Mrs Death Misses Death is an interesting concept for a novel. The story of Mrs Death, a black working-class woman who has the ability to shapeshift and is wearied by her experiences of her job as death meets Wolf who she begins to tell her stories to. Wolf begins to write down Mrs Death's stories and through Wolf we jump across time and places as Mrs Death shares very real stories about people who she has come across.

I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by the author and I this definitely drew me in as I listened to it on 1.25x speed to keep a good pace. I liked the whole feel of the novel being read aloud as it felt like a more immersive oral storytelling experience. I also think it worked for the style of the novel which at times has repetitive paragraphs. The audiobook is also quite short at just over 6 hours which I enjoyed. And Salena Godden does an excellent job of bringing her story to life.

I'm always intrigued by stories that humanise death as a person. The focus on life, on hope, around living life to the fullest and being able to unburden your conscience, and the conversations about death were all really interesting and well done. However I can't say I loved this novel, I felt like I didn't really connect entirely with the characters and I felt like the stories that Mrs Death shared were sometimes a little random. I liked the political and pointed nature of some of her stories and the way Godden hasn't shied away from that. When she chose to discuss the deaths of individuals who had a lot of international attention for political reasons this really stood out to me. But I just felt like there was something missing and the execution by the end didn't have entirely the cohesion I would have wanted. I also weirdly found there was a lot of swearing and maybe this is because I listened to the audiobook so it stood out more when the author was saying it, but sometimes I just found it a bit much all at once.

Overall I think this is a really unique debut, and I'd definitely be keen to read more of Salena Godden's work but I was left wanting a little bit more by the end.

The Tommy plot twist line was way too predictable, like I saw it coming from the very beginning.

Also wtf is up with this cover. Why is Basi crouching before Kyros? Do not like the dynamics of this.

Overall though some decent character growth, not quite sure how the series is going to tie up. Feels very familiar in style to the Supernatural Wars: Werewolf editions which I read first so the concept is less unique but a fun read. Easy to binge.

Engine Empire was a difficult read for me, I really didn't enjoy the first part focused on old Western America. The second section focusing on an industrialised China was interesting but at times I felt like the meaning of the poetry eluded me. It slipped through my fingers and I wasn't sure what I was reading. The final section focusing on the future felt the most lucid and direct, and I could seemingly follow a more obvious meaning in this section.

This isn't to say this poetry was bad and I think Cathy Park Hong has a very fluid and distinctive style. There felt like a real rhyme and rhythm to the poetry which would be great for reading aloud.

However, I think I want to return to this collection again and pick a poem or two to read and really think about to see how I may absorb it differently or engage in and whether that makes a difference to my reading experience.

Overall, not a bad book, but just not one I'm sure worked entirely for me this time around.

Am I a hopeless addict to this series now? Yes

Is some of it a little bit predictable? Yes

Are there still some original twists to the storyline? Yes

Am I enjoying it a whole lot? Yes

This whole series just made me very happy and was such a fun escapism read. Also loved that it was a whole trilogy.

Human Acts is undoubtedly a heavy book, focusing on the vicious suppression and aftermath of the student uprising in Gwangju, South Korea in the 1980s. The book follows one young boy in his search for his friend's corpse and then follows the voices of various individuals brutalized by the government's response to the uprising.

The translation is introduced by Deborah Smith who provides some context to the book and the nuances of translation which really helps to understand the novel. Smith talks about the importance of the translation and the book to Han Kang who was born and raised in Gwangju. "She is a writer who takes things deeply to heart, and was anxious that the translation maintain moral ambivalence of the original, and avoid sensationalising the sorrow and shame which her home town was made to bear." This moral ambivalence comes through most strongly in the choice of the second person narrative style which builds distance from the reader. I know some readers have commented that this made it difficult to connect emotionally with the book, but I thought there was still a great deal of emotion and experience packed into the book.

The strength of Han Kang's work is the way in which she approaches her storytelling. She never simply describes an event, she talks about the experiences, the sights, smells, emotions, and flashes of memory. She brings history to the readers through vivid imagery and descriptions and at times this is very visceral and dark. However it is the rawness and the power of her words that I appreciated in The Vegetarian that continues to shine through in Human Acts.

The duo of Han Kang and Deborah Smith as translator works really well (although I obviously cannot speak for how this reads compared to the original Korean). However as a translated novel it serves to be powerful, beautiful and very haunting.

This was cute, and enjoyable.