chantaal's Reviews (2.32k)

What a strange, weird, fun little book that may bounce off many readers, but when it finds its audience, it will WORK for them - and luckily I'm part of that audience. This worked for me, and I devoured it in 24 hours. 

Leave your disbelief at the door, because this book features a spaceship AI and its medical AI trying to deal with a variety of mishaps visited upon their human passengers: Dracula. A werewolf? Cthulhu fish people?! And more! The ship AI Demeter keeps having the worst luck of paranormal happenings, and every time something happens, she's wiped or recommissioned, and she changes and grows along the way. 

There is an element of goofiness here that you have to be willing to work with, but Truelove writes with a kind of earnestness that's charming and hard not to appreciate. Part of the goofiness and the What Now?!ness of it all means that there isn't a whole lot of room for character development that isn't Demeter or, later, Steward (the medical AI). There are other characters that eventually form a misfit found family, and maybe one of them has any real depth and time on page to truly care for them. The rest feel like they sort of fall in to the found family because the author wanted to end on a found family note.

Despite minor quibbles, this was still a fast paced, funny, silly book with a lot of heart. Kudos to the Bindery Books experiment, this book was published through an imprint led by book influencer Ezeekat. A promising start! 

 I want to like Aliette de Bodard SO MUCH but I keep bouncing off her work. The ideas are great but the execution never works for me. I think this is going to be it for good. 

Nobody is more disappointed than I am. 

Honestly, I was quite bored with this almost the entire way through. Everything is incredibly predictable, from the way the main character hides behind her armor to the climax that I figured out as soon as she arrived in the new city. And honestly, if you've read enough fantasy, you can predict exactly how the climax will play out just as quickly.

Neon Yang is a fantastic writer on a line by line basis, but I also felt a little underwhelmed by The Tensorate Series. I think I prefer them much more in the sci-fi space (see: The Genesis of Misery) where their ideas feel much more interesting.

There were pieces of the world building and ideas that were super interesting, but I think having Charlie in all her self-destructive glory as our main character was not the lens I wanted a story like this through. 

i understand all the reactions to this now lmaoooo

I love this silly little concept of doing a cozy mystery but make them all animals. 

The cozy aspects hit right, but the mystery leaves much to be desired when you figure out exactly what happened before the book even hits the half way mark. Also, it felt very immature at times - especially in the romance, which could have been left out entirely and nothing would have changed whatsoever.

Still going to continue on and enjoy the cozy moment as they come through my library holds. 

I'm really glad that I learned that this was originally published chapter by chapter on the Andrews' website before being published as a novel, because it feels like it. But I enjoyed every little bit of it anyway because I have yet to meet an Ilona Andrews book I didn't like. 

DNF @ 27%. The guy she's supposed to fall in love with showed up in the story and every thing and every one became just a little bit stupider across all levels, ruining what could have been a fun plot otherwise. 

I’m going to be screaming from the rooftops all year about how much I LOVED THIS. 

Five Views of the Planet Tartarus, 2025 Hugo nominee and 2025 Nebula nominee for Best Short Story. 

A very short, quick little story with a punch. Not entirely sure why it's earned nominations, as it feels almost too short? Like it could definitely be the beginning of something, or a short horror jaunt as a side plot in a part of something bigger.