Beattz

This is the third installation of the Kindred's Curse series, and *allegedly* number 4 will be the last. I hope so. Not because I want the story to end, but because I need to know how the story ends.

This whole book was one of discovery. Whatever you thought you knew going in, prepared for it all to be blown away. The enemy is finally revealed, the politics have gotten increasingly convoluted. Allegiances are tested, as well as the limits of power. New friends make themselves known in the nick of time, and we say goodbye to the most loyal of subjects (I'm still crying tbh).

It's not perfect. There's a lot of getting lost in revelations of love. For like, *pages*. But I'll forgive it again, because, well. Luther. He puts many a book boyfriend to shame and deserves to be praised a little. And Diem. Sweet, silly Diem. I want to shake you, but I need you to win this war. If you back down because of your conscience at the last though, I am afraid we will have to call it quits and I will curse you loudly and scream about it with my friends.

This is my favorite Murderbot to date. I had a fantastic time. Being with ART again was such a treat, and now I'm looking forward to the next one even more!
I read this out of order based on a recommendation, bc book 6 happens chronologically before book 5. However, I think that was a mistake. The this book may have come after that in time, but not in character progression. Book 6 was hard for me bc it felt like there were leaps in Murderbot's personality that I was completely unprepared to take. But if I had read this first, those wouldn't have been leaps, just lil hops.

I'm starting to notice a pattern. Over the years, I my reading tastes have (d)evolved to really only wanting to enjoy abstract/fluff. I do not like feeling real feelings about real (posed as fictionalized) injustices. To me, it's the same thing as watching movies about war (I can't). The reality is so atrocious - to "romanticize" it in anyway for public entertainment just feels wrong on a bone deep level to me.

So. Objectively. A book about the magic of words is fascinating. There's an elegance to the symmetry at the beginning and ending of the story. The book was written in such a way that you forgot that it was always the fate of the tower of Babel to fall. It's a hard book to read - the matters of racism and colonialism are on every single page not allowing the reader to look away even for a moment.

Subjectively, It's thick with words and feels like trudging is necessary at points. Most of the characters aren't likeable. I spent a lot of time frustrated with Robin. I don't know if it was a youth thing, or a split loyalties thing, but every time a decision was set before him, his proclivity to take the easy way out made me steam. I understand that character flaws are a thing, and this was an effective one.

In conclusion, read what makes you happy.

I don't really know what to do here.

The book was objectively good. I just feel like I got suckered. It was tagged as cozy scifi, so it immediately put me in the mind of Monk and Robot, which I adore, but that's not what I got. I thought maybe the misunderstanding was my own because I don't often read the backs of books, I go on friend recommendations and vibes (and believe it or not, it works out pretty dang well for me most of the time). But I went back and read the blurb, and I think I would feel just as let down (?) if I had done that beforehand.

It was well written, it was poignant. It's even timely. It's also heavy. It ends on a good note, which was a relief, and of course there's moments of triumph scattered throughout, but each of those moments is counterbalanced with a dose of reality that just kept me from engaging with the book the way I wanted to.

I seem to be in the minority with this opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. That's the beauty of books after all. Everyone gets something different out of them.