This could have been so great, but it wasn't. 

I loved this book, and I'd also love to read more in the world of Shantiport and Moku if I could. 

There is a touch of the absurd in this book, or perhaps a lot of absurd. It's silly, and funny, and tense, and mysterious. I enjoyed the journey and the main characters, flaws and all. When books bill themselves as murderbot-ish I usually find that they fall flat (Murderbot from Martha Well's fantastic series is a gem), but there was genuinely something murderbot-esque about this, in a very good, and unique way - beyond the idea of bam here is a sarcastic death robot, or here is a human robot clone doing things - it had meaningful connections with people and other individuals, it was funny, it had villains, mysterious people, and sometimes robots that  just don't know what's going on.

But it also had a richly described external world, a Jinn(bot) which was its own fun romp - especially if you have any familiarity with Jinn in Arabian mythology. And full of family drama, love, betrayal and more.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the e-galley and letting me read this one early. 

One of the genres of books I find myself seeking out are the Sassy Cat plus Witch Cozy mysteries - you may think there aren't many of those, but there are.

Sadly, I didn't love this one - there was a lot of "he said" "she said" and I found myself not caring about the story or the characters until I finished it to finish it. It was fine enough but I would probably recommend other cozy witch mysteries instead of this one. 

I prefer some of Emily Henry's other books to this one - I don't love miscommunication tropes very much and this leans heavily into it. Lots of character development throughout. 

I love well written multi-generational sagas, that show the interconnected moments in families or groups. I thought A History of Burning was brilliant, and I'm so impressed that this was Oza's debut novel. The prose was lush and immersive. I was skulking around in their world,  following everyone around, hoping for them and their dreams and grieving the heartbreaks and cruelties. Some parts felt a bit rushed, but most of this book is just magic. 

Highly recommend. I read this book courtesy of the publisher and Netgalley. 

I enjoyed this pride and prejudice-esque regency style novel with some depth and social commentary beyond the fluff, but generally lighthearted and heartwarming.

It reminds me a bit of some of Gail Carriger's work, specifically the Soulless series. 

I enjoyed this book and how it played out. 

I realize there is so much pressure on authours that write an incredible first book to live up to those expectations in their second book, and Andrew Joseph White's last book, Hell Followed With Us was something special. I think it's fair to say that his second book, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is immaculate. 
 
It is incredibly crafted, the words are so intentional, and the authour creates such a visceral ambiance of horror and discomfort.  But in a way that for me was tolerable, didn't feel gratuitous, and at times, was even oddly uplifting. The characters are lovable or strongly dislikable. where appropriate, but they all feel very alive, flawed, wonderful, and/or terrible, and they could step out of the page at any moment.. The descriptions of the settings transported me  to a dark creepy house/finishing school/institution while I was curled up with my e-reader, I simply couldn't put this book down and the pacing was great. 

I'll admit, horror isn't generally my genre and I probably would have missed out on reading his first book without a direct recommendation from a trusted friend,  but I really like what he's doing with his writing - this book held my hand a little, made me feel some feelings, and told an absolutely compelling story, that's brutal, but also loving and empathetic.

Does this book require content warnings? Yes. Does the authour provide many of them himself in his kind Letter from the Authour at the very beginning? Also yes.. I appreciated the encouragement to not endure the book if it wasn't what you were able to read at the moment. I also appreciated the authour note at the end - reenforcing that while this book is a work of fiction, real horrifying things have been done in the name of science and medicine, especially in history, and suggests two very good books to learn more. 

thankful to the publisher for access to this one via NetGalley. 

Starter Villain was incredibly fun to read. It is full of irreverent dialogue, and while it didn't take itself too seriously, it still had a hearty story with depth, adventure, super genius cats, and people put into situations that they had no business being in. I loved that I had absolutely NO idea where this book would end up when I started, and it kept surprising me along the way. 

No disappointments here. It's full of funny stuff, and some slightly absurdist vibes (in a good way), highly recommend checking it out. 

Content notes: there is some death mentioned in the book, including the death of family members. But it's generally a very light hearted book. 

Thanks to netgalley and TOR for this e-ARC! A real pleasure to read.