smartflutist661's reviews
1350 reviews

A very solid murder mystery, with some good twists and turns. And as I've come to expect, a protagonist who is uniquely but realistically broken in some way. I would have liked more of Tesla's backstory, but I also don't think not having it detracted from the book, since it wasn't really about her. Feels like the potential for a good prequel, though.

Annnnndddd...

they're together now

. I knew it was inevitable, but I think it took away some of the uniqueness. But it's still enjoyable, and based on the back of the book, the underlying plot only runs for a trilogy, so I'll probably wrap it up, at least. Probably read the rest next time I need some brain candy, though might check out Kate Daniels preferentially.

What stood out most to me here was that

they don't get together by the end

. Which made a lot of sense, but was moderately unexpected. A fun conspiracy-laden urban fantasy, overall.

Love a good desperate siege, plus, as a mid-ish career engineer desperately trying to minimize the number of days spent entirely in meetings, sometimes too relatable. In the end, I can't resist a book where being clever saves the day, or where someone walks into the halls of power, realizes everyone else is gone, and says "well, shit... I guess I have to be in charge now". I was a little bit disappointed by the abruptness of the end—would have liked a bit more foreshadowing. But will definitely be checking out more.

(Also, if you want the real Roman empire, this is it. Corruption, nepotism, cowardice, lethargy, it's all there.)

An excellent murder mystery, with hints of a much deeper corruption in the foundations of the Empire scattered throughout. The comparison to Holmes and Watson is very apt, and I never felt like the mystery was so obvious that Din was just an idiot for not getting it, especially given his idealism. I hope the sequels explore the Leviathans a lot more.

Took a few dozen pages to get into, but I continued to enjoy the classic heisting plot once it got going. I was disappointed in

Matthias's death, which I thought was a bit shoehorned in just so that everything didn't end all sunshine and rainbows

, but the aftermath was extended enough that it wasn't a total waste. And maybe someday Kaz will even be less of a right bastard.

Still not sure how I feel about this one. Much more straightforward than book 1, which might have been a weakness in this case. But I still enjoyed it, and the genderless society was an interesting contrast with Too Like the Lightning's "genderless" society, which I also read recently.

The bodily autonomy bits were a bit on the nose, but perhaps surprisingly (or perhaps intentionally) it wasn't actually a major emphasis. I was also surprised how accurate the part of the blurb that references Amber was. It was a bit strange reading two books nearly back-to-back with such strong resemblances to childhood favorites. I would have like another... few books, probably... about what comes after they

fix the Mokshi

, though. 

A fun science fantasy. I really liked the dual points of view and the way Tchaikovsky played with language between them. But in the end, just a very classic adventure, somewhat in the style of the Golden Age of sci-fi.

The author read Pern and said "I want to do that, but YA". Fortunately for her, Pern did something to my brain as a child. Not high literature, by any means, but I appreciated what was done differently—"tall, dark, and dangerous" was actually not really an asshole at all, whereas the childhood friend-turned-love-interest was kind of a dick for most of the book (and, weirdest of all, Violet knew it). I also appreciated that the (and this is hardly a spoiler)

"I am in the uncontrollable throes of dragon lust" moment didn't turn out quite as rape-y as it was in Pern, looking back

. If it weren't such a straight-up clone of Pern with, just, all the YA-semi-dystopia tropes, it might have snuck into 4.5 stars, but still very good.