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I liked this one a lot. The mythology is even better than the first two, and I love how many rich details about this world we continue to get. I can't wait to see what's coming up in the next books.

Spike continues to be absolutely adorable. I want a rose goblin!

Oh, I'll just pick this book up to have something to read while I eat dinner! SIX HOURS LATER: Welp, I guess I finished the book.

Yes, this book telegraphed its twists from miles away. I figured out what was up with Alex and Terrie the moment Terrie showed up, and I was pretty sure I knew how the murders had happened, even though I didn't know why. But this book still kept me up way past my bedtime reading it. It's like a bottle episode/locked-room mystery/horror movie, where the characters are all trapped in one place and you know one of them must be the killer, because they keep dying, one by one...

In the previous book, Toby was convinced she had very few friends, and it took a long time for her to realize that people cared about her. So the friendships in this book are particularly refreshing. I love her interactions with the Luidaeg, but the real treat is getting to spend more time with Quentin. I like that Toby doesn't pull any punches with him, letting him see exactly what her investigative work entails, even when it's horrific. He feels like her apprentice, and I hope later books expand on that relationship.

I think maybe the plot of this book would have worked better for me if I had never seen a certain Doctor Who episode, but the world of Faerie keeps getting more intriguing, and I'll definitely be picking up the next book in the series.

I came to this book having only previously read the Newsflesh trilogy, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Turns out it's a faerie murder mystery! Faerie in the old sense, the Terry Pratchett [b:Lords and Ladies|34529|Lords and Ladies (Discworld, #14)|Terry Pratchett|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320490640s/34529.jpg|1185086] sense, where they are charming, graceful, beautiful assholes who will kill you just for the fun of it. Good times.

The main character is a half-faerie changeling private detective, living in both worlds (human and faerie) but belonging to neither. She must solve the murder of a prominent pureblood--must, quite literally, because she's cursed so that she will die if she doesn't solve it fast, so the book is a race against time with both the curse and the murderer trying to kill her in various ways.

I think if I didn't know this was the first book in the series, I would have been disappointed with it, because there are so many plot threads that weren't wrapped up. Why is the Queen going mad? What happened to Lily and Rayseline during their imprisonment? Will Toby ever see Cliff and Gillian again? But since I know there are at least five more books after this one (and more in the works), I'm not too worried. I like the world McGuire has created here, perhaps not quite as much as the Newsflesh world, but it's growing on me.

Rose-goblins are adorable.

This book is impossible to put down. I still have a lot of questions at the end, and I wish some of them had been answered more thoroughly, but overall the Newsflesh trilogy is excellent and I recommend it even to people who don't like zombies. I don't like zombies. I loved this trilogy.

Unlike [b:Feed|7094569|Feed (Newsflesh, #1)|Mira Grant|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335958027s/7094569.jpg|7351419], which was slow to get going, this book jumps right into the action and doesn't let up until the final page. Be warned: You WILL want to start reading [b:Blackout|11806716|Blackout (Newsflesh Trilogy, #3)|Mira Grant|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317680509s/11806716.jpg|13465100] RIGHT AWAY, so be sure to have a copy nearby when you finish this book. And that's all I will say without spoiling.

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I was wary of this book at first, because I'm not a huge zombie fan. I find them boring, usually. But fortunately, this book isn't really about zombies. I mean, there are zombies, but they're not the bad guys. People are the bad guys. Zombies are the weapons they use.

The book is a bit slow to start, but once it gets going you can't put it down. And then it starts stabbing you repeatedly in the feelings, and doesn't stop until it's over. And then you want MORE. I don't know how Grant does that.

Still beautiful, still poignant. I appreciated "Exiles" much more this time around, especially because KITTEN.

These books are so much fun! I always like spending time with Heather and the rest of the characters--I love that Cabot can populate this series with so many characters and yet they're all memorable and interesting. Even though I felt like Big Boned made a great ending to the series, this book didn't feel like it was tacked on. There are going to be more, apparently, which I'm excited about.

One thing that annoyed me was that although it's been five years since the last Heather Wells book, very little time has passed in the book's universe--and yet there are a bunch of pop culture references to things that didn't exist when the last book came out. It's like the books are set in some weird ambiguous time where it's simultaneously both a couple of months later and five years later. It took me out of the story a couple of times.

I loved, though, how this book explores darker themes than the past ones--abusive partners, stalking, and infertility. It also gives much-needed depth and sympathy to characters who were previously relegated to the background or used as comic relief.

A solid book in a delightful series.

I love this book. The Keladry books are quickly becoming one of my favorite Tortall series…es. I'm sad that I only have one more to go!

