4.5 stars
This is the third book I've read from Charles Dickens, and it is definitely my favorite so far. While he's still totally on brand with the way he blathers on and on about every minute detail, I found that there was more to entertain in this book in comparison to Great Expectations.

The characters felt more real, more developed. I loved his aunt Betsy and the Peggotty's so much. I was actually surprised that I ended up loving his aunt as much as I did with the way her character was introduced, but I loved that she was in his corner and devoted to him.

Perhaps the best thing about my experience of this story was listening to the audiobook performed by Richard Armitage. It was one of the best audiobook performances I've ever heard by a single actor, and absolutely added to my enjoyment of the book. For anyone interested, I got this specific version from audible, and I believe it's an audible exclusive.

There are a couple more books from Dickens I'm interested in reading, so we'll see how it goes, but this is at the top of my list at the moment.