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I felt myself getting more and more excited as I read this book.

Here are some things I particularly liked: - Pirates! (need I say more) - Fantasy that doesn't take place in medieval Europe, but instead in a part of the world and in a time that we could all benefit from learning more about - An old team gets brought together - Problems get solved with cleverness and creativity not just raw power and violence - Magic and supernatural beings that are based in different roots than I am used to - A variety of types of people that reflect the varieties that exist

According to Wikipedia, this is the first volume of a trilogy. I would be entirely happy if instead it turns into a long-running series.

I'm not surprised that this won the Nebula Award for Best Novel of 2023 and was nominated for the 2024 Hugo (Except that they're in different years).

I particularly enjoyed seeing how a Sri Lankan has imagined a world that is different from ours.

I see that Chandrasekera's second novel, Rakesfall, is out and it's not a sequel to this one, but I won't be surprised if there is a followup to The Saint of Bright Doors and I'll be eager to read it.

When Seanan McGuire started this series, I was blown away that she had the brilliant idea of addressing what happens to the children who come back to Earth after being in magical worlds. And blown away by how well she did it.

Now she is nine books in and still finding new and interesting stories for us.

Holy cow! This is good!

I've liked all the other Garth Nix books I've read, but this was definitely my favourite.

I don't know how Nix does it, but he has a way of making me love his characters in the first few paragraphs. Here he accomplished this even when the character was a magical puppet.

Completely fun.

If you're wondering if it's as good as The 100-year-old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared and its sequel, I would say that it is.

Adrian Tchaikovsky writes such different stories and in so many genres, that you probably should not assume that just because you've loved other things he's written, you'll love this.

But if you like a fantasy world with compelling characters and a variety of magical systems that are internally consistent but different from each other and cogent observations about bureaucracy and power, you will like this.

The second book, House of Open Wounds is out. The third, Days of Shattered Faith, is on pre-order right now. It would be all right with me if there are many, many more.

This was a fast read but I think it is going to haunt me for a long time with its forecast of where we are heading with the ultra-rich, techbros and surveillance capitalism.

It's not obvious for a long time how this story connects with Slough House. Which makes sense because I get the feeling that Mick Herron likes to discomfort his readers.

It seems that Adrian Tchaikovsky has a goal to write a stand out novel in every subgenre of science fiction there is.

I really enjoyed this post-apocalyptic novel about a robot valet who just wants to find someone he can work for.

This next part might be a spoiler: I have a feeling that Tchaikovsky read Daniel H. Wilson's How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion and incorporated my favourite tip which was to disguise yourself as a defective robot.

I think that Malka Older has done a really good job of creating characters who think a bit differently than we do because of the world and time they live in.

And a good job of giving us an interesting story.

It feels like she has room to give us more, and I'm looking forward to it.

A solid entry in the Slow Horses stable.