I'm finally throwing in the towel on this one. I liked this series well enough, but I think it's heading in a direction I'd rather not travel. It feels a little too immature, especially for its themes and character arcs. Ironically, I actually enjoy the young adult genre from time to time, but this isn't even scratching that itch. Plus, that's not even what this is supposed to be. 

Ultimately, I don't regret reading the first two books of this series, and I might even recommend it to a particular type of reader, but I don't think it's for me.

This series has thoroughly tainted my willingness to try unfinished works or personally untested authors. I've had *Red Sister* on my TBR for a while, so when *The Book That Wouldn't Burn* came out, I thought I'd give it a go. It was good. Unfortunately, after years of waiting for these sequels, I'm angry at myself for reading them on release. Never again will I blindly pick up a new release that's part of a series. Continuity and endings matter to me. The second book was inarguably a step down from the first, but only a quarter of the way through this one, and I'm dying of boredom and apathy. What happened? Beyond calling this series the Library Trilogy and failing to spend time with books at all? The marketing on this was such a huge misrepresentation that I feel cheated on multiple fronts. I also feel the need to add a warning to my review of the first book and to remove any Mark Lawrence from my TBR. He can't be trusted.

I read three of these stories and plan to go back and read a few more some time in the future but only because I like Ken Liu so much. I'm just not a short story reader. Hopefully one day he'll write an other epic. 

I'll admit I didn't give this much of a chance, but it wasn't able to immediately grab my attention. I might consider giving it another go if the series is completed to good reviews.

Objectively, I appreciate this unique style of storytelling. Unfortunately, it is not something I am interested in deciphering at the moment.

This was unable to grab my attention. Too boring for my tastes. It also doesn't help that it is about a global pandemic but was written pre-covid. Some might find the virgin speculation interesting but after the reality I only see flaws. 

I only picked this up because I liked the movie. I was surprised that this book inspired someone to make anything. I know I've seen this author's name floating around, so I wouldn't say I had high hopes, but I did expect more. I didn't jive with any of these characters or the narrative. What I did get through was just boring. It's just not worth my time.

This one has a creative narrative. It's explained before the book starts, but that didn't help alleviate any of my confusion as I was trying to listen to this as an audiobook. If I had been able to flip back and forth when I was questioning and figuring things out, this might have been a different experience. Maybe if I ever finish the rest of this series and find it worthy, I'll go back and give this another go.

DNF 40%ish

I gave this one more time than it deserved. I should have put it down after the first chapter. I knew this wasn't for me, but I thought I'd give it a chance. Now I'm admitting defeat. This wasn't for me.

I hated the prose, the style, the punctuation, the characters, the plot, the endless self-indulgent dribble. It felt meaningless and boring. 

Can someone explain to me why this is so critically acclaimed? I'm confused. 

I never connected with this book. I do not think it is a bad book. It did have a few moments. The medical information that this author excels at is there but it does not feel as consequential or central to the story as it was in Cutting for Stone. Medical emergencies just pop up at random.  Plus, the book is a generational story with side POVs tacked on, making connecting with any of the characters really difficult. I found myself not really caring who died or how the whole thing ended so I'm putting it down. I'd still recommend Cutting for Stone by the same author.