I’m a bit baffled as to why this one seems to be even better reviewed than others. I suppose when people continue with a series, generally only the people invested in it keep going, and tend to grant a lot of leeway. I think this is a clear step back.

It’s tropey, very telegraphed, very uninteresting—especially because at the start we spend so much time with a character I genuinely could not care less about—and it being antiquated doesn’t excuse how transphobic it is. Trans people are talked about like sometimes people just dress up to do crimes, or written about in fetishistic terms. It’s not good and time doesn’t excuse it, because it’s actually just bad writing. Most of all, though, after the excellent previous book, this was sinfully boring.