and quite satisfying. I can easily give this a 4 out of 5!
Got through this as part of my book club and I am quite disappointed. I get that it was probably written for a younger audience but this book would disappoint even teenagers who have been exposed to any good comic books or any work of fiction where people have superpowers.
The kids in our book have powers which are all too familiar now; there's flamegirl, levitating girl, invisible boy and so on. The biggest problem for me was the competency level of using powers in this book. Flame girl for example used her offensive power once in the entire book. When someone around her was being attacked or in danger, she was generally just scared and ready to get the hell out of there without burning anything down. Invisible boy on the other hand managed to get shot while in water. I mean, cmon!
At any rate, my friends have told me that I probably did not experience the book in the best of ways because I heard it instead of reading a copy which includes a lot of real pictures. Even if I had read it, I am not sure I would have felt okay about the competency level. Any X-Men story arc is better than this book.
2/5 because the plot was somewhat okay.
Wow! Massive space battles, giant planetoids which are actually ships and an alien fleet that seems infinite. This is just what I was looking for!
Everything is bigger and more explode-y compared to book 1. Our new Emperor is trying his best to find the remnants of the 4th Empire without much luck while a massive armada moves slowly towards Earth to make new friendships. We get to see more of Brasheel and what his life is like with the Achuultani.
The escalation type of combat scenes get better with every battle. Colin and the crew are better at their new ships even in the face of colossal losses. The Achuultani side of the story was impressive and I would have loved to see more of that. Dahak is as lovable as ever and when he offers to sacrifice himself to save the mission, you can see how far he has come as a sentient computer.
The book was awesome and it deserves a 5/5. I wont be reading book 3 as I can see from the blurb its not continuing the Achuultani story but in fact moving on to a ground based battle type combat. Not sure if I want to read that.
This book ticks all the boxes for military SF:
1. Deathstar-type abandoned battleship? CHECK!
2. An AI with a great personality and lots of intelligent conversations? CHECK!
3. Aliens fighting a secret battle on Earth for millennia? CHECK!
4. Promise of annihilation if things go wrong? CHECK!
I think that pretty much covers everything. Dahak is awesome and in its quest to follow alpha protocol over these millennia it seems to have become self-aware. Paired with Dahak you have Colin McIntyre, someone who was at the right place at the right time and has everything you need from a hero. With a few adjustments and upgrades, our Colin now becomes the only one who can bring an end to a mutiny that has gone on for so long.
The book was a fantastic read. The characters are extremely interesting and enough background is given to create an air of mystery surrounding the Imperium. Fast paced and well-detailed, the book was an instant hit with me. I have already started book 2 before writing this review!
4/5!
Read the full review on my blog - Deadhouse Gates Review - The Local Simulation
Wow. Just amazing. What a delight this book was. So many lovable characters all jammed into this one book! I have to say, Deadhouse Gates was waaay better than Gardens on the Moon!
The book has only a few characters that continue their story from where book 1 left it. We get to see the familiar faces of Crokus, Fiddler, Apsalar and Kalam as they make their way back to Malazan territory. Fiddler and Kalam are stand out characters! Just like book 1, they are complicated and at times a bit bugging when they don't do the obvious things! But then a few chapters later you realize why they didn't.
My absolute favorite characters in this book were Coltaine, Duiker and Felisin. Coltaine as a Wickan Fist of Malazan was an absolute gem of a military commander. Utterly ruthless and yet fair and just. Captain Lull, Corporal List, Heboric, Baudin, Stormy, Gesler...well I could keep on going and not reach the end of the list of amazing characters. I applaud Steven Erikson at the complex characters he has written in a single book.
On the other hand, you have High Fist Pormqual, the Donald Trump of the Malazan Empire. I'm yet to learn how he managed to become a High Fist, being the kind of person he is. Hopefully some of the future books can explain. Maybe he can be resurrected so that he can be killed again and again for being THIS stupid in the books. I was gutted when Coltaine died because of Pormqual being too much of a goddamn coward! T_T
I think the weakest characters in this book were Icarium, Mappo and Crokus. Icarium and Mappo are such a strong duo and what the book kept hinting throughout about Icarium was never really delivered. Though, this being Malazan my friends keep telling me that sometimes the rewards come a few books later. I can wait. Crokus was also pretty much a side character for this book. After playing a crucial role last book, he was basically benched.
Well enough with the review. After finishing book 2, I immediately started on book 3 and it is even bigger than book 2! Need to pick up the reading pace!
5/5 for being an awesome epic fantasy book with characters that have depth and a world that feels alive!
Read the full review here - Book Review: The Library at Mount Char
When I started this book, for the first hour or two it made no sense. The characters were all over the place, there were people with some sort of power but I didn't understand what they were doing and there was this Father character who everyone was worried about. In short, it made very little sense.
And then, the story started coming together like something wonderful. Loose ends were described, backstories described events and within the next few hours, a lot of the story was clear and the book went from a head-scratcher to a “oh god...give me more!”
