Anna > Recent Status Updates

I liked book 1, though not as much as I hoped I would. Book 2 has the misfortune of starting with many of the elements I didn't enjoy - the group of friends never quite coming to life for me, Amina being a pretty self-centred person, Raksh.
This is not a matter of how well the book is crafted but of personality mismatch. We didn't click.

Very slow. His Radiancy has far more personality than Cliopher. Unclear why this is tagged LGBTQ so far - apart from background mentions of gayness and transness, the main characters so far openly only lust for women. The making out with the moon came out of nowhere, and I'm not sure what purpose it served beyond showing how touch-starved the emperor is. Descriptions are serviceable, not lyrically beautiful.

It would be really nice if by chapter 3 we had been told what mission MurderBot is on. His emotions don't mean anything if we lack their context. I feel like I've been given an incomplete copy of the book with several chapters missing. MurderBot is using the f-word a lot, and I have to restrain myself from not doing the same and returning the book to the library.

The first vaguely interesting thing happens...

This sounds interesting. Unique imagery and tone, compelling prose. Unfortunately, the audiobook narrator sounds like a moderately skilled amateur. I will wait until the ebook is available from libby instead.

Contradictions: Pearson praises her for being the only Hound in this generation to have made it to echo 6. Later, she says she knows a shopkeeper in echo 7 who's helped her before. She clearly knows the way to the shop.

Reka says she's never seen the clock maker, despite carefully paying attention. Later, she says she's seen the Hound talking to the clockmaker, but there is no acknowledgement of the change.

I enjoyed this, but I'm running out of steam, and there are still 100+ pages left after several days... The plot isn't compelling enough for that. The payoff at the end better be good.