This one was more of 3.5 for me, but rounded down because the others in the series were 4s. Overall, this was a pleasant book and if you liked the others ones in the series, you’ll enjoy this one.
I can’t even quite put my finger on what I liked less about that one because all the points that come to mind don’t feel like they are quite the right explanation. I don’t think this was that vastly different from the other books and yet, I was expecting a bit more. I think when it comes down to it, my reaction can be summed up under one theme, whether it is fair or not: I just didn’t feel the stakes in this one.
It’s a very weird complaint to have because these are overall cozy fantasy novels; of course they aren’t as high stake as other types of novels. Of course we know everything is going to work out in the end. And the things they are trying to solve are actually pretty big deals – and yet, I just wasn’t pulled in the way I wanted to be. I didn’t feel that invested in the stakes. To be honest, I think, maybe the fact that Emily was able to find a blue print of instructions was why? It felt less like Emily being brilliant and figuring it out (even if she did) and more just following a check list. Some of the magic just wasn’t quite there for me.
I liked seeing some of the recurring characters again in this one and loved Wendell’s fae cat, but it also felt like we should have had more of Wendell.
I have been feeling this a lot lately with cozy novels – they still need to have some type of plot and some of them are leaning too far into the cozy factor and flirting with boring