Reviews and Comments

I think I read this at the wrong time.

There were really good moments, but too few and far between for me to actually enjoy it. The narration was the best part; Robin’s quips were witty and he had some very good lines that were striking both in character and analysis.

The characters, for all of their charm and quirks (Lysistrata especially - I adore her), had little growth with arcs that really fell flat. I did not like the love interest, she reminded me a bit too much of the tortured male protag that just needs an innocent (younger) woman who knows nothing of sex that they can use for pleasure and who will help them “feel love again.”

2/5 Almost a 1/5. The book truly became a slog until things picked up again around the 90% mark - much too late for my tastes. Suggested for lovers of sapphic romance, magic, and a lovely, quippy narrator. Maybe I’ll enjoy it more if I come back to it.

(This is my original review from Goodreads, I read it in January and reread it this December. Easily a book I'm going to continue returning to yearly.)

I went into this book highly skeptical of it being able to pull off the combination of academics and fantasy, but it is now easily one of my favorite books in its genre.

The characters each have their own voices and distinct characterizations; from gruff but kindhearted townsfolk, to the "mousy" but dedicated main character, to, of course, the flamboyant but loving love interest, who I found was delightful to read.

The world is as fun to read about as the characters. Fawcett has a beautiful way of narrating that makes everything feel fresh and interesting, which only makes it more powerful when the characters come upon anything magical in their environment.

The book isn't perfect. In some spots the story felt a little thin, like there wasn't really anything connecting a couple of the events to the main storyline. But that just meant that we got to meet more characters and find greater depth in characters we already knew, so I don't really have any complaints about that. The events were still engaging, but didn't always fit in perfectly with the main plot is all I'm saying.

5/5 for making me want to immediately devour the next book, for having the cutest love story I've ever read, and having me laying in bed giggling and kicking my feet while reading the bickering between the main characters. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a scientific approach to the fae, a fun frenemies to lovers story, and a plot that will have you loving every character for each of their quirks.

I preferred the first one.

Everything I liked about the Wisteria Society transferred into this one, however, with a slightly less enjoyable heroine. Charlotte is lovely, sure, but I found her wit to be more annoying than Cecilia's. Everything about Charlotte and Alex's relationship seemed to center around sex and fulfilling physical needs rather than emotional ones. (Not that that isn't a little bit relatable too, ha). Yes, I know they stopped having sex once to talk about emotional things, but that felt like too little too late for me. I did like Charlotte's budding friendship with Cecilia. Where the writing involving men sometimes falls short, the writing in regards to female friendships hasn't failed yet.

3/5 While it's not as good as the previous book, this was still an enjoyable read. If not for the romance, then for the world building and newly introduced society, the mystery posed by the maid, and the style of prose that Holton is so good at.

While the previous book in The Murderbot Diaries focused a lot on dialogue, here there is a good mix of action and emotion, with another new bot/human relationship dynamic that added more to the world building.

The Murderbot story is interesting, the plot with GrayCris seems like it's going somewhere, but these past two books feel like a setup for the fourth book in a way that left both feeling incomplete. Murderbot still hasn't grown to like humans or see anything in a different light, but readers did get more insight of it's relationship with humans from it's reactions to Miki's relationship with it's leader.

Repetitive plots aside, I'm hoping that the fourth book will bring out new aspects of Murderbot as a character, shed some light on it's past, and take those final steps into the emotional impact of Murderbot's story.

3/5 for the humor, the fun action, the surface-level side characters, and the fast pace adventure I've come to really enjoy in Wells writing.

I didn't go into this book expecting a lovely, light sci-fi read, but here we are.

Wells constructs a fast-paced adventure set on a planet with hostile fauna and a survey team out for blood. Interstellar politics and human-robot relations are explored with the sarcastic narration of our main character, a murderbot.

Though nothing has jumped out at me yet I really liked the pacing and the serial-esque style of Wells' writing. I feel like this series could quickly become a guilty pleasure read, we'll have to wait and see.

3/5 because again there was nothing particularly great about this book, but nothing I disliked either. I suggest this book for readers who are looking for a short, easy read, maybe a palate cleanser before your next long read, a main character with actual opinions and entertaining dialogue, and a twist at the end that will make you hungry to read the next books in the series.

It should be stated more which triggers a book has. CW for sexual assault, transphobia, homophobia, self harm, child abuse, and more that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

This book is creative, the prose is lovely, and it combines sci-fi, romance, and realistic fiction across a multitude of characters that each have something special about them. The themes of love, queer identity, family, passion, and more are constructed by a precise plot of all of the characters' emotions and histories. The plot's climax is beautiful, heartfelt, and brought me to tears.

There are so many things in the text a reader can connect to. Katrina's queer identity and her emotions relating to being accepted by society and the inner battle of being accepted by the self are written so compellingly. As a queer woman myself, her rage and fear and anxieties about being in public and receiving 'the look' hits too close to home. I adore how all of the characters are written, with their intricate relationships and the culmination of every action taken in the conclusion is absolutely breathtaking to read. I couldn't take my eyes from the pages for the final 20% of the book.

This book was initially a three star read. Nothing in particular jumped out to me until chapter 35. The combination of Aoki's musical prose and Katrina's performance was stunning. This is the part that brought me to tears. I had to go back and reread some parts, and then again after finishing the book I reread the entire chapter. It's so emotional and compelling and what solidified my final rating. Thank you to Ryka Aoki for making me cry. Goddamn.

4.5/5 stars, rounded down because I need to chew on this book a little longer. I highly recommend this book for readers looking for queer rep, writing from multiple character POVs, complex relationships, a truly creative and original story, and, of course, a happy ending full of hope and poetry.