This was leagues better then the 2nd book and I’m so glad i kept going with this series.
The complaints I had with book 2 just didn’t exist in this book. This returns to form with the inclusion of side characters again that are both interesting and meaningful. I really enjoyed seeing the expansion of side characters and more involvement of the community as a whole with this world. You can experience a better variety of personalities and care more about what was going on.
The characters were all very well written too. I really cared about these people and what happened to them. A few times I really leveled with the trauma of their experience and them really feeling like their doing their best to navigate a really awful situation. I also felt like there was a lot of tension and risk going on too, there are some shady characters and very wild situations that made me a bit tense and even sometimes uncomfortable wondering what was going to happen. I really found the writing super good with getting that feeling of unease on occasion.
Its also very funny at times. Once again it’s not back to back jokes and it paces it out nicely from the action scenes, serious stuff, character building moments and humor. There was actually a few scenes that made me laugh out loud, have to pause it and then laugh myself to tears until I got it out of my system. Some of the absurdist humor and the relationships built up with these characters, some funny scenes are just snuck in there in surprising ways that just works so nicely with the setting.
The plot also was a roller coaster. There are a LOT of moving parts here and even some grey areas occurring with other characters that makes it not entirely clear where things are going. The plot also is constantly moving and in clever ways that builds tension and keeps things moving along. I really love the levels it takes and some of the character focused moments.
The world building is sorta same-same. The world building was super focused in the first book, expanded on in the 2nd book and just drip fed here. The world feels super established at this point. The floor change still doesn’t feel wildly different other then a new mechanic of trains and train tracks being where stuff is happening and less of a feeling if there being rooms. Changes how the plot is delivered but doesn’t feel too much of a change to get too confusing. I liked it. Kept things different.
Overall though this book was fantastic, I really enjoyed my time with it. The build up with what’s going in the background plot I find super intriguing and I just hope the eventual delivery works out. Luckily each individual book has its own conflict and new centered plot line so the risk of the background plot not delivering isn’t too high thanks the the conflict for each book holding up on its own nicely.
Starting the next book in this series right away.