M. C. A. HogarthBesprekingen

Slow, sedate, and lovely. Not a lot of things happen, especially in the first half of the book, unless you count eating ice cream and studying. This is a slow exploration of two characters and their relationship. Each has doubts and fears and each works to improve themselves and to help each other. I think I could have used a bit more drama in the first half, but the second half had me crying a few times.
Interesting world, I'm going to have a look at other series in this universe after this one.

Loved it. Even more than the first book. Where I thought that one was a little sedate, especially in the beginning, this one did not have that problem. It was still heartwarming, cute, and caring, but there were also serious problems to overcome.

I did think the medical professionals, both in the hospital and the supervisor at the university, were out of line. I don't understand why the medical profession has such an obsession with exhausting their residents, but not to allow for the severe medical condition that Jahir has is ridiculous. To then push him to endanger himself when they don't even understand what they are asking from him is criminal. To scoff at him having been endangered when he's just collapsed, just because he did it in a hospital that could have helped him, is callous. I don't care what motivated it, this was not good medical ethics. And the supervisor had no right to play with them as she did. It was disrespectful.

But I loved Vasiht'h standing up for Jahir. I loved the mindline, the care of Jahir's therapists and some of his colleagues. I also liked the student cases and the more leisurely pacing of the second half of the book.
I would say that story-wise, maybe this is not a 5 star book. The story is relatively simple and I've definitely read books that are way more intricate, with better world building as well. But the world building is still good, and the simple story doesn't detract from its enjoyment. Perhaps it adds to it. In any case, this book is so positive, warm, and caring, and so good at what it is, that I'm ending up with 5 stars anyway.

This one was again nice. Not earth shattering, but regular problems of settling at a new location and dealing with emotions. I could have done without the vignettes in the end. They were just too short too be really interesting.

Once more enjoyable, with our two protagonists as we know them.

What a disgusting travesty. I am so angry at this book. And I certainly don't understand why it has such a high rating. Jahir and Vasiht'h act totally out of character. Culminating in that disgusting test.
Let's be very clear, that test was torture. Plain and simple no getting around it.
You are telling me that Jahir not only consented to this, but actually actively participated? And afterwards everybody just shrugs it off, Vasiht'h included? This book is about therapists, for crying out loud! In the previous book, Vasiht'h was traumatised by nearly dying. And now, he just doesn't care when he experiences something similar just 3 seconds after it happened? The people responsible just smile at the tiny reaction he has? And these were the GOOD guys?
Quite frankly, after this, I think the whole race should just drop themselves into a black hole.

It's like the author just took leave of her senses or couldn't be bothered to write something proper.

I realise this was going to be 'darker', but I feel it went overboard. The story was really not bad, alien culture, the slowly growing together of 3 people, both sides changing. But the sheer amount of torture and rape was not believable, no matter how alien the culture. And even less believable was an eldritch who cheerfully underwent it all. Ok, he was not cheerful, but nevertheless, he wasn't believable, and I felt emotionally distanced from the whole thing. Normally, I would have expected to cry at a story like this. As it is, I pretty much finished this because I hoped Vasiht'h and Jahir would show up. In the end, it was clear they wouldn't, but by then I did want to know how it would finish.

I might read part 2 for Vasiht'h and Jahir, hoping they are the same as they are in their own series (because the mind healer series was written after this one I believe, and the Family novella that was also written before the mind healer series was a travesty in my opinion. Those were not the same characters at all. )

Loved it. It's just a pity that you have to read book 1 first.
This book is plain cute. I love Jahir and Vasiht'h, and their relationship with Lisinthir is delightful. Especially after the initial contention. There is plenty of action in this as well, but the focus is on the relationships and emotions. The over the top events of book 1 are more palatable in summary.

This one is one of my favourites. Jahir is lovely as ever, and his relationship with Lisinthir cute and heartwarming. I preferred them over the slave queen, but I was surprised to like her story line as well.

So, for sheer enjoyment, I give it 5 stars. I should warn you, though, it ends with a cliff hanger of sorts.

Again a great book. The various characters are great, the different story lines engaging. In the end we focus on one of them. And yes, there's quite a bit of serendipity, everybody happening to be at a location where they are able to influence events. There is a lot of luck that probably needs to be attributed to the various deities, but fine, let's do that, it didn't bother me. It helps to have the story move along without too much frustration. It's very easily digestible. Aside from the first book, which I didn't like very much, this series is turning out great. I do hope Jahir will get to exercise his skills as a therapist in one of the coming books. So far, it seems Lisinthir is doing more of that than the actual therapists.
Oh, and is it really bad of me that I think the emperor sort of deserved this? I had trouble warming to him in the previous books, despite his remorse, because he didn't seem to be suffering much because of it. Now, he has a better understanding of what he did, and it shows in his spirits.

This book was good, but I did lose my focus halfway through. Not sure why. I think too many characters that I hadn't bonded to yet. I started liking Sediryl more later on in the book. And Jahir didn't have enough agency in the beginning. Sounds a bit ridiculous, considering he is now a slave, but towards the end he could do more and affect change.
I'm glad of Kauvauc's sorry arc, combined with Laniis's. I think there is something just in what they are doing and I'm glad this matter is addressed. It would have been a bit too easy if this had been glossed over.

Everything coming together. Lovely characters with a good dose of serendipity.
One thing I find annoying is that Jahir is not getting enough credit. Especially by the emperor. He never even speaks to him.

I liked it better than I expected. Sediryl was not my favourite in the princes' game books. Not because there was a problem with her, really, but because I liked Jahir a lot more. This was a nice story about her discovery of the alliance, even though I already knew where it was going because I read the other books first.

