I stayed up until the middle of the night reading Seeds for the Swarm. I feel like it’s one of those books that you can hungrily finish in an afternoon, if it catches your interest as it did mine. 

I liked the premise and the themes explored in this YA cli-fi novel. It's highly readable, but occasionally a bit instructive at times. There were only a few points at which I felt the educational aspect was a bit heavy handed, but I didn’t feel like they distracted me too much from the story. 

Rylla, is the main protagonist, she’s a “Dust State” dwelling person (“a dustie”) on the cusp of adulthood. The story begins with water recycling issues, and sets the stage for a dry, dirty, and dismal potential future. Rylla wants to go to university to hopefully escape or improve her circumstances but poverty may not allow for it - she’s looking at working for the very oil refineries she’s against. But after staging a one-woman protest, she goes viral (albeit not for the reason she would have wanted) and as a result, is invited to the kind of “Lush State” university she was dreaming of, all expenses paid. 

I enjoyed the exploration of “Dust state” vs “Lush State,” and it wasn't cut and dry as to who the villains and heroes were. I did not know where this story was going to go when starting out. There were several imperfect unlikeable characters, which worked quite well for this novel, there were moments of mutual awkwardness and misunderstanding, where the Lush State wasn’t entirely a woke paradise, and the Dustie wasn’t always the backwards bumpkin. I would have liked to get to know some of the other characters better, but perhaps that will be something for future books. 

There are several opportunities to reexamine your initial assumptions about a character or a group, and I think that was done very well too. 

 
I found the handling of addiction a bit disappointing, considering the futuristic setting, and the technological advancements the Lush State potentially had at its disposal - it felt a bit too willpower and shame based for this so-called advanced society - but I did like the somewhat attempt at a community responsibility model.

Loved the queer rep, it felt genuine and not just haphazardly placed.

Criticisms aside, there are a lot of interesting ideas presented here, the story is solid and inventive, and has a lot of adventurous reading potential. I am eager to read the next book in the series and find out what happens to Rylla and the rest of the crew in the rest of the trilogy. 

I got to read this as a Digital ARC thanks to Netgalley and Stelliform Press. 

Another fatphobic cozy mystery. Meh. 

I think this might be a more interesting book for a knitting fan, I don’t use most of the fibers she was gushing over and there was a lot
of diet talk and weight talk and I have but one life and probably wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone else. 

I was a bit disappointed by the last chapter where she discusses getting bariatric surgery. Otherwise the book was informative, and left me with a lot to think about, and how I use the internet. 

I really connected with this series - I thought the scenarios were interesting, and the world building was cool. I that this enjoyed the reevaluation of assumptions. The thing that appealed to me about this book and the rest of the series is that it felt like just the right amount of tension and resolution, specifically for an anxious sort of reader that wants more of a (mostly) lighthearted adventure without an excess of constant gloom.

I think the relationship aspect felt a bit forced, but not enough to make me dislike the series.

I listened to the audiobook for this one, because I've been having a hard time getting a paper copy of this book (Despite preordering a few months ago. Supply chain issues with books are no joke right now!)

As promised, this book answered some questions left over from the last book, but left me with more - I read the book one a year ago, so it took a few chapters to warm up to what was going on, but eventually everything clicked together and I remembered where we had left off. The story walks a fine line between hopeless and hopeful in a really terribly fantastic way, and I was always wondering what would happen next. 

I enjoyed the character development, especially with Elza and Rachel, since the last book (if I remember correctly) was mostly focused on Tina - and despite having feelings about not having the paper book, the audiobook was actually so great. It was impossible to pick a favourite, everyone was well matched to their respective parts, and they each brought the book alive. 

Greatly looking forward to book 3!

I loved getting to know Safie, Tamara, and Milo - they are colleagues working at an oddball newspaper, and friends outside of work - I enjoyed getting some insight into their trials and tribulations with dating and a bit about their lives before all the action happened. I thought this book was such a nice balance of fun and silly, and some more serious themes - but I was laughing within the first pages.

I loved that they didn't just jump at the idea of going to a 24hr dating agency, but were like... hmm I don't know about this. Some expert level delayed gratification. I loved that the character development by the end of the book. There was a journey to get to the HEA.

Worth noting, this book deals in part with family abandonment, and that it is central to one of the main character's story and development. 

I had the opportunity to read an ARC of this book through NetGalley. Thank you to the author and the publisher, Head of Zeus. 

This book was absolutely delightful. A reimagined Pride and Prejudice as a mystery novel worked very well, the changes felt true to the original - and I was delighted by every twist and turn. 

If you are a Pride and Prejudice fan, I don't think you'll be disappointed. 

I just jumped into this book - I did not read book one (but now I'd like to.) 

I think this a refreshingly unique take in the YA dystopia genre - it made me think of a few elements from other YA dystopia/utopia books I've enjoyed -  but they were spun together in new and interesting ways that made it stand out. 

Despite not reading book one, I felt interested and connected to the main protagonist Arela, without knowing the back story in depth - there are some helpful reintroductions of key characters and their previous roles. That said, I would recommend you read book one - while it's easy to pick up some of the story in the beginning, it becomes a bit harder near the end.

I thought the world building was great. Characters were all complex, flawed, humans, with no one coming out perfect or righteous (though some are much worse than others!) I liked that there was character development and increasing self and social awareness, it's peppered with some interesting side stories, with some mysteries revealed and some mysteries still left to unravel. 

Looking forward book three!  Thank you to netgalley for this review copy. 

Just trash

I am already looking forward to book 2 - this book had a hard and fascinating story, the world and character building was incredible, the characters are flawed, powerful, and unreliable narrators, and misjudge scenarios in the best possible ways. 

I couldn't anticipate where this is going to go - anything was possible. I didn't always love the characters - but they were always well written.