14th September 2025

I was super prepped to really love this book, which ultimately meant I was disapointed when I realiased halfway through that I wasn't enjoying myself any where near as much as I had wanted.

This is the story of Alice, a Cambridge graduate student of magic. After having a very normal / entirely terrible time, she opts to go to hell to retreive the soul of her professor.

From here the story progresses slowly through various aspects of hell from a wide range of cultures. Which could be fascinating, except for the academic nature of the storytelling, which made me feel like it was being pretentious and condescending, and made me feel stupid for not having any of the knowledge that Alice seemed to have at her fingertips. I can't tell whether I'm meant to feel this way, or if I'm meant to reflect on the character because she is making me feel this way, or if this is just my own approach to learning not being met.

I found it slow and hard going. I felt like I was fighting through the narrative to find the story, and am still not sure whether this is satire or a damning exposé of the academic life. I can't tell who I'm meant to like, hate, or feel neutral towards (with some exception on the hate side). And I don't think I could really empathise with the main character. Obviously other readers' experiences will vary.

So for me this was a miss, but I can't expect everything that Kuang writes to be for me, and given I've enjoyed her previous works, I'll continue to look forward to what comes next.

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6th September 2025

Another adventure for the Vinyl Detective and friends starts, unusually, with some visitors asking him not to take a case. This is the sort of casual twist that makes for a really enjoyable and entertaining crime comedy series.

I enjoyed catching up with these characters, although I do think in places the reliance of returning characters from earlier novels is stretchingthe abilities of my memory now.

I don't know what more there is to say but that it's a good, fun, entertaining read.

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31st August 2025

This is the tale of Scout, told in first-person present tense. Scout is an Archivist, scouring the galaxy for lost alien tech that might benefit their society as a whole. But there's another faction, representing unbridled capitalism, who are after the same tech for different outcome. There's also a cat and a lot of past trauma to deal with.

The book isn't quite what I think I was expecting - there's a lot more action and adventure, alongside some fairly light world-building, and an emotional aspect that grows throughout. I think actually that's what caught me out a bit at the start - the balance between action and emotion starts leaning more toward the action side, and then pivots as the story progresses.

It's a good tale though, enough that I've added the author's forthcoming works to my wishlist.

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31st August 2025

Manon Tyler returns for a second spy adventure when a Chinese student, a leading expert in deepfakes, is unexpectedly moved by her government to Oxford.

This is a great spy novel from someone who really knows the industry inside out, and has a sense of utter realism throughout. Mostly, this makes it extremely compelling to read, although in some places does feel like it's led to things feeling more mundane than they might from the pen of another thriller author.

I love the set-up, and the world-building, the various characters that are introduced, and how their relationships develop alongside the plot. It shows how difficult it can sometimes be to do the right thing, or even to determine what the right thing might be, from a number of different angles.

A great holiday read that I raced through. I'm only sad that there can't be more adventures.

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31st August 2025

The first collection of tall tales from Mr Mulliner is a short story collection with a framing device. Mr Mulliner is a classic fixture of the local pub, and has an extensive array of family members, stories about whom meet every occasion.

It's light and easy to read, exactly what you expect from Wodehouse, with an array of unlikely situations that need to be unstuck from, and amusing plot twists to take us there.

I was looking for some easy escapism and this was perfect.

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23rd August 2025

It’s 1910 and the Temple, where barristers and judges, and apparently mice, hang out and have adventures. And now we get to visit and watch a barrister try to solve a mystery about a mouse, as well as a murder.

I found it slow to get into. The writing style feels like it’s trying a bit to emulate the style of the time, and the main character took a little while to warm to and to get into his ways of thinking.

But I’m glad I persevered, as I came to feel quite warmly about him, his little world, and his ways of thinking. I enjoyed learning about the Temple, the history, and the various characters who populate this story.

I enjoyed this visit, and have added the sequels to my wish list.

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16th August 2025

Eight years ago I read the previous book in this series, and chose to abandon it. But at some point I'd picked up the third book cheap, and it has sat slightly tauntingly on my shelf ever since. This week it decided it had waited long enough and somehow emphasised itself to me as I was looking for something to read.

It was not worth it.

This is two stories wedged together. In one, we have the journalists investigating a murder. In the other, we have the two sisters out for revenge on each other. The overlap is merely the characters, not the story. And neither story is particularly compelling. There's no sense of real drama, the thriller aspects are weak and over really quickly, the peril is boring.

The only reason I think I kept reading was the mystery aspect - trying to understand what was behind the murder at the start of the book. But I still don't think I really understand at the end. Either the conclusion was so convoluted that I lost track, or it's so simple and boring that I'm just left thinking 'Was that it?'

I should not have bothered.

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