Unfortunately not as great as the preceding books. The magic felt...forced, or faked. The ending felt almost stolen from us as readers.

And on top of that, I've decided that I don't buy the shamer's universe, as a profoundly Catholic morality. People are good, in this universe, because they feel shame. Whereas I'm fairly certain that people can be good for a number of reasons, all of them in order to do soemthing-- love others, better the world, etc -- not in order to avoid shame. Shame avoidance is a last-resort sort of morality, certainly nothing to strive for.

I would still recommend this quartet to avid fantasy readers, because the magic is really quite different from other worlds and that can be very fun, but it won't be my go-to.

This book is cute, but I'm critical of the model of consent portrayed. When the child is asked for hug by increasingly un-huggable characters, she gets less and less willing, but they keep hugging and it is not until she is entirely overwhelmed that she says "stop." I could see this book as a good conversation starter, with an adult asking ""Should porcupine have gone ahead and hugged her when she said 'oh boy' instead of yes or no?" and "Do you think the tiger should have agreed to the conditions for a hug without keeping them?" But without an alert reader, this book leans towards teaching ONLY that "no means no" rather than the "only yes means yes" model that we as a society should strive for.

Cute. Would recommend as a read aloud for 4-7 year old, as younger children may not understand the tongue in cheek humor.

I do so love new books by beloved authors. Can't believe I hadn't caught wind of the Penric books yet! I especially love bits that describe the gods, and the climax of this book did not disappoint.

Bright and colorful photography accompanies brief but informative text in this interesting nonfiction picture book.

I'm not sure I would have chosen these 4 emotions (happy, sad, angry, proud) as the primary feelings a person can have, but I appreciate the opening for parents to speak with very young children about emotions.

Always an enjoyable read, a pleasant romp through the land of fairie.

The soothing alternate history gay romance novel you didn't know your pandemic needed. It does. Read this. Hardly any suspense at all, it's all just fun.