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This took me a while to finish. I found it to be okay, but likely forgettable.

The characters were interesting, but I felt the city talk was kind of forced and unnatural. I didn't know what they were saying sometimes.

That's really all I have to say about this book. It was okay and that's it.

Here are my notes during reading. WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW -Ragweed can read English. -The cats are racists. -Blinker is probably named that because he blinks along. Little man cannot see. -Blinker and Ragweed have similar stories. Ragweed wants to leave the country to explore the city and Blinker wants to leave his house to explore the city. I honestly find more interest in Blinker's story. -"An amateur worries about the work before starting; a professional worries about the work when finished." -"Keep on living till we die. No other way. And there's nothing we can do about it. But hey, baby, live with regrets and you'll wind up regretting living." -Towards the end, I realized Ragweed is just train hopping.

You're not supposed to loved the characters in this story. Nobody is doing the right thing, even when they believe that they are. One of the obvious examples of this is Alex's character where many times throughout the book he believes he has done no wrong, that he is smarter and better than everyone else and nobody should treat him wrongly. The doctors that give Alex the aversion therapy, the police, even the writer and his friends are all bad characters. What we get from this story is the philosophy of good and bad, the choice of free will and how that makes us human, and a glimpse of the abuse of psychological therapy.

I say this book is good. I rated it 5 stars, after all. However, I found myself thinking about this book after reading for the past few days. Things stuck with me. Alex is not a good character, he's a villain and he always will be in the end after having been "cured" but reverting back to his criminal ideologies. The language Nadsat would linger in my mind, how the words came almost second nature to me, though of course I do study other languages for fun so maybe the constant usage was why it stuck). And of course thinking back to the history of aversion therapy and conversion therapy and how it was all so similar to what Alex went through.

Here are my notes during reading. WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
PART ONE
-Already the book starts differently than the movie, don't hate me for watching the movie before reading the book. The boys hassle a smoke shop before the homeless man, which was not included in the movie. They sweeten up some old ladies at a diner (?) as an alibi.
-"It's a stinking world because it lets the young get on to the old like you done, and there's no law nor order no more."
-"--The attempt to impose upon man, a creature of growth and capable of sweetness, to ooze juicily at the last round the bearded lips of God, to attempt to impose, I say, laws and conditions appropriate to a mechanical creation, against this I raise my sword-pen" pg 27. Foreshadowing.
-Alex is the alpha of the pack, just as he was in the movie.
-Alex is a teenager, or college age student.
-Alex's dream of Georgie being a general is also foreshadowing.
-P. R. Deltoid's warning to Alex tells us that Alex has been caught and in trouble before, enough times for him to have a post corrective advisor stop to visit him in his home. Sent there by Alex's mother.
-I think it's important to note that Alex using the same "my friend has fainted" play has it's own glimpse onto Alex's intelligence. While he does make himself appear to be high and mighty, no one is smarter than me, type character, why would he use the same play to lure people into opening their doors for him? If it's worked a few times in the past to get him what he wants, eventually people will catch the repetition and become warned of that phrase. Maybe that is why the cat lady was suspicious of the phrase from the start. She'd been warned and did the right thing but denying him entry and calling the police right away. Our Humble Narrator isn't as smart as he thinks.
-Alex is 15 at the the story takes place.
-Alex's lingo has a chokehold on my every waking moment. It haunts me how fluid it feels when I'm reading it, even though I have no idea what he's saying most of the time. I do find it interesting how the author indicates that the adults in the story speak without Alex's lingo, they speak "proper".
PART TWO
-Alex is now 17.
-It seems like in the film they completely removed the second murder Alex was convicted of, which I feel would have been important towards telling his story. In the film, they show Alex having taken responsibility and showing interested in becoming a better man. In the book, Alex is still manipulative and a bad character. He hasn't learned from his crimes. He's just annoyed that he is forced to be around people he considers to be lesser than him. He's disgusted by them. He's looking in the mirror and refuses to see his own reflection.
-Aversion therapy is what is happening here, where the patient is given an undesirable stimuli while being shown images, or in Alex's case, films, in order to treat the unwanted behavior. This was also administered as treatment for "curing" homosexuality back in the day alongside castration to cure gayness. While the practice has been looked down upon and shamed for the mental harm it causes patients who underwent this treatment, unfortunately conversion therapy and aversion therapy is still practiced today. However, there are proper non-harmful ways to use aversion therapy and is sometimes recommended by therapists. Aversion therapy is a type of behavioral therapy. It is sometimes used to help treat nail biting, alcoholism (some medications used to treat alcohol abuse trigger a sick feeling response when alcohol is consumed), and smoking.
-The "vitamin" injection was the undesirable stimuli, making Alex feel weak and the showing of the criminal activities on film made Alex condition criminal activity with feeling sick. Which is why later on when Alex is kicked around and shown breasts, he becomes sick. This is similar to the alcoholism aversion therapy medication which makes the patient nauseous when they consume alcohol. The author writing about this therapy did a great job at expressing the thoughts and actions and makes me wonder if he did this on purpose or if it was accidental.
-Alex is quickly beginning to realize the horrors he had committed. While it was fun and games for him before, now having the undesirable stimuli to punish his behavior is teaching him that crime is not fun and games.
-I wonder why they didn't show a scene of Alex hitting his head against the wall and showing sickness from it in the film. I feel they grazed over this part of the book, showing Alex and the films, his shouting and anger at the doctors playing his favorite music, but the read pain is in Alex's physical reactions. A duality can be found between pre-cured Alex and the correctional doctors, the violence is different but still violence. Same with the police violence towards the end.
-"Am I just to be like a clockwork orange?" page 129.
PART THREE
-Alex still feels higher than everyone else, that he's more important than everyone else.
-In the end, Alex didn't learn anything. He went right back to worshipping violence.

