I actually liked this more than I expected to. It’s not quite an exceeds expectations because the “main” story thread is less interesting than the secondary. When they converge it is satisfying, but it feels ironically from Cyberpunk 2077 aesthetically. Thematically it is on point but it doesn’t look like a character you’d meet or play, nor does the city look like it does in the game. It’s really weird.

I think if it were fleshed out slightly more and not connected to the brand it would be a 4 star read. Then again, it was a free comic from GoG, so whatever?

I watched the show first and it turns out the adaptation is pretty great. While the book is much tighter, something I was looking for as the series felt like it could have had much better pacing, the book does not have one of the love interests but has every story beat the show had. It’s also as fun as I thought it would be to read when she’s thinking strategically in game.

If you thought the show had a bit too much padding, the book is certainly the way to go. But, I do feel like the additions in the show flesh out her character a bit more and make it less... cold. Yet why shouldn’t the end of her story be more about chess and less about the peripheral characters, one of whom is pretty much not in the book. I’m not sure if he was even mentioned, honestly.

Without that additional storyline from the show, I’d say the show is exactly the same as the book, often verbatim. I would have liked to have gotten even more from being in her head, but mostly the chess matches have a different feel (as you’d expect).

Genuinely endearing and funny once you get through the somewhat uneven and weirdly boring first quarter. Also: you gotta get used to her voice. If you don’t like her voice, hey guess what, the audiobook ain’t for you! That was almost me... but I actually played with the speed of the audiobook to get it just right for me (2.05x)

Maybe I’ve read a lot of stories About witches, but I found this was alright, but didn’t have much to set it apart. Decent prose and characters - more or less exactly what I expected from the jacket. Not a bad thing, just adjust your expectations accordingly is all.

Well written inclusive historical fiction. It does what it says on the tin. While it didn’t exceed my expectations, it was a solid read.

Admittedly, what brought this up from a 3 star for me was that I was just really interested in the science and history packed into this. It’s like a snapshot of computer science and a bit of spec fiction coupled with interesting stuff about primates and diamonds. The actual structure and plot is pretty basic, but I found it to be fun.

Good when paired with other social Justice/anti-racist books. This is pretty much just primarily why people get defensive. It is somewhat actionable but certainly one piece of the puzzle.

10% in twice, I gave up. I rewound and started listening again because I just completely glazed over despite the narrator actually being pretty good.

I wasn’t sure I was going to like this much for the first 50 pages or so, which is my usual cut off. But thankfully interesting things start to happen shortly afterward. The initial setup is so standard I was worried it wouldn’t go anywhere, but the more you read the more it diverges and the more interesting it becomes.

While I wouldn’t say it’s thematically strong, it does a good job of managing expectations and then subtly subverting them, even so far as the pacing. When stuff starts happening it really does start clipping along nicely. I liked it more as it went on. I thought about wether I’d have liked it this much if the beginning was a bit slower and a standard affair, and I don’t think I would have, actually; which is a pretty clever way to structure your novel, as long as readers stick with it, anyway.

I’m pretty sure if this wasn’t an audiobook I would have DNF’d this. It took a while to get going, which is way less of a big deal when it’s an audiobook since I have them running between 1.25x and 2.5x, depending on the cadence of the narrator. Some people talk very slowly. In this case, I had a lot of design work to do so just left it on all day.

It didn’t actually start grabbing me until almost halfway, and then it ramps up well. The character work is alright, interactions are better. And this would have easily been a 4 star book if the mystery had delivered for me. I didn’t know it was going to be *that* kind of mystery and it ruined it a bit for me. I thought it was going to be a lot more interesting and grounded, and not tapping into Wells and Lovecraft, the later of which I pretty much never find interesting. If you’re into that though, I could see this being a 4-5 star read.