Started out strong, but the ending made me feel very dissatisfied. Over the second half of Day 4, this feeling just kept growing and growing. I couldn't wait for it to be over. I also found myself exhausted by all the lies. Every time something was revealed, it turned out to be a lie. Then the lie was explained, but the explanation would also turn out to be a lie. It just became too much.

I really liked how the author made the characters more realistic by showing us the shameful thoughts that nobody ever admits. I especially loved the representation of parents of special-needs children and their experience. I loved the honestly about their hardships, how people think they understand what it's like, but they don't. That being said, this inward perspective got tiring eventually. 

Matt was such a stereotype of a man. Everyone else were humanised on more complex ways, but Matt was the typical

I hate my wife and I'm a horny creep

kind of man. I hated having to read about

his sexual experiences and thoughts and his inability to get hard. Boohoo, cry me a river, you poor guy.

All of these descriptions were just vile and unnecessary.

I hated every character in this book and was left with a deep sense of injustice. Even though

Elizabeth's treatment of Henry broke my heart, I wanted to see her get justice.

I really enjoyed it, but I this is my least favourite of the trilogy. I felt like it was a little bit drawn out in the beginning, whereas the latter third of the book was just super fast-paced. The author managed to create suspense really well with the short chapters of alternating POVs. I wasn't a fan of Monono's POV. I thought she was a bit obnoxious and tried too hard to be edgy, which resulted in pure cringe. I also didn't enjoy

the ambiguity in her nature and how it turned out that she had her own agenda this entire time. Call me soft, but I wanted her to be all good.

I guess I should have seen the ending coming a mile away based on the title of the book, but I have just one question – WHY?! I feel so conflicted about the ending because it was supposed to be hopeful, but

Koli dying and then living on virtually was super depressing!

Spinner and Haijon's relationship gave me life, tho. I wasn't a fan at first, but ended up absolutely loving them. Overall a solid ending to the series, but I was hoping it would finish strong like the previous books.

The second book in the trilogy was even better than the first. There were still some inconsistencies and things that didn't make much sense (such as Koli knowing another language even though he never had reason or even much opportunity to learn it), but overall the book was packed full of action from start to finish. I really enjoyed the dual POV and getting to see what was going on in Mythen Rood. I love the lgbt rep, never would have expected this from this trilogy, and the parallels with the present. Koli's world is so fundamentally different, yet so much, like how religion is used to influence and control people, is the same.

I think my favourite parts of this series are found family and Koli's character as a whole. This is not a story told by some badass warrior who can do no wrong and I love that.

I'm so glad I found this series in a second-hand shop because otherwise I probably would never have heard of it. I was really unsure about it when I first started it because the dialect slowed me down so much, but I got used to it after a while and my pace picked up. I think there were some timeline and consistency issues, such as when Koli first spoke about his conversation with Ursala, he said that he was made Faceless and shunned three weeks later, but it actually took much longer. Seasons passed between him 

finding Monono

and the wedding, although it was only supposed to be a month. Also, Ursala said she didn't have another cup, but on the next page she made tea for Koli and took out another cup. So this was a bit confusing, but I'm rating this book solely based on my enjoyment. I never expected another book to make me feel like Project Hail Mary, but

Monono really reminded me of Rocky

and I loved that.

I picked this up because I loved The Prison Healer trilogy and was hoping to relive that high. Unfortunately, I didn't get it from this one. I know I'm not the target of YA novels and this might have been a bit too YA for me. For the better part of the book, I felt myself just feeling underwhelmed, not gripped by the story, and tired of the MC's woe is me attitude. I also severely hated the nicknames in this book. Princess and Chip? I'm sorry, but that is so cringy.

However, I started caring about the story much more in the last ten chapters or so, even though none of the twists surprised me.

I really like Saint's style. Even though this book is named after Elektra, the best parts of this book were Cassandra's and Clytemnestra's POVs. Elektra was so annoying I wanted to cry and was actually dreading her chapters.

I was grateful that the Trojan war wasn't described in detail, but it still felt kind of like a trudge at times because I've read several retellings of it now and I think I'm kind of tired. It's just been done so much. Big bonus points to Saint for actually delivering on her promise that this is a story about women.

Whoever said this was feminist is absolutely insane. This book is NOT feminist.

I wanted to love it, but I had such a hard time reading it. I'm genuinely confused about whether I even enjoyed it or whether my dystopian novels loving self pushed me to continue. There is not one likable character in this book. I hated everyone. Both sides are batshit crazy and I feel like this book does more harm than good. 

The MC is a pampered, self-righteous bitch who, as the author puts it, thinks that since shit doesn't happen to her, it doesn't happen to anyone. I hated how, every time the MC started to think about all the reasons women have for disliking men and hating the patriarchy and wanting a safe female commune, she went back to her bullshit and invalidated the experiences of women everywhere. Whether that commune was actually safe or not doesn't matter at this point because she would have scoffed at their choices anyway, which is ironic because she complained about women disagreeing with her choice to "go traditional". She just had zero self-awareness. Obviously I do not agree with the misandrists and how Femlandia was set up, but I can at least understand why women would want a place without any men, which is something the MC seemed to be fully incapable of.

Even aside from that, several things in the book just made no sense to me.

Emma's immediate attachment to Jen and disdain of her mother was so abrupt it gave me whiplash. And then Sal suddenly stepping up when she could have been opposing the abuse of boys for years made no sense. Why did she need the saviour that is Miranda?

We're supposed to believe that working with primates makes her an expert on human psychology.

The epilogue saved it somewhat, but couldn't fully put out the dumpster fire that preceded it.

Edited June 2023: Found out the author is a TERF. Everything in this book suddenly makes so much more sense. Taking away the second star I gave it for the benefit of the doubt.

This was a really good middle-grade read. Perhaps a little too in your face with the message at times, but I really enjoyed the story and I think it's a beneficial read for the target audience. 

What's funny to me is that this little book meant for children managed to scare me more than the horror novels I've read. The author relayed the emotions and what was happening so well that I couldn't help imagining myself in Petra's situation, and it was both terrifying and extremely emotional to the point I got choked up. I would have preferred more 

closure at the end and I was hoping for more time on the planet.

That would have elevated it to five stars for me.