I would like to point out that this book is a historical fiction. Several parts of the book include snippets of history of the Windeby bog child and recounts of history of the time from Tacitus explaining cultural rituals surrounding the bog. While these recounts from Tacitus were true, my main critique lies in the painful misrepresentation of ancient Germanic tribal culture surrounding women's rights.

It is okay to have a strong female character to represent the girls reading this book. I quite enjoyed reading Estrild's story and was rooting for her, but we all know how her story ended so there's not much we could have done about that. The story itself was fine. What I did not find "fine" was the incorrect history that Lowry held onto with a death grip. Pre-Christian pagan history finds that women were highly respected and equal to men. We find Goddesses, deities of strong women such as the Morrigan, Danu, Athena, Hecate, Freyja, and Hel. There are legends of strong women such as the Valkyrie and Scathach. What baffled me the most was the incessant depiction of only male druids. It really, to me, seemed like the author's only source of druid history and depiction came from popular media, which wraps the druids around a mysterious aura, dark robed and hooded men, slaughtering animals and reading their innards for omens, and MEN. Women in druidic history could be druids just as equally as men. To have read Tacitus' accounts on the history of this era and completely avoid the mention of Banduri, or female druids, was astonishing. Again, this IS only the authors interpretation, however to call her story a historical fiction and avoid all historically accurate inspiration infuriated me.

What also bothered me and only angered me more was one of her quotes at the end of her book, on page 182 Lowry states, "Although I was creating fiction, it was to be based on truth". Except it was far from it. While yes, the child did meant and untimely and unfortunate death, the act of making these stories and claiming them to be as close to truth as possible made me upset. There was certainly an attempt made in TRYING to be historically accurate, but that attempt was so short that that it failed her stories.

Below are two links to support my claims, thought I have done past research in druidic history in published books as I consider myself a new age druid. These links are only meant to serve as a quick and easy read for those that want to actually do the research on strong pagan women in pre-Christian history as well as the Banduri.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/history/female-druids-forgotten-priestesses-celts-005910
https://www.sheathenry.com/roles-of-pre-christian-germanic-women/

Here are my notes during reading. WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

