Ben Saufley

Most of these epic fantasy series start to lose me as they get this deep into the series, because the stakes get too broad, and even focusing on the characters, I just lose the sense of who's who (and, to be fair, I definitely mix up names in this one, which is probably made worse by listening to the audiobook) and so I can't identify with the stakes, the storylines, etc. But I really enjoyed this one. The stakes are large but the focus of the story still remains on characters that I connect to and root for.

Not terribly written, but the structure, the eventual resolution of the mystery, were all underwhelming. Another mystery where I spent much of the book generally enjoying it yet as it wrapped up it kind of felt like a waste. The clues and red herrings put out there were not well-used and certain Chekhov's guns never went off; which I suppose is fine, and maybe even good in a literary novel, but in a mystery, when you reflect on your experience, those things just feel cheap and meaningless.

Really enjoyed this. It's cozy, but it's a bit deeper than I might expect from something cozy. As a parent of a toddler just starting in childcare, I found that this resonated surprisingly deeply and the fantasy elements easily mapped, without being heavy handed, to real parenting concerns.

This was a very satisfying thriller/mystery. I liked the linguistic angle and for the most part I think it was convincing – I'm not a linguist but I do think there are times when one reads a book and the writer's actual lack of expertise is apparent, and I don't think that was the case here. The payoff, the resolution, was certainly spectacular, but it didn't feel unearned or out of left field. I really enjoyed it, start to finish.

I really enjoyed this one. I'm completely aware that I'm a sucker for school books, especially "magic school", but the magic in this one was really interesting, the atmosphere was great, and the romance was charming.