Reviews and Comments

I don't know if this is steam punk, urban fantasy or what, but it's fun.

This is entirely as interesting and fun as all of Ann Leckie's previous books and it goes in directions that I'd never have expected from the others.

She is also gifted at writing aliens that are truly alien - just about incomprehensible to humans - and not just creatures that are basically like us but maybe a little angrier or something. Similarly her humans think differently from each other.

Is this fantasy or sci-fi? It has robots, space ships, genetic modifications and more, but it also has legends, swords with names, giants and, my favourite, talking animals.

Either way, it's lots of fun and I really enjoyed spending time in the Earth of 11,000 years from now.

And talking beavers were a big part of the story. I think they're my new favourite talking animal.

Apparently, Robin Sloan wants this to be the first novel in a series. If this happens, I'm in. But if it doesn't, this was still an entirely worthwhile read.

This was a delight with clichés turned upside-down and other little surprises along the way.

This was a delight with clichés turned upside-down and other little surprises along the way.

I like a story where the characters have all these links between them that they don't even know about. This is one of those stories. And one where the author makes you love his flawed characters in a very short time.

Cory Doctorow told us we should read Steven Brust's novels about Vlad Taltos and this one in particular, and Cory Doctorow is high on my trust list. [Doctorow's Review]

Of course when I start a series, I try to get the first book. In this case, choosing that book is tricky because the first published, Jhereg, apparently would be fourth in the timeline of the books, while Taltos is chronologically the first.

And neither of those books was available to me from the public library anyway, so I went with this one. I'm sure I didn't catch on to things I would have caught if I'd read any of the 15 books before this, but I enjoyed the book thoroughly and look forward to reading as many of the other books in the series as I can.

A good read with a hero who might be considered to be neurodivergent today that kept me interested all the way through.

I've just reserved the sequel - The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles

Fergus Ferguson is a fun protagonist, but in this third volume in the series, his alien friends get to shine. This series is lots of fun.

I would love to have lots more, but the marketing for the next book, Ghostdrift, says it's the "final book" of the Finder Chronicles.

Fergus Ferguson is a fun protagonist, but in this third volume in the series, his alien friends get to shine. This series is lots of fun.

I would love to have lots more, but the marketing for the next book, Ghostdrift, says it's the "final book" of the Finder Chronicles.

I loved this book especially how everything came together. Kingfisher really knows what she's doing. I especially liked what she did with the godmothers and the "gifts" they give to newborn children.

And bonus points for an Authors Note at the end that was worth reading.

A terrific sequel that builds well on the first story but takes us to a completely different environment and type of problem to be solved.

I have loved all of the Old Kingdom books and hope we'll get more. This one fits chronologically before others because these two were Sabriel's parents. I suspect that means we won't get a sequel with more of Terciel and Elinor, which is a shame because I'd really like to spend more time with them.