As with all of her books, you always come away with more information and perspective on a culture you probably aren’t familiar with. She always describes things so that they almost become cinematic, even using great specificity with meals and customs when it’s pertinent.

Had this been a bit longer it probably would have been 5 stars. As the first half is a reminder of what happened last time and the second half is this very sweet story with Esa and his friend, and his problem, which leads down a road I hadn’t expected, it’s hard to justify the 5 stars despite really loving the ending.

You learn a lot and it’s hard subject matter, as it is with all the books so far in this series, and it’s well worth your time and $2.

It’s really nice to have thoughts on climate change collected and filtered through a person. When you do your own research, there’s just so much information to go through and so much misinformation. Tackling it topically and from best and worst case scenario is immensely helpful, imo.

I wouldn’t call this fun reading, even when it’s best case. And the prose are fairly dry, given the subject matter. But It is a useful and helpful framework to consume if you’re interested in the subject matter. If only as a supplement as to how you want to frame your own thoughts regarding the climate crisis.

Unequivocally better than the first book in every respect, yet the major thing that grates on me when reading these, is just how’s potentially evocative the fiction could be, yet the prose lack specificity when it comes to description.

I get the feeling that Lee has a very strong grip on what every scene looks like, but what she is interested in conveying to the reader has nothing to do with how things look, and I am a very visual thinker. If you are the type of reader who wants the writer to write what they can’t imagine, and you’re not sure what 70s Hong Kong with fantastic elements would look like, you may have the same problem as me.

Every other aspect is top notch. Especially the characterization and character arcs in this one are just incredibly on point and perfect. Same with the plot. I really love how realistic everything is and just how much is driven by the plot pushing on the characters and the characters pushing back. You would think it would be almost nihilistic, yet you can see and feel the cause and effect so vividly, you find yourself feeling just as the characters do; wherever they may be on the moral spectrum you might internalize and externalize.

Honestly just cannot wait for the TV show of this. Sure hope it goes through and doesn’t get stuck in production hell. This in a visual form, if true to the books, would be incredible; essentially fixing my only issue!

This was pretty great, but also I was probably not smart in choosing the audiobook for this. Most of it is coached through his specific perspective, but there’s also just a lot of information to remember and the narrator is not that engaging. I tend to need to consume things with data in it in text or some other visual format. Plus, it feels like this would have footnotes and citations/links that would never be read in this format, but in text you could bounce back and forth, possibly?

Either way, most of this I knew, probably because this was published 7 years ago. But it’s still worth checking out, of course.

Interesting concept, very strange, muddied execution. For a story about stories, it seems more preoccupied with inserting elements that remove agency and surprise, rather than weave something organic and thematically on point.

I didn’t even really buy any of the characters, but the strength of the prose and the sort-of gothic fantastical over story kept me reading anyways. Because there are many stories I thought this one would have something meaningful and interesting to say, yet, as I said, it was more interested in a particular story and the casting of specific, but generic roles.

Surprising ending. But that doesn’t equal good. In fact one part made me laugh out loud. Then it was sound enough, for a plot in which the protagonists only purpose is to be a puppet on a string. Like I said: concept and prose carry it to the end, then it fumbles, pretty much.

Really interesting, most of the time. It gets a bit more granular than I’d have liked, such as, say, ear wax buildup in ears and what not (lol) - but it’s filled with genuinely actionable and concise, clear information on the subject.

What a great concept. I think the marketing material does it a bit of a disservice, as it’s much more intelligent and interesting than a simple retelling.

The prose are fantastic, the structure inspired, themes both satisfying and subversive. What a good book about othering, and using it as a vector for modern social commentary. It’s been sitting on my shelf for a while, what a fool I was!

My god this went off the rails. It was tropey from the start but ones I actually was super into! Return of the prodigal son to get your head straight in rural, southern US. The actual method of his mental health break is prettty hand wavey and throwaway, but I was on board.

Then it got really contrived. I guess the author really wanted more characters involved instead of keeping it intimate and interesting. The “bad guy” was similarly contrived to the previous book; more so even, as I don’t think the seeds of that were sewn in previous books.

If it was just about him navigating his fathers case, and that not being contrived, it could have been pretty fun. Investigating the crime, exonerating the dad, potentially, if guilty, and dealing with the towns’ animosity. That’s a solid enough story.

I don’t think he has the chops to write black characters convincing either, they felt like caricatures for the most part either. Basically as soon as the lawyer was introduced, the Contrivance began. And then it turned into a day time soap. It’s a wild, wild book, friends. I am not surprised the series ends with the next book.

As always, I love the prose but find it could almost be set in any genre because of the glaring lack of description. Feels like play in prose form, which I dig. But for me, these books are always a mix. I love the flow and absolutely adore the dialogue. But then I get pulled out of the text all of the time because I legitimately have no idea where they are, what they look like, or what they’re wearing in some scenes.

Generally, scene setting is very small and I think there is a very large assumption as to what the reader can fill in automatically. Having no familiarity with the time period, I am basically always a spectator, rather than an active participant.

3.5 rounded up

The plot was pretty clever. I’m not sure I’ve read a mystery thriller that put that much thought into plot beats after the details of the mystery are revealed. In a way, the mystery reveal is the buttressing for a satisfying finale.

Bit of a gamble though, because there’s so many components that it feels really contrived until the information is sorted multiple times; the first time being actually a bit of an annoying info dump. For me, because the reveal is too predictable and contrived, driving beyond that, almost every mile beyond it, actually became more interesting to me.

I notice that I tend to rarely care about characters in this genre. And this was true here. The way my brain works, with these stories I’m constantly speculating about what’s happened. Character comes into play in so far as who seems like they’d do it or not. I’ve just consumed so much of this genre in book and media form, I automatically look at it like a writers room approach. This gelled well with the story because it’s mostly plot acting on the character, loss of agency goes hand in hand with these titles. I didn’t get attached to anybody.

For instance, as soon as we’re through the events of the blurb, you pretty much know whatever the character is feeling and thinking is a misdirect. How can you feel like a character is three dimensional and real when you know, especially in first person perspective, their every thought and limited perspective is designed to pivot the reader in the wrong direction. I just have a weird mind, I guess.

I wonder if this is overrated for people big on character, or the development worked for them? I could see it going either way. One day I’ll be able to suspend my disbelief in this genre. Maybe when I pick up something that isn’t billed as such.