Reviews and Comments

The moment I discovered the book on the shelf, I couldn't put it down and tore through it like a starving man at a buffet table. If you're a fan of Deadly Class like I am, then this book belongs on your bookshelf! The dark humor that clearly indicates that this is just a book of fantasy is well-timed and lighthearted without being too overbearing. I think many people have secretly thought about what it might be like to give their horrible bosses their final desserts and Holmes indulges those fantasies while still managing to drive home the point that even horrible bosses are people too and are they really, really deserving of murder?

I also really enjoyed the production values of the book itself, from the included visual aids to the incorporation of various media styles used to convey the information - journals, reports, emails, etc. It excellently described an exclusive and completely hidden "tradesman's institute" so well that I found myself wishing that such an exclusive campus existed and that I could somehow go and visit.

I am anxiously awaiting Holmes' second book in the series, Murder Your Mate, as I am looking forward to how he intends to cover that particular topic in the same handle-with-acerbic-care sort of way.

This book is a very refreshing change of pace in the fantasy genre, just as advertised. It is well written and has a lot of nifty nods to modern culture but couched in setting-appropriate ways. The phrase "Technology, when sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable from magic" comes to mind when thinking of how the gnomes, being technical savants of their time, could make versions of the various coffee-making apparatuses that are commonplace to us today. The "magic" of sufficiently advanced technology relative to the time period and setting in which the story is told makes it easy to accept.

The characters are all interesting in various ways, well thought out, and easy to identify with. There are one or two mysteries left unexplained by the end, although not major plot points, which leaves just enough desire for the next tale in the series without being a cliffhanger. This book is (hopefully) just the first of several in this world, but is a self-contained story that doesn't need a sequel in the sad event that it never gets one.

The paperback version that I picked up also included a short prequel vignette called "Pages To Fill" that was a nice set piece to fill in some of the back-story after finishing the main story.

L&L is a short, relatively fast read but is so rich with characters, world-building, and details that you will want to savor it as if it was one of Thimble's cinnamon rolls!

I finished @pluralistic’s #RedTeamBlues this evening, and I would highly - highly - recommend it! It’s a short read, just a tad over 200 pages but it’s quite engrossing. I probably could have finished it last night, but I forced myself to sleep instead.

I really like Doctorow’s writing style, and I always learn some new words (and not just technological ones) when I read his books. One of my favorite hallmarks of his fiction is the use of what I would term “non-standard” protagonists - in this case a 67-year-old confirmed bachelor facing retirement. Definitely not someone I would have expected to be enmeshed with a cast of Very Ruthless People ™️ and crypto-bros. That alone makes the stories so much more relatable and entertaining to me and easier to identify with. And as always, the more technical elements of the plot are thoroughly well-researched and expertly woven together like an episode of #MrRobot, but explained in an accessible and easy-to-follow manner.

If you’re looking for a short(ish) techno-thriller to read with a page-turning plot, this book should be right up your alley. That ain’t no lie, cutie pie.