4 ⭐️ Very entertaining. I feel like it had a little less substance than the other books and was definitely a bit too long. I feel like some elements I that were foreshadowed and that I was really looking forward too were barely mentioned so I’m hoping that those parts will come back later. 6th floor had some fun stuff but it felt the least unique of all of them so far. Mostly a rehash of the 3rd floor which I know was the point but was still a lot less interesting than for example the goated 4th floor. The best floor. The cast is getting a bit unwieldy to remember. Sometimes something really important is happening with a character and I straight up don’t know who they are. That doesn’t usually happen to me in books so I think that’s on Matt for not reminding me about obscure characters coming back. Still super fun and entertaining. I love watching Carl problem solve and engineer solutions. He’s kind of a genius idk why they’ve had him fixing boats. He should’ve been at NASA or some shit.

5 ⭐️ I literally could not put this book down after I picked it up. It is so captivating and disturbing and emotional. I think I felt the full spectrum of human emotions reading this. It is an interesting dissection of what it is like to be an inmate on death row told from the perspective not only of the inmate but all the important women in his life and the women he impacted. There has been a lot of criticism of media’s (and society’s) glorification of serial killers. Giving them all the attention and barely giving the victims a second thought. Boiling the victims down to the last few moments of their lives. Horrible, painful, and cruel. This is the perfect approach to exploring that topic in a fictional world that could very much be real. The prose in this book was incredible and visceral and I truly felt like I was apart of it in all the best and worst ways.

4.5 ⭐️ There is so much about this book that I love. The characters are pretty complex and multi-layered. Vincent is probably the best example of this. I loved that the last quarter of this book focused a lot on his history and backstory but I honestly wanted even more. Vampires offer an opportunity for insane character growth and de-growth since they have centuries to experience things. I think this book really nailed how to do vampires. Oraya was probably the weakest character but because of her connection to Vincent and Raihn she was still interesting to read about and I was never bored in her chapters. The romance is good but even less the highlight in this book than the first. A few good scenes and one even made me cry but this is very much a light fantasy book. I honestly loved this duology but I don’t think I’ll continue with the next books. The next protagonist doesn’t interest me even a little.