Julia

So charming. So charming! I love a self-aware title to a self-aware book, and this is one of my fave romance tropes. A testament to how good this was is that I didn't even mind that it was less spicy than it could have been by half, because the LONGING at the end was worth it! Really wish the other half was already out, and 3 cheers for not one but TWO bisexual mains where their bisexuality is not just a token mention.

I wanted to like this more!! Obviously Lynch is in the midpoint of a sweeping epic, but this one felt too plotty to me in a way that detracted from how much I love Locke & Jean. I just want a swashbuckling buddy novel!! Saw another review that said Sabetha in reality is a disappointment, but I didn't feel that way - enjoyed both the awkwardness of their adolescent fumbling and the "will they or won't they" vibe of their adult interaction, including some good communication! The first two novels are also very plotty, too, but I think what makes the difference is the setting changes. Here, the mage, election, and play storylines end up feeling tedious as opposed to excitedly involved (although - do love where the mage storyline ends, and feel like Lynch has done great work foreshadowing how the Eldren history relates to all this throughout the series). I'll keep reading, but am taking a break.

I'm writing the review a few months late, so keeping it short because my memory is fuzzy. There was *quite* a plot twist at the end that I didn't mind, and I liked the setting, but the writing felt a bit "telling not showing." I don't think I would return to what seemed like the setup to a sequel unless it plopped into my lap.

I really like this part of Lidia Yuknavitch's blurb on the back: "A Physical Education performs power from the inside out." I've been reading Casey's column from back when she was "Ask A Swole Woman," and "She's a Beast" (https://www.shesabeast.co/) is the newsletter I am most likely to forward to friends. Casey is incisive, incredibly intellectually curious, and writes with a big wide open heart. None of the content of her memoir is surprising for a long-time reader, but stands alone in its own right, and is a book bound to make you want to go lift heavy things and feel the edges of your own power. Maybe actual weights, maybe metaphorical ones; I loved this start to finish.

This was great. I'd say like The Hunger Games for adults, but I think both deserve to be recognized on their own merits? Gong's world building is very evocative and the smaller details of this seamy, overrun city really pop off the page. Lots of "will they or won't they" tension, and a cliffhanger surprise that did indeed surprise me, but it's the kind I was thrilled by, not mad about. I think at some point the games are a plot inhibitor instead of propulsive thing? Interested to read #2.

What a cap to the trilogy! I felt a bit irritated by the dynamic of the two mains in #2, all redeemed by the steamy hot tension between the mains in #3! Both emotional and sexual, and a truly phenomenally well-written negotiation of kink/fantasy scene. Plus a nail-biting non-romantic plot re: the fate of all magicians in Britain, and Marske's sharp, sharp prose, like this gem: "Alan's annoyance gave an enjoyable lash of its tail." The trilogy as a whole is a delightful and wondrous accomplishment.