An enjoyably rich read. I can't quite say what I got out of this other than simply the joy of reading. One thing I know for sure is that Egan is an amazing writer. I was reading this and another book, at the same time, and it was just incomparable how good her writing was ... in comparison :D. One memorable moment is that I read a lot of this book aloud, and the part where she writes as a teenager is just, for my mind, absolutely spot on. Anyway; highly recommend this one for some relaxing reading!

Not bad; just not mind-blowing like the rest of her work. She's set an extremely high bar for her work, and while this series is good for anyone else, for me it was just a bit lacking the brilliance of her earlier ones. But it's a bit of an unfair comparison. Her first few books were, for me, just absolutely amazing, and this series didn't quite compare. It's still good, and worth reading all the way to the end of the acknowledgements for an alternative title. But if you were compelled to read only one of her works, you would start with literally any other series.

Loved this one. It's indeed beautifully written; extremely readable and interesting. It has a softness, and I really enjoyed my time with this one :) Also nice to learn some Irish words and culture!

Hilarious and brilliant. Very enjoyable reading; only note is that at the time I was reading this I was occasionally visiting a hospital, and I had to hide the cover :)

A fairly strange but reasonably interesting story. I think in the end I liked it; perhaps I was hoping for a bit more of a feeling of "mysterious train journey", but what I got was more "confusing train journey"; but, I did find the ending worth-while; so I don't regret my time reading it. Worth picking up :)

This was a real page-turner for me; I read it within two days of picking it up. I quite enjoyed it! A fun and thoughtful read and perspective.

Being a bit closer to Ireland these days I've been quite interested in learning about their history. I didn't quite expect what I got from this book, which is the viewpoint of (fictional?) people who were part of the IRA at the time. A quite interesting read, really, and a perspective that I haven't seen before. Worth a glance!

I really enjoyed this book! It's a strange exploration of language and friendship. Moreover it was just a strange little group of people to follow and learn about. It was nice to read this following The Last Children of Tokyo. Recommended!

I read this as part of a local climate-fiction book club. I think, really, it's my first excursion into climate fiction, so it's hard to judge the entire genre from this example. Overall I think I enjoyed it; it certainly had some nice moments. Interestingly, I got a lot out of subsequently reading the authors next book, "Scattered All Over the Earth"; it helped me understand the author a bit more, and how she writes.

This was a very enjoyable and engaging read. It's pretty interesting, has some nice characters and nice story development; I think it's also nice to see these kinds of fantasy stories from a different perspective. That said, I've also read the second book in this series, and that one I didn't enjoy quite as much. I will still follow the series to the end, but that has coloured my review. In any case, I still had a great time with this one!

I really loved this. It's a nice simple story about books, and how different people interact with them. I enjoyed the style, and how the different stories were introduced and resolved; it made me want to see more topics explored in this way! Just a great read :)

I really enjoyed this one. I had heard about it for a while, and finally decided to pick it up after I saw it picked up a prize. My only regret is I waited so long! It's a really nice story, quirky and interesting and compellingly-written. I read this quite fast, and although it's short I wasn't left feeling like I wanted more, or anything was unexplained. Just a great book!

I picked this book up in part because my partner is Mexican, and I was curious to see what kind of Mexican culture would be included in a book like this One aspect that I found interesting was how Mexican culture relates to ghosts. I found this book a nice, simple, and compelling read.

I loved Beowulf, by the same author; and this book promised to be a "modern" version of Beowulf. I have to say, I quite enjoyed it. I think I'm glad I read Beowulf by her *first*, as it gave me context for understanding this story. That said, I don't think that context is necessary; and this is a great read on it's own. If you could pick only one, I'd say read her version of Beowulf; but for a nice modern feminist retelling, you can't go wrong with this book!