The Book High

I was all prepared to give this one five stars--in spite of the world-building questions I had (ex: the fact that the men kept saying how rare water was, when they also keep referring to a lake and a river and they've got that huge library full of "Before Times" technology. Did water purification books somehow mysteriously disappear?) because the characters were honestly just that amazing.

Tarin was both delightfully innocent and deliciously irreverent, and getting to explore this world through him was exciting and entertaining and fascinating. And Captain Beak-face was the perfect foil for him. As calm as Tarin was excitable, as patient as Tarin was im-, and as kind and caring and understanding as Tarin needed while he adjusted to his new life.

The secondary characters were also all well fleshed-out. Tarin's voice and his descriptions of things frequently cracked me up. Such a fun book!

Right up until the end...

That's not an acceptable place to end a book! It's exactly like the author or publisher or whoever decided to make this into two books and just chose a place to chop it in half. Absolutely ridiculous!

From the moment Tarin was captured, he (and us) have been told about Candle Day. The book ends before we get there! The villain has been getting more and more villainous and ripe for his comeuppance, and it never happens! Very few of my questions were answered, and I ended the book with frustration. Not just grumpiness because it ended too soon, as I frequently feel with books I'm loving, but actual regret that I'd wasted my time if the author didn't care enough about my experience to complete her story.

However, apparently not grumpy enough to go out and buy the next one. Tarin has me too hooked to not find out what happens next!