More was accomplished in this book than I thought possible. I was worried after the growing pains of book 2, but it was phenomenal. The beginning was about rough with how quickly the POVs cycled but it moved away from that, & moved away from some of the more overused Maasaverse tropes, it was really fun & a unique journey even after 835 pages I can’t wait to see what’s next. 

I’m not familiar with Shakespeare’s Antony & Cleopatra, so I have no idea how this retelling compares. At times I was bogged down by the worldbuilding, but the characters & the action was very well written. & THAT ENDING! Can’t wait to see what is to come! 

In the 2nd novella, the rogue SEC unit goes to confront their past, bonds with the artificial intelligence in charge of his transport over their love of media consumption. When I’m need of an employment contract, Murderbot is forced to take a job helping some researchers get back their files, which quickly gets much more dangerous. 

Again, a strange & fun way to present issues like burnout, depression, the illusion of free will.

This probably isn’t a fair rating, it is well written and researched, but I started skimming because I knew most of the information & reliving it made me want to delete all my social media accounts and throw my smartphone into the sea.

I have some unanswered questions & that I think some plot points may have fell through the cracks, but overall I really enjoyed the mysteries in both timelines 

I have some issues: did I need every side characters romantic baggage? No. Why does Maas insist on writing that the mating bond is rare? Mates everywhere. Also, multiple aliases that start with the letter H? I swear SJM herself was confused part of it. Why is booksta obsessed with Ruhn? he does literal nothing until 90% into book 2. How many times can a characters’ “heart crack open”? 
Could have EASILY been 100 pages shorter. 

Did I like it? Sure. 

Am I going to read the 3rd? Obviously.

Some reviewers were not as receptive to the broody MC of this book (Delilah Harlow, dealing with disability & trauma from the events of the last book)  While I hope it’s not a full change in tone for the ongoing series, it was nice to break the mold of the MCs main dilemma being basic coming of age growing pains. Powers of this magnitude should be shown to have lasting repercussions or what’s the point of all the caution & secrecy?