It just had to make me cry in the end. I liked all the twists. Pekka Rollins was the best enemy. I'm in love with all six of the crows of course. I can't help but want more. Though I see the next book in this world is coming in January so maybe. I'm also super curious about the Council of Tides.

I loved this. Its not my favorite book ever but it deeply satisfies the part of me that loves knowing random historical facts. This was my first audio book ever. Bill Bryson did an excellent job narrating. His voice is calm yet emotional enough that listening was interesting and never boring. There's quite a bit of sarcasm which I found amusing. As for the work itself, I was confused by how it was formatted when looking at the chapters but by about halfway I realized how well that worked. Bryson also did a great job of relating specific historical references not only to today but also to each other. When I started this I would have said this book was a micro history but I can also see it as macro as well. There's a lot about a house and a home and the contents within it connected to wider history and ways of life. Often micro histories and even history classes hyper focus to the point where I don't know how what's going on fits into the rest of the world or even that time period. They just seem to live in a vacuum. Not the case with this book. Definitely picking up another of his books in the future.

Love it.

Just as hopeful and magical as the first time around.

3.5 stars. I really liked the animal tales and the slave tales of freedom. The other sections were good but slower reading for me personally. The art throughout the books is superb and moving. Overall, I am happy I read this as I had little to no exposure to black folk tales.

But this solidified that anthologies are not for me most of the time. Once a story is over my attention wanders and its hard to get back into reading the book unless its continuing with the same characters. But that's a personal note.