Review:: The Grim Grotto, by Lemony Snicket

Title: The Grim Grotto

Author: Lemony Snicket

Series: A Series of Unfortunate Events, #11

Format: Kindle

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Previously:

The Bad Beginning

The Reptile Room

The Wide Window

The Miserable Mill

The Austere Academy

The Ersatz Elevator

The Vile Village

The Hostile Hospital
The Carnivorous Carnival
The Slippery Slope

It appears that the charm of The Slippery Slope slipped away with this one. The orphans are swept downstream and end up on a submarine. Things are pretty predictable, and I just didn't feel engaged by any of it.

Review:: Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal

Title: Shades of Milk and Honey

Author: Mary Robinette Kowal

Series: Glamourist Histories, #1

Format: Hardcover

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I think I'm less angry at this book than disappointed. I went in expecting Jane Austen + magic and ended up really getting neither. While it is a Regency novel, and Kowal works towards Austen's style, much of the charm and all of the wit is missing. And the magic serves no real purpose in the world or the novel. It doesn't feel shoved in, but it does leave me a bit perplexed.

Review:: The Last Colony, by John Scalzi

Title: The Last Colony

Author: John Scalzi

Series: Old Man's War, #3

Format: Hardcover/Kindle

Rating: ★★★★☆

Previously:

Old Man's War

The Ghost Brigades

From the beginning, you know everything is going to go wrong in The Last Colony. But because it's John Scalzi, you know everything will be okay in the end. This was more Ghost Brigades and less Old Man's War—less focus on humor and more on the issues at hand—but I think it's superior to it in a few ways.