This book started as a three for me. I found myself pushing forward despite being a bit meh about it because I do that. Some of it may have been an artifact of medium - perfectly reasonable pacing in text form can feel slower in an audiobook.
And then we got to Cyrah and I was hooked. The story became brilliant and beautiful and it's as though every slow moment and "ugh, what is it with these whiny dudes" part of it fell away and it was fantastic and I had to know what happened to her. I loved it.
So, totally worth reading, probably goes even faster if you read instead of listen. And, as part of Das's commitment to treating shape shifters seriously as creatures, as animals, as whatever they ares (read the book for more details), you do get a certain excess of effluvia, at least compared the the average book. It worked, but I think I need to read a book with less piss in it next.

While the beginning of this book was confusing (because it takes a while for the events of a previous book to return to me, except in certain cases when the book in question is unforgettable or I've read it so many times), the pace was even better than Persona and I definitely enjoyed it more. Less time wondering what the hell was going on, more time cheering Suyana even when I wasn't sure if I should. Very glad I picked it up.

Feldman is one of the few authors who has ever written a work of magical realism grounded in Judaism and Jewish mythology that I actually enjoyed. Most of them entirely fail to meet my standards (which, given that I identify as Orthodox and have a staunchly rationalist bend, may not entirely be the author's fault), but this one was deftly handled and smart and just good.

I enjoyed the actual story with two specific caveats.
1) This didn't need Nazis. Why were there Nazis? I'll admit, I'm a bit sensitive to sudden Nazis, but come on! What did that add to the narrative?
2) Kerr solved my objection to Tor and Maya by making her as domineering as him. So, yeah. He's still an insecure example of toxic masculinity and he doesn't get better. I'm not sure if her sudden willingness to be controlling and angry as well does anything other than make me dislike her...which I guess works. I don't resent the paring.
Which is enough to knock this out of a 3 into the realm of 2.

I loved the premise of this book and, as a work of alternate historical narrative, it's brilliant. Everfair feels like a country with a history and events and this could almost be a work of pop history of a place that never was.
I was expecting a book about people, though, and the book's tendency to jump from person to person almost immediately after an event happens in the service of the country's story made it rather difficult for me to care about what happens. Since Everfair isn't real, I wanted people's lives to latch on to and, while a few characters (Lissette and Fwendi) achieved that level of "realness" I associate with fiction, overall they felt like people I should have known about from history, but didn't.
It's a really interesting conceit, but not one that worked completely for me.

I don't remember the last time I enjoyed a collection of stories this much. Everything, even the horror, was amazing (even if it was a bit weird).
Special mention goes to Theodora Goss's "The Other Thea," Amal El-Mohtar's "Seasons of Glass and Iron," and Naomi Novik's "Spinning Silver" as my favorite stories in an already excellent collection. Novik took the antisemitic undertones in Rumplestiltskin and turns it utterly on its head and it's glorious.

Sarah Waters is basically what happens when you tell Kate Atkinson to write melodrama that borders on Dickensian in terms of plot and then add historically accurate lesbians.
So, yes, I thought it was awesome!

Leaving aside the "I cannot remember what happened in the last book or the names of any characters" problem that happens every time I pick up a sequel, I enjoyed this one. It's a...familiar story at this point - once the oppressive regime (which is also complex in its own way) is overthrown, where do we go and how do we keep the revolution good?
I'm glad to see this in fiction and it keeps the story interesting and realistic.
I'm not sure I care as much about Nat as I do Kirit (fortunately she's here too), but I found this deftly handled and interesting if not as compelling as book 1.

This book was a godsend, honestly. I listened to it the week after the 2016 presidential election and it was a distraction I desperately needed. I realize not everyone wants dystopian noir right now, but it was mostly being about to read a new book by an author whose work always resonates with me that I needed. And this was no exception.
Aside from that, it was also a compelling and fascinating story. I loved the world she envisioned, I love all the thought she put into policing in a connected future and I loved how unpredictable, but inevitable in retrospect it was. So good!
I'm hoping for another book in this universe, although I know Emma's next two books are set in other universes.

What can I say? I've always been a sucker for a good heist novel set in a fantasy world.