Nick

Enjoyable but ultimately disappointing end to a good series. The majority of the novel being a breakneck boss rush really detracted from what made the series good up until this point

Decent book, characters were ok but a tad wooden and the ending obvious from a mile away, though not necessarily a bad thing. Listened on audio and I think the narrator's vocal choices were odd and at times the opposite of what the text needed.

2.5 rounded down

There's a really great book in here somewhere, but this doesn't really touch any of the themes it tries to explore in a meaningful way. Shallow characterisation for a novel carried by said characters.

Excellent world building and a thoroughly great setting in Neo Kinoko. Through line plot was interesting enough to keep me hooked until the end, however as a whole I didn't love Hoffman. She had a good story and growth but line to line I thought her character could have been stronger. The opening third probably colours my opinion here as I really did like not spending time with her. The world and general noir vibes held me onto the book. However it was much improved by halfway and the novel does leave Hoffman at a good point so I would look forward to see where she goes.

Overall an enjoyable book and I'm looking forward to seeing more from this series.

Big fan of the Green Bone Saga but I think this missed the mark. I very much appreciate Isako being an older experienced protagonist but the pacing was slow to the point standstill at times, the mystery in the end was not entirely interesting, and they way the book wraps up wasn’t entirely satisfying to account for the slow pacing. Bit a disappointment, however a very well written book set in an extremely interesting world. Very much a corporate espionage novel as opposed to a fast paced action based novel, there’s a lot to love if you go in with the mind for a slower paced sci-fi novel.