Review: Sunderworld, Vol. 2: The Unfortunate Responsibilities of Leopold Berry

Sunderworld, Vol. 2: The Unfortunate Responsibilities of Leopold Berry by Ransom Riggs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's Ransom Riggs.

Pre-ordering IMMEDIATELY.

And after a long delay, where my initial preorder in 2025 got canceled and Riggs wound up postponing this book to 2026, he ultimately revised his trilogy plans to another duology, with the result that this book wound up being a bit longer than its predecessor and did, to an extent, feel like two books compressed into one to follow up on Book 1's cliffhanger. As for this book's ending...that can NOT be the ending, Mr. Riggs. It's just too damn good, and there's still so much to see and do in Sunder for Leopold and Emmet and Isabel and... REDACTED

Perhaps the biggest surprise of this book was how it completely flipped the horrible father figure we knew from Book 1 on his head. When I read Book 1, my first thought was that Richter was the absolute worst, such a massive and irredeemable douchecanoe, but this book reveals the truth hidden behind layers of memory revisions more than even the first book could show us.

As always, Riggs delivers a five-star read, reinforcing his status as one of the absolute best YA writers since my own young adult days. And with that, I hereby bid his second great series ave atque vale.

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Review: Blind Descent

Blind Descent by Nevada Barr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The sixth Anna Pigeon novel now goes to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, not too far from Guadalupe Mountain where her first book took place, but now with a far more intense and claustrophobic setting deep underground. This time, I was able to get an original hardcover from the 90s, including maps of the caverns which Anna explores in the course of this mystery printed inside both the front and back covers, and it hammers home just how perilous this particular journey is when these caves are so full of tight passageways and steep drops. "On rope," "off rope," and hope to God it's safe.

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Review: The Shadow Friends

The Shadow Friends by Tess Gerritsen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

OLD PINECONE GENERAL’S WARNING: Any similarity to real life Russian biohazards is entirely coincidental.

And yet, let’s not forget, Dr. Tess Gerritsen is a retired practitioner writing in a world of olden spies, so of course she’ll keep abreast of developments in the geopolitical and medical spheres. And let’s be honest, who among us would have been at all surprised that a real life Russian lab may have had a leak of the plague, and the only reason it’s hit the world news is because Putin wanted it to, or is finally losing his grip over Mother Russia’s total control?

Either way, this has proven the most eerily timely entry yet in the mysteries of the Martini Club, for good reason.

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Review: Not Till We Are Lost

Not Till We Are Lost by Dennis E. Taylor
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is as far as the books have gone, although I’m pretty sure there’s a sixth book that’s still Audible only for now. But this, I’m afraid, is as far as I go, Bobs. Another rambler of a book jumping forward and backward in time with choppy pacing and tons of POV’s to follow, and so, with my regrets, I’m considering this the point where I have to jump off before this series really starts to spark misery for me instead of joy.

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Review: The Sixth Faction

The Sixth Faction by Veronica Roth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

lol not the dummies already trying to tank this book’s rating.

In this house, though?

VRoth gets respect for life.

Review: Taipei Story

Taipei Story by R.F. Kuang
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kuang continues her contemporary phase with a deep exploration of Chinese/Taiwanese identity all in the middle of a college trip for intensive language learning.

Review: We Chase Shadows

We Chase Shadows by Richard Osman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As expected, We Solve Murders is now officially a new series from Osman, who seems to be alternating between this series and The Thursday Murder Club for publication each calendar year. As another international mystery, this one goes to a lot of great places around the world, but it's really rooted in a mysterious incident in Málaga, Spain, in 2001. And unlike the first book, there's a lot fewer annoying and obnoxious side characters to go around, although We Solve Murders now has to contend with a certain in-universe fame, to the point where one of the detectives gets an appearance on The Graham Norton Show. I'm sure there'll eventually be a nice crossover episode, but we'll have to wait a while for that one, I'm sure.

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