The book is wonderfully weird. That would be a tl:dr review. The characters are very well written and the story is incredible. Thinking back on where the book started and where it ended makes my head spin! It was a really good but weird journey!
‘Isshteve' is such a wonderfully written character. You can probably make some guesses to his story and involvement with Carolyn but its so beautiful when its explained. The one character that surprised me completely was Father. Father's chapters and backstories are excellent. Till his story is shown, its completely normal to think of father as a tyrant and someone who loves to torture children and barbeque them sometimes. But the weight of that backstory just adds so much character to Father. It's incredible. Other amazing characters include David, Margaret and Michael.
Overall, this is a fantastic book! 4/5!
Pretty much everyone who recommended this book to me said that book 1 will not be that great and might be a bit confusing and I have to agree with them. The story starts in the middle of things and explains little. I think it took me about a 100 pages to get going and feel like I kinda knew what the story is about. This might not be the best way to introduce people to a series of more than 15 books as it can put people off very easily. To his credit, the author has put a preface in which he clearly says that this will be confusing when you start.
Now for the main review!
Like I said above, the book starts off in the middle. A major empire expansion war is underway and the empire is preparing to invade a free city called Pale. The moon's spawn hovers above and we get to see a clash between the empire mages and the floating city of moon's spawn. Powerful empire mages facing an even more dangerous enemy. Slowly you get introduced to a few heroes of the book, the Bridgeburners and that's where the story really takes off.
While the book was fairly slow paced, it was rich in details. A few characters had their back stories explained while others died in obscurity. Some characters felt a bit shallow but that may be because they are due for more appearances in other books down the line. There are so many mysteries and unexplained things in this book that it just makes you want to jump to book 2 as soon as you finish. Each chapter starts off with a para from a book or poem or something. What are these? Who are the people who wrote this? What significance do these paras have? Who the hell is Burn and why is he asleep? I have no clue so far but I am keen to find out!
There are A LOT of characters in this book. So very many! Very few of them standout though, and out of those, only a couple shine. I think overall my favorite characters are Kruppe and Anomander Rake. I hope to see more of them in future books! Whiskeyjack and the bridgeburners were quite good too! I am quite intrigued to find out more about Quick Ben's past. Like Tattersail says at one point, “I should know who you are Quick Ben. There aren't enough mages with power like yours for me to not know you.” Well, please fucking tell me too!
Off to the second book we go!
Wow! What a fantastic story! I'm not really sure how this is being compared to The Martian. This book is as far from The Martian as Mars is from uh...umm..Earth! I can maaaybe accept that it is remotely like World War Z because of its format but even then the interviews in Sleeping Giants are of a completely different kind.
The plot revolves around a giant metallic hand and other body parts of a robot hidden deep underground. Throughout most of the book, our protagonists try and make sense of what this robot is, what it can do and who put it here. The robot is pretty badass especially when you consider it has a sword and shield!
The book is done in the form of interviews with the main characters and some side actors. Each interview is given a file number and a location. The rest of the chapter follows a two-person conversation and it is done brilliantly! It's hard not to love the unnamed character who does most of the interviews. He reminds me of the “cigarette smoking man” from X-Files. He is absolutely an amazing character who is made even more likeable because he is equal parts ruthless and committed to the cause and his team. I also liked Mr Burns. While his role in the events of the book wasn't exactly clear, he is quite important to the story and maybe we will learn more about him in the next book.
The book ends on a pretty good cliffhanger. My theory is that the original Rose Franklin was kidnapped and one of Mr Burns half aliens took her place. She had enough knowledge about the robot to be effective in finding the parts and putting it all together. Another plausible theory is that after she was killed, Rose Franklin was cloned and/or resurrected and sent back without memories. One indicator to this is that in the last conversation between Mr Burns and our unnamed man, Mr Burns says "you owe me a big one" but doesn't explain why. Though, if they did resurrect Rose, why not do it with her memories intact?
Waiting anxiously for the next book! April can't come fast enough.
What a great and weird book this was! A story of technology and magic, following two children and their journey through life. The first few hours of the book are quite weird and a lot of unexpected things happen. I almost believed that Patricia was mental.
Our protagonists, Laurence and Patricia, are two weird kids who become friends in school. Laurence is an almost tech genius with a 2 second time machine and Patricia can talk to animals and trees. Both feel like outsiders at school and open up to each other about their weirdness. Laurence talks about his AI and Patricia about her ability to talk to birds and cats.
The story is written really well and the characters are so good. I loved the teacher/assassin and wish that some of the assassin school details were explained better. The birds are so weird that they're great in dialogue and not making much sense. Peregrim was also great; I did not expect it to play the role that it actually did. The end was in line with the rest of the book, weird. It was a pretty decent ending but as usual I wanted more answers. Dammit, explain your endings!
Thoroughly enjoyed the book! 4/5!