Amazing. Read it read it read it. One of those perfect books where the plot and characters and setting are all great, but so too is the experience of the words and the way the story is constructed, so that reading it is enjoyable on all the levels. Anders expertly crafts the near future setting with a gentle touch that really impressed me.

Yay for reading very new books! This so rarely happens. Another late night finishing a book I immensely enjoyed. I didn't realize/still don't quite know how much of a beginning to a series this book is, but this volume it is pretty much all set up for the big story that's going to be told. Basically the whole story of this book is explained in the blurb, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a delightful read. The characters are brilliant and I love them, and the tone of voice is uniquely casual with numerous laugh out loud moments. Just a really fun read and I'm excited to see where the premise and the characters go next. When does the sequel come out?

I kinda knew I should have read the Lovecraft story that this novella is written to engage against, called one of Lovecraft's most racist works, before this to better grasp the context, but I didn't. After finishing this novella I only read a small section of it's predecessor, and even that was enough to greatly broaden my understanding of LaValle's work. The Ballad of Black Tom was intriguing then heartbreaking, a powerful piece on race and the impact of being dehumanized. It wasn't so much enjoyable to read as it was thought provoking. I'm all the more excited to read more of LaValle's work.

I could find some things to complain about with this book but I'd rather focus on how fun it was. This was a really interesting and fast paced read once I got familiar enough with the setting and political climate of the future solar system that I wasn't having to constantly remind myself of it. I love the way the authors tackle multiple angles of science fiction, add in a suspenseful mystery and populate it all with a diverse cast of characters I enjoy spending time with. I'm excited that this is the start of a big long series and can't wait to see where it goes from here. Also props for keeping my interest in the world while also wrapping up the arc of the book and not leaving off on a huge cliffhanger.

Women! Beautiful perfect cinnamon roll women. This book was all the fun of the first but with the addition of characters I connected to so strongly it vastly increased the reward of reading. I'm really enjoying just reading straight through this series, something I so rarely do anymore.

Each of the books of this series so far, and this one in particular, have this feeling of a lot and simultaneously not very much happening. I think part of that is the hugeness of the larger story I feel unfolding, that each book seems to become a small piece of it, and part of that is the time spent going back over pieces of it from each of the story's perspectives. Corey is great at taking characters I don't expect to care that much about and making them matter to me. One of the things I liked about the previous books was that all the main characters were on the same 'side' even when they didn't know or believe it. This book was the first departure from that, and it went better than I'd feared. It was also the first book where I felt perplexed about a big piece of the story and it never got to the point where it felt resolved. So, will be interested to see where the story continues to go.

I felt stalled out on this one for the first time since I started flying through book one, but it eventually picked up the pace and I stayed up late to finish yet again. I really liked the characters. Elvi was a particular favorite, with one exception in her handling that was then resolved much better than I'd feared. Every time I start a new book in this series I hope my old favorite characters will return and they give me new favorite instead.

The absolute best. Such a delight to read. This series is all about the characters for me, and the more I read the more rewarding it becomes as the story steadily unfolds and various backstories and background conflicts come into light. So satisfied by what they did with this one.

I was very intrigued by the premise of this novella, but reading it left me feeling sort of muddled. It was like if you were an alien reading a detective novel but didn't know anything about humans, you'd have some questions that the author wouldn't even think to answer about basic everyday objects and human characteristics. Reading this novella felt like that, like there were things about the Old Gods-y horrors of the setting that I just kept waiting to have explained to me. Still rating it highly for the creativity, and with a nod to the fact that shorter works often give me extra trouble that a lot of people don't have.

Magical and horrible all at once, Wilson tells stories to make you feel and think. His style choices start out somewhat confusing but the story eventually shines through all the brighter for them.