This is a fun, easy read. It’s exciting and thrilling in places, full of scenes I never saw coming, and then there will be a nice calm where you get to understand the situation and the people a little better.

Other than that, I don’t really have too much to say about this book. I really enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to continuing the series.

PS. Does anyone else find it disconcerting that the main character of this has the same name as a minor character in The Great Library series, also by Rachel Caine? I’m just saying. I think it’s a little strange and it took a couple of chapters to get into the book and stop thinking of Zara Cole from The Great Library.

I truly have mixed feelings on this book. It’s a tale wonderfully told, with beautiful prose, great characters, excitement, intrigue. So I should, by all accounts, adore this book. But I was alternately caught between “just get through this chapter, then you’ve done your due diligence for today” and suddenly finding that 2.5 chapters have gone by.

I was kind of bored by the 3 chapters of backstory, and wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted to read the excerpts from the book at all. And it kind of bothers me that there was all that talk about how she had to be careful about writing words into the world but then no bad things happen when she does.

So in short: I understand why people love this book, but I don’t.

This was a charming, sweet and easy read. The pigeons have so much character. Coo is perfectly portrayed as a 11ish kid stepping into a completely new world. (So many books and movies fall into the trap of giving the young kid lines to say far beyond their years, and then saying that they’re “8 going on 52” or whatever. I’m glad this book doesn’t lower itself to that.)

Perfect read for a lazy, socially distant Saturday.

Though the first book was better, I enjoyed this one too. Good ending (not great, but solid), fun twists and turns (though, one of them you see coming a mile away), and the characters are wonderful. It almost feels like this one was trying to compete with Heart of Iron, and tries to make itself better and just ends up being too much. You start to question the probability of these exact people, each having such a specific individual importance to the setting, ending up on the same ship.

And now that I’m thinking about it, there’s one bombshell that gets dropped that is never explained.

All that said though, I devoured this book, and had a fun time doing it.

I really enjoyed this. Treason of Thorns moves at a fast clip, the last 1/5 of the book particularly engrossing and tense. I liked Violet, loved Wyn. I’m a little disappointed that Esperanza and Alfred didn’t play into the plot more, but at the same time, this story isn’t about them so I get it. I expected a lot more tropes and cliches to play into the book than actually did, and I really appreciate that. There’s a few points for me that don’t quite add up, a few things that were mentioned once and nothing ever came of it. But seeing as Goodreads doesn’t do half stars, I’m happy enough to round 4.5 stars up to 5.

80% of this book is a slice of life fantasy about 7 moody half-fae teenage ecoterrorist secret agents. None of those those things I really mind by themselves. (I mean, I’m really over the “teenage secret agent/assassin” thing. I’m personally just glad I didn’t have to sit through any secret missions.) But altogether, it makes for a more ambitious book than I really delivers on. The “twists” began to feel cliche and expected. I don’t buy that the main characters are a team or work together with any efficiency. And the book has a bad habit of handing you “revelations” that are supposed to provide answers, but just end up creating questions. Questions that might be answered in the second book but I’m not nearly invested enough in this world to find out.

Hoo boy. If Alice is having all these dreams, then someone needs to check her temperature because that was a fever dream if I’ve ever read one.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at least has a little coherency. This one has no qualms with suddenly being somewhere other than where Alice was two sentences ago, with having characters randomly appear and disappear. It is very hard to keep track of and altogether a difficult read.

Enjoyable, but I wish Annaleigh had been less passive about the things that were going on around her. I’m not sure if she ever actively changed any of the events going on around her. Sure, she solves the mystery at the end. But even at the end, she doesn’t help herself or anyone else at all.

And also, I’m confused by the epilogue. It feels like the author wrote the book, and then was reminded that all books must have a Happy Ending(TM) and just thought, “Ok, so how can I fix this in as few words as possible?” It was a cute scene but brings up a few questions that don’t have answers.

This book is nothing that I was expecting. I was expecting something closer to The Hunger Games, but was pleasantly surprised to find out how very wrong I was. It’s almost a slice of life fantasy, detailing the year leading up to a life changing event for three princesses. All three princesses have distinct voices and personalities, and the people who surround the princesses are just as fascinating. Truly a great start for a series.

This reads like a literal dream - in the way that nothing ever makes sense and yet in the dream, everything makes sense. And I guess it’s supposed to be a dream... so it fits, but after a while, you just want something to make sense.