-The book is sectioned off by real history and then fictional "What might have happened".
-To think that the girl wasn't married or wasn't "sophisticated" enough to marry is very close-minded. It is important to look back at he cultures written at the time the girl died and be sure that the theories are correct. While she was about 13 years old at the time of her death, if the history of her culture is true and women did marry early, then that is that. It is easy for our minds to find these features of an ancient culture to be alien. It's easy to think that a girl of 13 could only have childish behaviors like having an awkward crush on a person. Times were very different back in the first century AD Germany. It is very likely that he was punished and thrown into a bog for loving a different boy. She was a child.
-Mention of Ogham staves.
-Varick likely has scoliosis.
-My main issue concerning the story so far is that women are underminded. Caretakers, yes, but women before Christianity were worshipping. There were Goddesses, strong women who fought in battle that inspired mortal women to follow. Goddesses that not only birthed and raised children, but fought wars as well. Here, women are just baby making machines and submissive. Celtic/Germanic women had more purpose, strength, and freedom than that. Women conducted war plans along male leaders equally.
-The fear of the Gods is also a Christian instilled concept. While there were wrathful Gods, the Gods called upon to help were typically not wrathful and typically weren't ones to act spitefully.
-I feel as though the author did the barest minimum of research as far of druid and their history go. As if the author took what was popular in media and ran it as truth. For one, druids weren't mysterious and secluded, they were everyday people that worked with the village, doing chores as a normal person would, and could be found in the higher ranks with leaders and war planning. Secondly, druids could be women as well, it wasn't an exclusively male job. To have a section for history before the story begins and fail to implement the history into your historical fiction story is bazaar. "Why are there no women druids? she had asked her mother once. Her mother had looked startled, shocked. "It's not our role," she said. (Lowry, pg 66). The druid role was a job for women as equally as men. It most certainly was their role as a woman.
-I confess. It was excruciating for me to read Estrild's story. The history was all wrong, and it was almost like the author was romanticizing an evil heathenistic, barbaric, tribe with horrible druids. While yes, druids were considered judges and did help make decisions for the tribes, druids were looked up to by all peoples in the tribe. Druids helped people and sought to better their peoples, by seeking out word from the Gods/Goddesses. Druids were also equally women as were men. It could be easy to say "oh well this is Lowry's interpretation of the story", sure, but at least get the history right. WOMEN WERE JUST AS IMPORTANT AND RESPECTED IN THESE COMMUNITIES AS MEN WERE!!!!! There were female deities, there were strong female warriors, female raiders, female judges, female druids, female leaders. Women were NOT disregarded, ignored, placed upon the outskirts, or only meant to please the men. Women were HIGHLY respected in these cultures and to write a historical fiction based around the culture and managed to get this wrong is infuriating.
-It's like the author was piecing her puzzle together with jigsaw pieces and legos.
-Starting Varick's story
-You can't hear owls wingbeats.

This book opens with a word from Asimov as well, discussing the human laws that robots have given. Similar to the Laws of Robotics, the robots dub them the Laws of Humanics. Asimov only states them shortly, however McQuay details them later in his book. There are flaws in these laws.

This book was quick paced compared to the first book. It is also more of a murder mystery than adventure. However, McQuay does balance the mystery with world building. The balance is perfectly written. I am not much of a mystery type of reader, however I never found myself getting bored. The culprit of the murder was not who I thought it was, however I never really had a suspect to begin with.

My only critiques are that there were many spelling errors throughout the book, more so towards the end. As well as McQuay kind of forcing Derec and Kathrine into a relationship. They have no chemistry. Kathrine hated Derec throughout the whole book.

All in all, it was good. Though, I liked the first book more than this one.

Here are my notes during reading. WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

-Already a page in and I can tell that the author's, Mike McQuay, writing style is different from the previous author's, Michael P. Kube-McDowell. I don't exactly hate it, but I think it's more that I'm not used to it. It's a stark difference from Kube-McDowell's.
-3 pages in and it feel's as though McQuay's Derec and Kate are completely different people. His intro to Derec and his amnesia felt more like the author leaving himself a note to remind himself that Derec is struggling with amnesia rather than allowing it to be fluid and natural, a thing that happened. My reason for thinking this is because in the first book, Derec can remember his job and robot sciences, now he doesn't know what a parade is.
-I do like that the robots feel and sound kind of like a cult.
-What do they mean nudity is common on spacer worlds, what?!
-These robots have not had much experience with humans before.
-Robot City has rain with drops the size of a fist and cold as ice.
-No robots saved him yet. Interesting.
-Unrelated but I faceclaim Derec as Tobias Sammet. Sammet plays a similar personality to Derec in Ayreon's The Source.
-THE ROBOT HARMED DEREC, I SAW IT
-If Kathrine wants to leave so bad then why doesn't she?
-It is a cult, I knew it.
-"What are our lives worth without freedom?"
-I found an inconsistency. The author is implying that since the death of David, the rains have gotten worse and it rains nightly, however in the first book, it did not rain both nights that Derec and Kate had stayed the first time they arrived to Robot City.
-I think it's selfish that Kathrine won't tell Derec about his life before he became an amnesiac. She knows more about him than he does and he desperately want's to know more, but she won't tell him.
-What's with robots being called 1-1. There was one in Infinity Train too.
-"She smiled at the thought of a Derec-proof city" like childproofing.
-If that's Derec then who's Derec? Suspicious indeed.
-If he's David, and he's David, and she's David, are we all David?
-Kathrine is a transwoman. Its canon.
-Wohler died :( It all could have been avoided if Katherine wasn't being stupid and impulsive
-I've noticed many misspelled words.
-There's no reason for him to love they, she's been nothing but rude to him and was willing to abandon him. They have 0 chemistry. Actually, they had more chemistry in the first book than the second one. They absolutely hate each other in this one.
-PRIVACY DUDE, YOU STILL DON'T KNOW HER!
-"A new friendship is like new wine. When it has aged, you will drink it with pleasure".

