3.5 stars. This book is a wild trip. A rollercoaster that starts out fun and exciting but goes on too long and you begin wondering how many more twists and turns you have to go through before you can get off.

I really enjoyed this. Perhaps not as much as the first one, but still. I loved the fierceness of the three female leads, how their all bold and strong but each in their own ways. It had some nice things to say about feminism, and I really appreciate the aro/ace representation.

ALSO: DRAGONS!

So let me start off by saying two things:

1. I'm not really an audio book fan. My brain is too scattered and I loose concentration too easily. Listening to audio books is exhausting for me because it requires so much focus to be constantly listening to what's being told to you. I listen to a lot of podcasts but they're all podcasts where I can space out for a few minutes, follow my own train of thoughts and then come back to the podcast and know generally speaking, what's going on and what they're talking about. Every other audio book I've found doesn't give me that leniency.

2. I adore inside scoops, outtakes, and behind-the-scenes looks at things. I love to know how things got started. Where someone got inspiration for something. When I read books, I sometimes play a game where I try to guess if the first chapter was the first chapter that was written or if the author wrote a different chapter first, to go back and write the first chapter afterwards. (I never know if I'm right or wrong. It's just something that I find myself endlessly curious about.)

So, I saw someone give this book a good review and I thought that it sounded really interesting. I don't normally read nonfiction but for reason #2 - mentioned above - I thought it sounded like something I would enjoy. And the person who reviewed it recommended listening to the audio book so you could listen to other cast members (and not just Cary Elwes) talk about their own experiences and tell their own stories. So, in spite of the fact that I have never been able to listen to audio books before, I found an available copy at my library (off Libby, actually) and downloaded it to listen to during a road trip the next day.

I loved it. I found myself completely captivated by Cary Elwes telling the story of how he got the job, of training for the sword fight, of meeting the other cast members. To such an extent that I finished the entire audio book (about 8 hours long) in about 30 hours. (The road trip only took 2 hours.) With one exception - that being himself, in one specific story where Elwes makes a few bad decisions, as we are all want to do - Elwes speaks of all of the co-stars and team members and everyone who participated in the making of The Princess Bride with such reverence, such wonder, joy, and respect. It's funny and caring and bittersweet and I truly can't say enough good things about this book. I love love love this book. Everyone should read it.

Now, if you'll pardon me, I'm going to go watch The Princess Bride.

These were great. Hilarious and great fun to listen to. I highly recommend them, regardless of whether or not you’ve read the books. (I haven’t.)

It kind of felt like the first half of the book is just setting the stage for the entire trilogy. However, when we really got to kicking, then it got really good. So if the next two books are as good as the second half of this one, then it would be well worth it.

This book is fan service for those who liked the series. (I think they’d be easy enough to get into if you hadn’t read the Lunar Chronicles.) It’s a lot of the same stuff as in the books - saving the world, kick-ass-ery, romantic tension, etc. You know.

That being said, I enjoyed this more than I expected to. And I have a soft spot for AI characters who are more human than you’d think their programming would allow them to be.

Much like Huda Fahmy’s last book, this is adorable, sweet, charming and informative. I adore these books, her sense of humor and the way she looks back on her life with so much tenderness and care. I really highly recommend this.

A lovely, uplifting set of stories about the near potential future (most of them, anyway). Beautifully written, surprisingly optimistic.

This is a set of beautifully drawn ghost stories. (Essentially. They’re not all about ghosts. But they all have the feel of ghost stories.) They are throughly creepy, and drawn in such a way that really enhances the creepy factor. Even the script perfectly suited for this book. Really wonderful - if you like this sort of thing.