BIGGEST SURPRISE OF THE YEAR 🧙‍♀️ Foul Days Non-Spoiler Review 

This was me too! I never would have picked this up if not for Owlcrate. I too ordered the sequel from Owlcrate and can’t wait to get it next month!

​@@katevia4534 yay! This is why I like having a subscription. It is not only to have pretty books but also to receive books that I would have never thought of reading. I hope we like the second one as much as the first!

That's the context that few readers in the West will appreciate, but I'm happy it was there!

I just checked and my Libby does not offer it - hopefully they will be getting it.

Almost certainly not "wrong" since you seem to have come to your conclusions thoughtfully; but you may have somewhat less common priorities or triggers (if you'll forgive the use of an over-burdened word). I know I get thrown out of some stories when characters presented as experts in subjects I happen to be somewhat familiar with do things that a subject matter expert certainly wouldn't do. Even though I know intellectually that such is a silly reaction to have. I certainly don't believe that authors themselves need to be expert in everything they include in their stories. Indeed, being able to use a pastiche of subject detail to good effect in one's stories without slavish attachment to accuracy is a core skill of good writers. Perhaps you're just unusually clever and judge supposedly intelligent characters a little too harshly for their simplistic decisions? Feel free to post some spoilers (appropriately concealed, of course) if you want to flesh out your negative reaction. I'd be interested to know the details (though I haven't read the book myself yet).

@@Psittacus_erithacuson the abuser plot. The litteral tsar of monsters who is known to prey on young girls (middle to older teens) is the abuser. People in the world know that these girls don't return, he kills them. One, I don't think many teenagers would go for a guy they know kills women. Two, that a known monster is the abuser plays into the image in society of abusers. That it somehow shows on them but the insidiousnes of it is that it's your best friend, your brother or that co-worker everyone loves who are the abusers. The "by the book" cop's most defining trait is doing something that is so not buy the book that he should not be allowed to work as a cop (it's also incredibly stupid and easily avoidable). But at least his boss don't know about it, but he does several things that is not "by the book". So I think the author had an image of him in mind that don't align with the events in the book. Also said cop and the main character forgets one thing that is on the level with "I guess Dany forgot about the Iron fleet".

@@kristofferrosvall8709 Your criticisms are very interesting and I appreciate your sharing! Not having read the book yet I can't say anything remotely useful in response. But I'll keep an eye out for what you've described when I do read it. That awareness might make me enjoy the book less, but it will certainly make my read or more thoughtful (and hopefully insightful) exercise. So your book club experience will be doing work encouraging a reader to read more attentively even through the dark cyber-void of the RU-vid comment section! Impressive book club magic indeed.

​@@kristofferrosvall8709 That's a huge discredit to the nuisances of abuse and a kind of strange generalization to make. It's also a really problematic view to hold. I've been in an abusive relationship and have worked as a counselor with abuse survivors. Yes, sometimes it is people that keep it hidden, people that you'd never suspect, but it's also just as often people who many know are just plain awful. I've seen plenty of young women/girls that get involved young with someone they know has a record, that friends and family all disapprove of, that everyone around a neighborhood will tell you is a terrible person that's done absolutely vile things. The problem is they're able to pick out vulnerable young women and convince them that this time it'll be different, this time they're going to change because they love you SO much, they're really not so bad, or the situation was just a bunch of misunderstandings. That's what's shown repeatedly in the book. He convinces these young women that she's special, this time he won't kill them, he'll change for them, and it works. It also, unfortunately, works in real life. And it leaves women struggling after with a lot of self-hatred and self-blame for how they could have been "stupid" enough to think they'd be "special". Which, again, is something shown in the book. It's important for there to be media that shows all kinds of abuse, from the people who you would never suspect, to the people who are awful but amazing at manipulating someone into feeling like they're special and "the one".