Sadly this takes the spot for my least favorite audiobook this month. It did feel comfy to return to this series but I just enjoyed Mother of Learning more.

A big reason for this is that the book was pretty action heavy and while that can be good for some authors it is really not where this series shines. First off it feels really repetitive but I think the main issue is that really good action requires high tension and I never really get that from this series. Characters absolutely have plot armor and the villains feel very cartoony. To be fair that can be said for a lot of the series characters and makes for part of the comfy charm of the series but well it just doesn’t work if you try to build up tension. 

In terms of plot progression it felt very natural but also very much telegraphed where everything was going. So if you’re looking for surprises / plot twists don’t look here. But I must say when certain very long telegraphed moments finally happened, we got some awesome “hell-yeah!”-moments. Also there was a big reveal towards the central Mystery but it felt pretty obvious to me what that one was gonna be but than the story just danced around this eventual reveal for way too long and I got annoyed by it. 

So with what didn’t work out of the way, let’s get to the good parts. I think where the series shines is within its quieter, character focused parts. Alex as our main character gets really well developed and his relationships with his friends, family and colleagues, especially his deep love and care for his little sister (who I think also got her first POV chapters in this book), are just heartwarming and are what truly engages me with the story. It is filled with camaraderie and bantering. It just works super well on an emotional and reflective level and produces a lot of heartfelt and also often very humorous moments and that is also the reason why I will probably see this series through to the end even when we get the occasional perceived weaker book. 

And also obviously S-Tier audiobook narration by Travis Baldree.