booking_along's reviews
1903 reviews

Shot story in the style of “the only one left” by Riley sager.

Especially the first half a bit of this book feels extremely similar to the Sager book, which can be a pro or a con (personally I felt it didn’t work too well for this short story style since the creeping build o]up of the Sager book worked because of the slow pacing this short story just didn’t get to hold up towards so for me it was a con, but it can definitely be a pro for other readers)

I don’t think this book was unpredictable or had twist that wasn’t easily foreseeable, but it tried a little to hard to appear that way to me. 

Overall it was okay, but didn’t work for me personally.
While the writing wasn’t bad, the characters okay and the story itself while predictable not badly done overall, the was overall just something missing for me to enjoy it as a whole (or maybe between the easy comparison with the Sager book and the predictability of the story it was just a mix that didn’t work for me)


I think this can be a great rest, especially if you are not as well read in the thriller genre. 

The writing was good and it was intriguing but the end was a bit of a let down for me, since I expected more from how the build up appeared to be bigger to me this the ending turned out to be. 

Overall okay and good enough if you enjoy a bit of a less thrilling mystery.

i didn’t know what to expect from this going in but this was defiantly a trip. 

i don’t know if it’s strictly a horror in the typical horror writing senses -no jump scares no slowly creeping monsters of the supernatural or human kind - but rather a story that follows a horrific event and the character very slowly discovering the horror of what happened. 

it’s well written and the perfect length for how it’s written and what it’s telling. 

and while i would have loved to learn more about the details of what was going on around - the actual investigation, what the wife thought and all of that- as it’s told it carries it’s quiet horror of being left behind and while not necessarily forgotten, certainly the urgency of trying to be someone worthy if being missed and remembered well. 


it’s a very well done little story. 

After the disappointing read that was network effect, I have to say I went into this with extremely low expectations.

So I don’t know if that was what made this one of the better books in this series or if the author needed to come back to novellas and that worked. 

The plot in this was different and interesting and unpredictable (especially compared to the previous books) and I enjoyed that s lot. 

Also murderbot was back to its snarky ways in this one, so that was fun too.

I don’t know if the pacing in this was actually better than in network effect or if the noticeable lack of length (160 pages compared to the 350 pages of network effect) just made the pacing better, but this didn’t drag, had a nice fast pacing and a good mixture of investigation and action. 

This was fun and entertaining and made me enjoy the series again, which yes repeating myself again, I didn’t expect after that last book at all. 

Well done, Martha wells! Let’s hope the next one will be a bit different and a similar pacing ad well, so that it is kept interesting and more unique and makes this sierra worth while to read just like this novella did!

i want to love this series, and i really enjoyed the first one and was so excited to get more murderbot which was the character i enjoyed the most. 

but it just keeps going down hill for me and this series and this particular installment? too long and just felt not just reusing what was already done similarly previous lot only in the series but  also in this book itself. 

the novellas are okay even if sadly i didn’t love the last one of that either BUT they are short and get to the point and it’s done. 

this just kept going and kept having the same stuff happen -action, murderbot getting hurt, some  downtime, once again action, murderbot hurt again, some slower pages and it starts all over again. 

and normally that’s okay i don’t mind predictable storytelling and i don’t even mind it particularly much in the novellas - but this was too long and too repetitive in what would happen. 


there is different plot and different AI and bad guys and robots popping up but it just felt all „been there done that“ to me. sadly. 


that all being said it wasn’t horrible or „the worst“. and i know this series has its big fans with is fantastic. 

sadly i just seemed unable to become one as well no matter how much i wish i could. 

funny and entertaining and just there for a good time. 


this reminds me a bit of those pretty mindless but utterly entertaining movies that if you really think about them make absolutely no sense and the characters and everything about them is superior BUT if you don’t think about it and just enjoy and go with it it’s very fun and a great time (aka any action and adventure movie from the Mission impossible ones to things like Indiana jones). 

and i enjoyed this book a lot. 
i need a mindless fun read because i had a bad day/week/month/year(s) „recently“ so i just wanted something that takes me away from all that and this was it. 

the whole storytelling way of learning to piece together the things and what’s going on with the main character was fun for me and the writing was just fun too. 


honestly that’s just all there is to say about this: it’s fun! 

so don’t go into this expecting something epic or world changing or the best thing you will ever read and you will have a good time. 

this was okay. 

i am sure it’s a fun read for anyone around the age of 9-10. 


but it’s not a very enjoyable read for anyone above that age, it’s just too much action and adventure and too little actual plot and logical behavior or moments. 