A lot of things happen in this book, but what fascinates me most is the stuff about the Chamber of the Ordeal. Throughout the book, Kel goes to touch the door of the Chamber, and it shows her something different each time--whatever her greatest fear is at that moment. When she finally goes in for her turn, it plays on her fear of heights and her fear of being a failure at command and watching all her friends die--and she's had enough. She tells the Chamber it's just a nightmare machine, and it seems to be… pleased?… with that. It even gives her a task. I'm fascinated with this. Does the Chamber only show her fears because she has no stain on her soul like Vinson or Joren? Does everyone get the worst-fear treatment? I remember Alanna getting something similar.

Also, WHAT THE FUCK. JOREN DIES! HE DIES. I didn't even know that could happen. It's funny, I wanted Kel to get revenge on Joren for three books, but just having him die is kind of… anticlimactic. And sad. I was pretty satisfied with what happened to Vinson the creepy rapist, but I really would love to know what Joren saw inside the Chamber, and what he experienced that caused his death.

And then Wyldon resigns. Oh man. It's sad, but at the same time, he might be right--he could have come down harder on those boys' bullying, and he didn't. I like that Kel tells him he's the kind of knight she would want to be, though. And she stays on her horse when they're jousting, which is pretty impressive.

Mostly I just want to know about the history of the Chamber. Who put it there? Was it always a magical spot and they just built walls around it? Is it a spell? Is it a being? HOW DOES IT WORK.

On to the last book!

Re-read for Mark Reads, 2012: This, the turning point of the series, remains an absolutely stunning volume.

WHYYY isn't "Squire" waiting at the library for me yet? MUST READ NOW.

I continue to love this series. This one was the Puberty Book, in which Keladry grows breasts, gets her period, and starts attracting male attention. She's kind of oblivious to it, though, which is amusing. I hope she and Neal get to make out at some point.

Anyway, Kel gets a dog and a maid on the same day. The maid is Lalasa, a timid woman who slowly learns how to defend herself thanks to Kel's persistent teachings. The feminist threads woven through these books are a constant source of delight for me. (It might be cheesy, feel-good feminism, but I don't care. I love it.) Even Lord Wyldon, Kel's sexist training master, begins to respect her after she shows him several times that she's awesome.

The dog is Jump, and Kel rescues him from certain death by the butcher's axe after he's caught stealing sausages. She tries to give him to Daine, but Jump is having none of that and keeps coming back to her. Once again, it might be cheesy, but I can't get enough of the animals in these books, either. Pierce knows how to hit all my favorite buttons.

At the end, when she has to save Lalasa and Jump from the tower instead of taking her exams, I totally expected Wyldon to be like "you already passed your exams by proving you are an awesome knight who rescues people in need!" But that would have been too easy. The entire point of the exams is for everyone to SEE that Kel is ready to become a squire. I'm glad she ends up taking them after all.

There were a lot of great humorous moments in this book. Lalasa trying to figure out a tactful way to tell Keladry that she's grown breasts was hilarious. And I loved Owen introducing Lalasa later as someone who "is good at sewing and knows a lot of ways to hurt you."

I'm still convinced that Alanna is behind the anonymous gifts Kel continues to get, and I'm having a lot of fun imagining George's network of spies reporting back to him about how Kel is doing.

NEXT BOOK PLEASE.

This book was pretty fantastic. It concerns Keladry, the first girl to try for her knighthood since Alanna became a knight and a proclamation was issued that any girl may become a page. Despite the proclamation, many are still resistant to the idea of women being knights, and Kel does not have an easy time of things.

It's fascinating to compare Kel's and Alanna's experiences and how different they are. Kel's family is supportive of her decision to try for her knighthood, and Kel's mother is a formidable fighter herself. But Kel, as the first openly female person to enter knighthood training, faces challenges Alanna never had to. She is put on probation for a year, and meanwhile she has to endure taunts, tricks, and threats from some of the other pages, who don't like the idea of a woman becoming a knight. There's also the weapons master, a sexist man who doesn't think Kel has what it takes and is biased against her before she even starts. Alanna has broken new ground by becoming King's Champion, but there's still a very long way to go before women can become knights as easily as men, and I like that the book points that out.

Alanna is, of course, Keladry's hero, so it's frustrating that Alanna is not allowed to have any contact with Kel in case she influences her unfairly or some bullshit. But Keladry keeps getting little anonymous gifts of helpful things, so perhaps Alanna has found a way to assist her regardless.

I really like Kel's sponsor, Neal, who is the son of the healer Baird from the Alanna books. He's cheeky and funny and likes to question authority whenever possible, which makes him a perfect foil for Kel, who is Very Serious about her education and reluctant to do anything that might screw it up.