Thank the gods that this book has an Eldritch... Because the human is frustrating as hell. It gets a bit more palatable towards the second half of the book, but in the first, she is stupid and despicable. Throwing tablets at people's heads, holding them responsible for things that are not their fault, refusing medical treatment, invading people's privacy. I think the author was going for prickly due to mental issues, but she's not pulling it off. I would have been able to sympathise with the mental issues if she wasn't so tremendously childish and abrasive. Quite frankly, the crew's acceptance of her behaviour (and that includes the gentle beratings about how she treats Hirianthial) is not believable. But since there was an Eldritch who is cute, mostly capable, and a little damaged himself (but handling it way better), I could overlook the captain's stupidities. I like how he endears himself to the crew. The bit with the dangle was adorable. And I'm glad the captain stood up for him on Harat-Sharii.

Overall, I did enjoy it and will be happy to read the series. But I can't give this a very high rating. The characters are too clunky.

I liked it a lot. But then it ended on a cliffhanger. And this is not the kind of book that should end on a cliffhanger.

Also, Reese became another person. This is, of course, a good thing, since she was horrible at the start of book 1. But it is also entirely unbelievable. It's being sold as character development, but I don't buy it. Doesn't bother me too much, though.
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Nice to read. I'm a bit tired of the bad guys having stuff up their sleeve, but I'm glad Reese finally managed to get some maturity.

Pleasantly stressless. Mostly about relationships and solving problems by having enough money and some personal insights. It works well and is relaxing.

Super duper stuff.

If you enjoyed Firefly then this should be quite up your alley.   However, unlike Firefly we don't just have humans, we are set in a far distant future where humans have made genetically modified people mixed with cats and other creatures.   So now we have cat people who can't stop wanting to have sex with any humanoid that comes within sight, griffins, centaurs, advanced mind reading Elven types and other things besides -- all on spaceships and stuff.

And there's pirates and slavers and some nice police/military types that actually help normal people (it's a strange future when the police/military types are actually helping the good guys).

A very good start to this tetralogy and i'm now off into the second book, Rose Point, for more fun adventures with our bizarre and wonderfully strange mix of crew mates.

I dived straight into this after Earthrise and just like Earthrise, i really enjoyed it.

This time we go off around the galaxy with our intrepid crew starting with a strange planet that breeds horses where Hirianthial is kidnapped (again) and because of complications from that we then have to go to the world of the Eldritch where we begin to find out what they're all about and why they're so secretive.   Yes folks, lots of secrets, Queens, castles, nefarious plots and everything needed to spice it all up.   It seems the Queen has big plans for Reese, but are Reese and the crew ready for the world of the Eldritch and is the world of the Eldritch ready for Reese and the crew?

All good stuff.   These are big long books that really give value for money and, without pause, i'm diving straight into Laisrathera.

This is a super good book and builds on the first two books perfectly: yeah, you guessed it, it all kicks off with the Eldritch.

It appears that when you get to book 4, A Rose Point Holiday, that it fits in just before the Epilogue at the end of Laisrathera, so you may wish to pause this book at that point and read the fourth book and then come back to the Epilogue: your choice, as always.

All said and read: great writing, great pacing, great characters, just all round good sci-fi with a nice hint of fantasy tropes courtesy of the Eldritch.

And as with the first two books, i'm going to dive straight into the next book, A Rose Point Holiday.   I think it says a lot for a book series when you just pile straight through all the books without any inbetweenie reads.

After all the shenanigans of the first three books, Reese moves into her new home, Rose Point, a dilapidated run down castle.

Gone are all the nasty people wanting to enslave, imprison and kill her and Hirianthial, and in their place she is given a castle full of staff, the new horses and dogs, plus some Eldritch peasants to Lady it over and win to her side, all while preparing for the winter holiday season and all the protocol and guests that that entails for her new status -- not to mention her upcoming wedding.

Admittedly the plot may sound a little dull after the earlier books, but it actually works really well and it's a really nice and enjoyable ending to this tetralogy, though technically it should be read before the "Epilogue" at the end of Laisrathera as the wedding comes after the events of this book.

All in all, this whole series is well worth a read.

Too slow for me, I got bored. And too studied, too "tell, don't show"

Ah, understanding dawns. The titles of these books are rather major spoilers - I was just waiting for her to figure it out, and it took a long time! I think I've seen the scene with Seledor before, from the opposite perspective (oh dear, gonna have to do some rereading, how I suffer). I actually found the details of what she was building fascinating - all the little steps that led to solutions. The confrontation with... him (no spoiler)... felt slightly off, though - he was being a threat to her, and that's not supposed to be in their mindset. Or maybe I was impressing my view of things on the scene, and he was not intending threat. Fascinating, still dark (though much less nasty than the first book), and a lot of tears at the end - appropriately. As usual, a very rich story, and one that will reward rereading.

Well. A very rich and rather dark story - not as harsh as the Chatcaavan war, but it does have sudden death. And Zafiil's complete inability to understand violence and harm make it stronger. The way the timelines cut back and forth, from her adulthood to her childhood and back, really works - we see what's happening and then learn about the people she's known, and about her upbringing (and thus her people's culture). And it ends pretty close to a crisis point - not a cliffhanger, but...I couldn't stop to review, I started the next book immediately.

E arthrise

It had some interesting ideas but the main protagonist was such a bi-ch that, even though the origins of her neuroses were well explained, she was barely believable as a functioning human being.

I've been wanting more cozy speculative fiction, and this totally hit the spot. It's a beautiful slice-of-life story about culture and learning and friendship and belonging.½