this book was a little better in the sense that it was more realistic by mentioning that they have to be more careful with money and look at what they are spending and where because they don’t have unlimited resources. 

but other then then it was very much too convenient in too many places, it’s not  fun how often everyone constantly catches up with the siblings even though apparently there is only one clue and the siblings have it so why is everyone else always at least at the same step as they are or even ahead?! 


as i said - good middle grade for middle graders not the best for adult readers. 

this was okay. 

it was very much written for the middle grade audience and age group. 

you know how there are kids and middle grade books that everyone can read and love no matter the age because it’s just written in a way that it works for all ages? 

well this isn’t one of those books. 

from the writing to the plot, the behavior of the characters and how the entire mystery and story builds up… it’s middle grade. 

the „jokes“ are not funny for anyone over the age of 11/12 nor is the situation of two younger kids running around without actual adults to look out for them entertaining or nice. 

the other relatives are all the typical bad guy villains -i was missing the mustache twirl but everything else was on this i think?

its all over the top and too much and too little at the same time (no actual world building or explanations or any real sense in how this is all supposed to work or why it’s done that way or with the clues … ) it’s just all left too unexplained to really work if you are not just going with the flow or are completely enamored with the action and adventure and idea of traveling along through the world without anyone telling you it’s time to go to bed or that only eating chocolate croissants is a bad idea. 

there is a lot of action and adventure, lots of wild running around and looking for things without really knowing where or how it should go or what they are actually looking for but finding it anyways in some miraculous way there never discussed. 

there is never mention of why orphaned children are allowed to leave the country without any relative to accommodate them or at least a mention of anyone in the US or french airport questioning them. 

why? because how many kid would think like that? 

how many kids reading this type of book go into this wanting logic and reality? or even think about what goes into traveling and how it all works and what’s need to be done for it to actually be possible? 
i won’t say non because i am sure there are kids that could have planed a world tour with all recruitments needed at age 8 BUT generally speaking? no kid of this target audience will care about the real details. 

they are not reading this book for its realistic portrayal of what kids their age can actually do. 
they are reading it because it gives them their version of mission impossible or i guess kind of spy kids (never saw that movie(s?) where the kids are the ones having the action and going on the adventure. 


all that being said is this a bad book? 

no absolutely not. 

i am sure if i would have read this at age 10 i would have at least had an incredibly entertaining time reading this and being sweeped up in the adventure. 
i know myself well enough to know that even then the relatives and their behavior as well as Dans behavior in some instances would have still annoyed me but besides that this would have been a fun read for me. 


so as a middle grade book? a solid 3-4 star read for any one looking for an entertaining adventure and action filled story. 


as an adult reading this? 1.5-2 stars? maybe? because there is just a lot lacking most of all logic and just common sense in it all. 

BUT its not a book targeted towards my age group! so rating it for whom its for? 3 stars it is. 

this was fun and i think i will go back to this after listening to the podcast (which yes i read this book before listening to any of the podcast that this book is based on, i am just not a podcast person!) and i would guess it would make this book even better because the background stuff makes more sense. 

rating and reviewing it without knowing any of the podcast storylines: this was good. 


it’s an entertaining and well done mystery, sometimes pretty brutal but not horrifically so. 


i do find the ages of main characters and their behavior as well as the acceptance of the adults of what they are doing a bit strange (my mom sure as hell wouldn’t have let me wander of trying to solve a murder or hunt after a hidden treasure that people got killed for with a smile and a wave! especially if another case went mostly belly up (the whole killer stuff from the podcast that i am missing the background stuff off but could puzzle together well enough with the details given in this book)).

would i found this more enjoyable and believable if the characters would been 18+ or in their 20s? yes. absolutely. 
but oh well. 


the mystery and murder aspects of the book were okay and mostly well done and i did enjoy how it all wrapped up for the most parts. 


it’s definitely Ancrum‘s writing style that carried me through this book for some parts of it, since some sections were completely and utterly unbelievable and too over the top with how a whole town tried to solve a riddle for years and years and people got killed but nobody solved and then some small group of people from the town decided enough was enough and just erased the entire thing by taken away books and maps … and people just went with it? they just talked about of people killed to get the clues and all of a sudden it didn’t matter anymore? 
mhm. 

so this wasn’t the best thriller/mystery nor the any way or form the most realistic one. 

but overall it was fun and a pretty quick read so there is that. 

as i said i am guessing the actual podcast lethal lit would have added layers (hopefully?) that might have made this a bit better. 


as it stands: good and entertaining but not a must read and in my opinion not the best of ancrum‘s works by a long shot but not bad either. 

take from that what you will.