Marthia

I enjoyed this a lot more then the first one. The story just overall feels much livelier, which works well for this kind of comedic light read. ART especially added some much needed personality to the story. in the first book, it felt like the protagonists desire to watch TV was just constantly said out loud, but here, there are more scenes where people actually have an emotional response to the shows they are watching. The interactions with the humans feel more nuanced and interesting this time around as well.

This book can still be very blunt with its themes, but this time the themes feel more present in the fabric of the story, unlike the first book, where it felt like there was very little substance besides what the narration stated directly.

The Butcher of the Forest is simple story, but it's oozing atmosphere. The titular forest really feels like a hostile, unknowable fairy land, and every encounter with its inhabitants is unsettling in a new way. It's brought to life beautifully and the biggest draw to this book is definitively the forest itself, but the human society is painted just as vividly. I especially liked Veris conflicted feelings towards the children she is charged with saving.

The broad strokes of the story feel predictable, but the details bring them to life with dreadful intensity. This book really scratched an itch for me for fantasy that actually feels fantastical, with unknowable and untameable magic, when most fantasy I've tried to read in recent years has felt rather stale to me.

I was honestly somewhat disappointed by this. I liked it fine, but after how much praise and awards it received, I expected something more from it then just being okay.

The characterisation for the humans feels very sparse, which might be die to the very short length, but it really hinders the themes of the book and means the ending doesn't feel as impactful as it maybe could.

The idea of a murderbot who just wants to watch TV is funny, but as it is developed here, I don't think it's quite enough to carry the whole story because (at least in this first entry) it just doesn't evolve much beyond initial pitch. There's interesting themes being touched on - about dehumanization of workers, neurodivergence or the difference between difficult real relationships and the easy attachment to fictional characters - but all these themes really do only get brushed on lightly. The humans mostly feel interchangable and the series the protagonist is obsessed with is similarly undefined, so neither the protagonists discomfort with social interactions or their desire to watch tv get much room for development beyond this basic premise.

I like the voice of the narration, but it wasn't enough to carry the rather thin plot for me. Some of my problems could be attributed to how short the book is, but that short length also meant that it didn't overstay its welcome for me and I still had a good enough time with it, even if this review is going to sound mostly negative. I think on my end it really suffered from inflated expectations too, and if this had been a random library pickup rather then a book I'd been recommended repeatedly, I probably would have more positive feelings on it.

I'll be giving the second book a shot soon, but this series might just not be for me.