The short: 3.5/5 ✦. An very well-told time-travel novel, though marred by predictable romance.

The short: 3.5/5 ✦. An very well-told time-travel novel, though marred by predictable romance.
“Behind the masks of total choice, different forms of the same alienation confront each other.”
— Guy Debord
“Everybody will die, but very few people want to be reminded of that fact.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Austere Academy
The short: 3/5 ✦. The steampunk-esque AU world remains of interest, but the characters remain stiff and the story overwhelming in detail.
“Money, you think, is the sole motive to pains and hazard, deception and devilry, in this world. How much money did the devil make by gulling Eve?”
— Herman Melville, The Confidence-Man
The short: 3.5/5 ✦. A more complex and mildly less entertaining addition to the Queen’s Thief series.
“Commonly men will only be brave as their fathers were brave, or timid.”
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden
The short: 4/5 ✦. Another wonderful installment in this realistic and real fantastic fantasy series.
“But this whole world is a preposterous one, with many preposterous people in it.”
— Herman Melville, Pierre: or, the Ambiguities
The short: 4/5 ✦. An excellent sophomore novel in this series dealing with mystery, loyalty, and royalty.