I would agree with other reviews and say that while it contains some interesting facts and explanations, the information provided is either too brief or too dense to be accessible. Large sections and photos gave the sense of a Wikipedia article.
Has provided me with some notes for further reading though!

Edit- that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it! Really good!
Think I should get brownie points for not throwing up

What a book! Obviously no spoilers - but THAT ENDING!

I listened to this as an audio during a long holiday car drive and was torn between being on the edge of my seat and audibly laughing the whole way through - cannot recommend the audio enough. I truly love El and Orion with all my heart; Novik has their conversations and internal dialogue down to a T and I can see all their facial expressions with complete clarity.
Before I went into this series someone told me to make sure I listen to the narrator as someone delivering a black comedy rather than a "serious" fantasy and I don't doubt that this attitude made all the difference. Every disaster that could possibly happen, happened, and then some. As if all their lives weren't hard enough just trying to survive, El begins to be plagued by thoughts that turn out to be what some people would call 'having a conscience' making the school year that extra bit challenging (read: near impossible).
The female friendships in here were so beautifully fleshed out, and even the slowest slow-burn romance (she hates him, obviously) blossomed into a select few precious moments.
I will be eagerly anticipating Book 3 to complete the trilogy.

Another stunner from RF Kuang.
I loved the Poppy War trilogy, I loved Babel, and I loved this - despite it once again being a complete genre shift. Personally, I would class this as a thriller set in the world of New York's publishing industry, and as someone looking to join the field, it was absolutely fascinating.
I think it will appeal more to those who are regular social media users, who have been witness to and perhaps partaken in the rapid twists and turns that 'the public's' views take. Everything becomes subjective as information is filtered and mislaid and the line between right and wrong becomes more and more blurred.
Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed hating June's character. From page one, her narration has you on edge with her casual disregard of her supposed 'best friend'. But bit by bit, as we learn about each of our characters and get a in insider on the brutal nature of the publishing industry, we start to see that perhaps June herself isn't the only villain in this story.
Overall, a fascinating look at individuals' choices and how they make up and perpetuate crooked systems!

There has been far more sci-fi this summer than I would usually go for, but clearly I'm being brave and going out of my comfort zone.
Gideon the Ninth had been on my TBR for so long that I was debating finally buying it. Now having read my library copy, I would say that I'm glad I held off. As much as I wanted to get into this, I just consistently felt like I wasn't 100% sure who everyone was (despite making frequent use of the Dramatis Personae) and what on earth was going on.
However, I persisted almost entirely because the dialogue and snappy one liners were so genuinely funny. If the whole book had read with that kind of quick-paced wittiness I think we would have been a better match.
Lastly, as a linguist I loved the etymological explanations of all the character names at the end of the book!

A lovely spooky graphic novel to read in 1 sitting. This has to be the epitome of a cosy story: full of magic, bookshops, and a smattering of romance. I've wanted to read this forever, and it was the perfect book to read as we head (slowly!) towards Autumn.

Shaking it up by reading a children's/middle grade story. Aside from having the most beautiful cover I've seen in forever, this was also a very sweet story.
Each character had their own fleshed out strengths and weaknesses and I particularly enjoyed how all the threads in the story came together at the very end.
For me personally, the pacing felt off - the beginning of the story dragged on and it took Sai a long time to actually get on the boat, and then once she was there, not much was going on! The three quarters mark was full of sea storms and dramatic adventure which were fantastic, only this led to a flatter denouement with much less tension.
Soontornvat also included the important discussion of colonialism, of another country going out and 'discovering' nations for its own benefit and at this 'new' country's expense. Although the idea was represented through fictional lands and the lens of mapmakers mapping 'new' territory, I thought that the moral message was clear and handled with great care.
Overall, an interesting sea adventure, but perhaps not a favourite.

Who let Jen Williams do that??? I have half formed thoughts about the suffering we put our female main characters through, but I’m mostly too devastated to articulate anything other than wow what a trilogy.
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To expand on this brief review, I was so smitten with this world and these vibrant characters, despite this sci-fi being so far out of my comfort zone. Jen Williams is clearly a master of her craft and I'm thrilled that I persevered past the slower-pace start of book one to be entirely lost in the overarching story. As heartbroken as I was by the ending of the trilogy (no spoilers here!), I think there were still more areas of Williams' universe that I would have loved to explore and I would gladly have taken another two books of the same hefty length.

This was utterly unhinged and I had the best time reading it.
My fiance read this before I did, and from his reactions I already knew I was going to love it. It is narrated with razor sharp wit and apathetically blunt observations about its characters. Our protagonist slips between being viciously self-aware and intentionally naïve, stubbornly refusing to address the issues in her life, that I couldn't help but feel my heart break for her despite her every effort to repulse and distance the reader.
The writing style is right up my street and I was hooked from the very first sentence, if you enjoyed My year of rest and relaxation then you'll understand what I mean when I say that Boy Parts falls into that specific genre of wickedly entertaining and altogether horrible female narrators. The hooks leading up to the denouement were well placed and not immediately obvious, which makes that reflective hindsight of what you missed creeping up on you so much sweeter in my opinion.
The last third of the book for me didn't feel quite as tight and well-honed as the first two, although I appreciate that some of that is due to the wandering path our protagonist takes.
All this to say, I thought this book was spectacular and I will be keeping an eye out for Clark's other novel for certain.