I got this book as a gift, as part of the series set box. I had asked for it. I had also set a goal to read at least one book cover to cover that had more than 300 pages, because I had noticed I mostly stick to short books. Well, I certain met that goal.

Did I like it? It was okay. Some parts had me gripped while others left me so bored I noticed I was zoning off and daydreaming. The plot fluidity moved along at a decent pace and I did enjoy the flip flopping between Prue and Curtis, the main protagonists of the story. The characters were incredibly fleshed out and the author could put personality into the many characters included throughout the story. Each character had something that set them apart from the others, including the various coyote characters you meet as you read through. The main villain was not a force to be reckoned with, the author did a great job in making her fearsome and having you genuinely worry for some of the characters lives. However, with how the story ended, I am surprised she did not kill one of the characters when she had the chance.

I would recommend this book to people who do enjoy the deep details and long stories. I am glad that this was my first choice in expanding my pages read goal. I would not recommend this book to people who like fast paced stories and do not like so much action.

Here are my notes during the reading, including some quotes that stood out to me. WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

-Curtis is so autism coded
-Prue randomly trusting a man she doesn't know and getting into his van
-Curtis is 12. He also is eating and drinking a strangers food.
-That boy is drunk.
-Poppycock!
-Roger is shady
-Did Curtis kill some people are did I interpret that wrong?
-I thought the child possibly killing some people was a dark turn, but the owl's story with the puppet child was even worse. Eesh.
-Curtis is being groomed.
-Honestly, I'm finding this book hard to follow. As in, it is a little too detailed in its descriptions which feel like they draw on forever. I also feel as though I don't know anything about the main characters and more about the main villain, which can make it hard for someone to want to root for the protagonists. The world building is also confusing, even though there are three detailed maps included throughout the book, which also poorly describe where places are located. However, the story line has me hooked enough to keep reading. I'm also wanting to hurry up and get this book finished so I can meet a goal.

PART TWO

-The egret could possibly be my breaking point. Not the egret!
-"Fear," the sparrow responded quietly. "Fear rules the day. The powerful, for fear of losing that power, have become blinded. Everyone is an enemy. Someone has to bear the brunt."
-She can go in because she was made by magical means. Curtis went in because he was with Prue.

PART THREE

-Curtis just made a blood pact and didn't realize it until after the fact.
-"You needn't wear it all on your shoulders. Bigger events are in play, my dear, far bigger than you. You had as much control over your own involvement in these events as a leaf does in the time of its falling. We must only follow, we must only follow" Iphigenia, page 475
-"There's as much benefit to wishing the world away as there is in demanding a bud to bloom. It's better to live presently. By living thus, perhaps we can learn to understand the nature of this fragile coexistence we share with the world around us." Iphigenia, page 475-476

I think the people with low ratings are missing the part where Isaac Asimov states that this is a project written by different authors inspired by his works. A fanfiction if you will. This is what this book felt like. And I found it actually kind of good.

For a slow paced book there was enough action to keep me hooked and wanting to keep reading, which props to that because I have a terrible time at reading slow paced books. The characters were interesting enough. I cling to the robots so much, they're so fun and each have a noticeable personality. I was genuinely sad when that thing happened with Monitor 5. I wondered what happed to Alpha. I also really liked Wolruf (Rrullf) and Aranimas. The settings the plot takes place in are also interesting and the author, Michael P. Kube-McDowell, does a great job at naturally allowing the reader to explore with the characters.

My only real critiques are around Derec and his character. I found him really annoying for most of the book. He really only became interesting after he met Kate, to which case his entire character does a 180 and is suddenly a different person. It wasn't a natural change, but I didn't hate it. I think Derec needed to have his whole character changed, because I found his attitude towards certain characters to be painfully annoying and uncalled for.