Kel's caution is challenged, though, once she sees some of the older pages bullying the younger ones. At first she runs away, thinking she can't afford to get in trouble for fighting, but eventually she decides she can't live with herself if she doesn't challenge bullies wherever she finds them. As a knight-in-training she feels it is her duty to protect those who can't defend themselves, and the scene where she explains that to the other pages is one of my favorites in the book. She gets them to question how things have always been done, and to examine their own morality in the process.

This series starts strong right out of the gate, and I'm excited to read the other three books.

I was kind of disappointed with this book. I feel like the Glass trilogy can be summed up as "Opal gets kidnapped," because that's what keeps happening, and it's a little annoying to keep reading the same plot over and over. She does get a bit smarter and more resourceful in this book, but she STILL gets kidnapped and forced to do someone else's bidding. While I did enjoy the creative ways she used her predicament to her advantage, I was tired of that plot a book and a half ago.

I was also disappointed that she decided to be with Devlen at the end instead of Kade (or no one). What? She marries her kidnapper, torturer, and (I'd argue) rapist, who just last book was trying to tell her how she felt about him? What a tired plot device. I don't care how much a dude has "changed"--you can forgive him, but deciding to be with him forever is another story. It's an irresponsible message for an author to send, and I expect better from people who aren't Stephenie Meyer.

I would read more books set in Ixia and Sitia, but I'd rather they explore the politics of the two regions and the different ways magic can be used than just having the protagonist get kidnapped and have to find her way out of situation after situation. There were a few dangling plot threads left over from these books--where is Zitora's sister?--but if Snyder does write more books set in these lands, I hope she has a more coherent vision for them than she did for the Glass series. While these books were compelling to read, it seemed like the story meandered all over the place without a clear goal in mind. Yelena's story was much more satisfying.

I was able to appreciate more this time around (re-reading for Mark Reads) the way the stories in this volume belong together. I still slightly prefer for the "month" comics to be separated from the others, but since the whole volume deals with stories about stories, it still works. I love the issue about Emperor Norton, which might be the "happiest" issue in the entire series despite Desire's machinations. The Orpheus issues are essential to the story (and to understanding Dream), and "Ramadan" is one of the most beautiful and stunning things that comic books have ever produced. This volume is a wonderful demonstration of what Gaiman can do with this world, and of the power of stories.

I continue to really enjoy these books, although the plots are getting more complicated and harder to follow. I started wanting to make a list of all the unresolved questions just so I could keep track. There seem to be like five enemies after Opal at any given time, and they all want something different, and someone she trusts is always betraying her, and I can't keep up with it all.

I still like Opal, though, especially in her more jaded, cynical persona. I know at the end she learns to trust again, but I liked her suspicious and prickly. She was finally able to basically say "fuck you" to everyone who was trying to use her. She was no longer the doormat that Devlen tried to convince her she was.

Speaking of Devlen, I don't really know how to feel about him. He's a villain in the last book, but in this book he claims he's reformed and trying to make amends, and that Opal should just give in and admit she likes him already. That's the part I hate--who are you to tell Opal how she feels, especially after you tortured her and then basically raped her by deception? I can't stand it when men try to confuse women about their own emotions. It's manipulative and gross and I hate it. So Devlen didn't win many points with me in this book, but the story seems to be trying to paint him as someone who has changed and can now be trusted.

How many times will Opal have to learn to trust her instincts before she actually starts trusting them, though? Seriously?

So this was a lot of fun. I really like Opal, and Kade, and even Pazia. I love Ixia and Sitia and I just want Snyder to keep writing more books set there.

Opal is a great protagonist. Very different from Yelena. Unsure of herself, doubting her own abilities, and afraid to let anyone get close because of what she did to Yelena and what happened to her sister. Like Yelena, she has some dark memories in her past, and some old ghosts haunting her that she'll have to deal with before she can reach her true potential.

The glass workshop is such a great setting that's not used often enough in fiction. I remember being fascinated by the glass-blowing room at my high school, but I never actually made anything with glass, something I regret now. I love that the heat and noise are like home to Opal, and that she takes her strength from her skills with glass.

This book wasn't very well proofread/edited, which always annoys me because that's such an easy fix. There were a lot of periods where there should have been commas and vice versa. Maybe this is fixed in other editions, I don't know. But seriously, book publishers, don't do a rush job editing your books. It's just lazy.

I'm looking forward to reading the other books in this series. I hope they explore the glass magic thing more, because there still isn't an explanation for why Opal can only work magic using glass, or how Ulrick can use magic to make his pieces but not for anything else. After the great explanations of how Yelena's magic works in the Study series, I have faith that Snyder will think of a brilliant explanation for Opal's magic, too.

Snyder knows how to keep her readers interested, that's for sure. It's a fun ride.