Once again a slow, atmospheric start that builds to an action packed and emotionally charged end. I wasn't expecting the bad guy to be what he was. That was well written. All the politics as well as the relationships were done well. There seemed no good choice to make. Things were tied up nicely though that not the best thing. The stakes were all very high for multiple characters and then suddenly and simply they were solved.

That being said I enjoyed this book more since Vasiya is moving around, going places, and doing more in this one. There's less of the sexism but there's an obvious reason why. That's not to say it doesn't exist. But its feels less forced in this book. Therefore making certain scenes more poignant. Vasiya is growing up and learning as her siblings have that the world has certain rules it wants you to follow and its hard to find happiness and even survival if you don't follow.

On a personal note I really can only read/listen to this series when its cold out. Part of my reason for putting it down for so long. The other part was the wait time for the audio book.

So many emotions on this one. This one is case focused and for the first time gang related. I like that Dallas had complex feelings about it. The last line kind of ruins that though. I think there's some dissonance in trying to compare the girls found in An Didean and the boys in the gangs. And I'm struggling with the very negative portrayal of gang members and life here. Its not romanticised at all, which is good but the view point is from a police perspective and the gangs created as plot lines. I don't know why but something so niggling at me. So this goes here while I think about that.

Anyway, this went from happy an fun to sad and kinda depressing. Understandably. One of the more nuanced in the series in my opinion. I really enjoyed this.

I don't know what to say. I liked it. But like the last one I didn't enjoy it. The best word to describe my feelings overall are its compelling. I was looking forward to the next book because that ending. Its so slow in the beginning even though it starts off literally where we left off at the end of The Bone Season. I feel the romance is more believable in this one. Still a slow burn but you can see it more. I liked learning more about the syndicate and seeing different clairvoyants in action. But all the terms and names are still confusing. I literally just have to ignore them. I know people by their real names or characteristics. Even physical descriptions are not sticking with me. Overall its still really grim and miserable.

My thoughts about how the only way any hope in their lives can be created is

for Paige to take over all the clairvoyants both the strong within the syndicate and those not and then overthrow and kick out the Rephaim off the planet then work on having better relationships with regular people

is coming true. Quicker than I expected. But this was only two battles sort of.

I was not shocked by the very end.

Jaxon caring so little about what happened with Paige, the Rephaim, and even how all over the place his top 7 crew members have been kind of made me suspect him over literally everything. I was not expecting him to have been close to Nashirah before and only coming back to her now though.

But there's more to that story. I was surprised by the conspiracy with the Rag and Bone man. But there is more there too I feel. We now know a bit more about the Rephaim but nowhere near enough for me to not have a knee jerk aliens attacking feeling.

4.5 stars? That ending. Wow. I loved the pacing. I loved how this one was more a detective story than most of the others. The dual story line was great. The bad guy in the end wasn't a surprise and I'm not sure if this part was necessary though it fleshed out the world a bit more at the every day level; building off of the last book. So it was interesting. The bigger story that played out over in the cadre/international/cascade level was good too. I at first felt it was turning out too convenient and repetitive. But that ending! I wasn't expecting any of it. I should have known I would need to have Archangel's War on hand to read right away.

3.5 IS FOR THE LKH AND PB STORIES ONLY.
This is an anthology and as usual, I only read the stories by authors I know first. I don't usually read these since short stories are not long enough for me to feel satisfied and even though, each one feels like and ending. So my interest in the others drops dramatically. I'll get to them eventually when I feel like it.

That was good. This was not what I was expecting. Not a western, not steampunk. This was very much like Will Smith's Wild Wild West. Not amazingly great but entertaining.

A nice smutty romance. This one felt kind of rushed though. I liked the memos. I'm wondering if all the books in the series will be written in 2 parts. Not sure it was necessary for this novella. Especially when the time difference was only a month. I wish we got more time with David and Thea. David is Hispanic and from my hometown, The Bronx, so there was a lot to identify with in this one. Once again loved the relationship between all the band members.

WTF did I just read? I cried like three times reading a less than 200 page story. I LOVED this. The world, the characters and the plot was all built richly yet accessibly. I think everything except for why their mother is like this is explained and wrapped up, yet nothing felt rushed. There are some time jumps but they are clear and smooth in my opinion. I'm honestly looking for flaws and since I can't find any, I'll probably bump this up to 5 stars. I'm honestly flabbergasted by how good this is and by how I don't feel like anything was too quick or missed. I think this is the first book under 300 pages where I am completely satisfied. TO be honest, if there wasn't a sequel with Mokoya's story I'd probably be a tiny bit less satisfied with this one. But only a tiny bit because its only 1-2 story things I'd like more of and they are not major.