Here are my notes during reading. WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

-Derec started off an okay character until he was rude to Monitor 5 and Analyst 17 when all they were doing was what they were programmed to do, keep the human alive.
-Genuinely sad that Monitor 5 didn't make it.
-Aranimas is a better character than Derec, even though he's the Raider Leader and tortured Derec.
-"Eat space and die" would have been a great quote if it weren't for the context of the situation that ruined it. Rrullf is just doing her job, man.
-To further that point, Derec changed the name of Rrullf's name to Wolruf. He didn't even TRY to pronounce her name, he just told her what he was going to call her.
-If Derec betrays Rrullf I don't know what I'll do, but I will be angry.
-Derec can't seem to do anything for himself.
-There's a woman involved now. Let's see if he's a suck up. I'm guessing enemies to lovers.
-"You woke me up to ask me for my insurance card?"
-Self aware foreshadowing?
-Why is Derec now considering robots as equals as if he hadn't gone the whole plot not caring if the robots lived or died and only toys to be played with?
-Rrullf! I'm so glad to see her!
-The author really went and through Derec's "I don't give a shit" personality right out the window the second he brought in the bad bitch Kate.
-If their little stunt killed Rrullf I am going to scream.
-Rrullf is fine, thank the Gods.
-Kathrine and Derec are married (not canon) and Rrullf is their adopted daughter/puppy.
-Maybe Monitor 5 gave Derec the key because Monitor 5 knew what it was and what it could do and considering Monitor 5 and Analyst 17 were working so hard to keep Derec safe, Monitor 5 knew the key could do that. Just a thought, DEREC.

Reading some of the reviews on multiples sites, some reviews stated that the plot was weak and peoples most remembered pieces were from the descriptions of food and how delicious it must be.

I picked this book up thinking it was middle readers, so when I came across cursing and using Satan and Asmodeus's name I was shocked. This did not deter me, however. This made me dive in further. I do not believe this book was meant for children. It was brutal in its description of battle wounds. This book had be hanging on with an iron grip. I wanted more. This had been the first book I have read in a long time that has had me this interest. So, I went out and bought all of them, all 22 of them.

As for the characters, I ate up Matthias's character arc like that fish at their feast. He went from a little mouse in an abbey doing little mouse chores going about his day in peace to being a sword gripping adventurer by the end. There were times when I could tell that Matthias was questioning his previous morals when he was only a church mouse. He was willing to kill, harm another creature despite his Fathers beliefs. Constance was a beast as well. She was cozy at times, but willing to smack some sense into her family when she needed and then tear rats in two another. I love Constance, I believe she is my favorite character. Cluny was an average villain and boy did he carry that title of Scourge. He had no problem killing off any of his crew if it meant getting his way. Killconey was an upsetting disappointment. I held onto their character as often times they were gendered as both male and female. I ultimately decided that Killconey was genderfluid, as I walk that sharp edged blade myself, I found myself a comfort character. I was saddened when they died and was brushed aside so quickly. I hoped they would have escaped and survived.

All in all, I loved this story and I plan to binge out the rest of the series.

I’ll have to agree with those that rated this book 3 stars.

Why?
Well, the book was slow to start. Then it felt slow towards the middle. Then boom, last 20 pages in the book went through the rising action and climax in a blur. The plot hardly resolved itself and the end was abrupt and made a poor attempt at being heart warming. I’m honestly glad where Nick decided to go. Although it was slow, I honestly found the slice of life at the monastery between Nick and Hilde to be relaxing. Then of course we have the wild folk interactions with the adventure that felt thrown in randomly. It felt like a desperate attempt to remind the readers that yes, this is in-fact a fantasy novel with magic and fairies and pagan deities. The action felt more like unnecessary filler than anything important. Lastly, the characters. There were very few characters in this book that I felt a connection to, or had any feelings towards them. Nick felt like some child plopped into the hands of a few deities. He didn’t really do much else. I found myself more interested in Hilde’s story than the whole book. I feel as though Atwood did not put much effort into making me root for these character, or care for them for that matter. That said and minor spoiler, some character deaths did feel like unnecessary filler. Honestly, nobody had to die and the plot to remain unchanged. That being said, I picked up this book because I saw Herne was in it. He was not a major character in the plot at all, he was mostly in the background complaining over nonsense. He felt the most strayed from his original lore, being a huntsman of a king who nearly died to a wild stag. A sorcerer saves his life by mending the antlers of the stag to his own head. Upon his return to the court his mates reject and bully him into hanging himself from an oak tree. He was once a renowned hunter with a story of hardship lost to his own depression, and Atwood takes this lore and crumples it up and tosses it in the bin. She made him into a whining man child. She states at the start of her book in her acknowledgment that she references many upon many folklore to bring about the characters of the Wildwood to their most original form. If this is true, I’d like to see her sources for Herne.

Besides these critiques, I did find himself enjoying the slice of life at the monastery between Nick and Hilde. It was well written and it often felt like I was at the monastery with Nick and Hilde. This was not true for the forest, which felt necessary for a wildwood fantasy. I enjoyed her writing style as well, I didn’t find it hard to read as I often do with many authors.

I rate this a 3 out of 5 stars.