So far I haven't found it particularly scary.

Yeah, The Hollow Place was very different. I know I liked it, I think the world-building (if that's the right word, core concepts maybe?) was interesting. I don't have any familiarity with the works she's riffing on for Hollow Place and Twisted Ones but I did what she does with them.

I finally read the first Sholomance book while traveling this week! I enjoyed it, although it's one book that might be better in hard copy than on Kindle, because my Paperwhite doesn't show the illustrations very well. I should probably google up a schematic of the school.

I do have a question, though: I must have missed the bit where Novik explains why children are so at risk: are the maleficaria just more attracted to kids, or are they just less able to defend themselves? And how is the mundane world not aware of any of this?

There are illustrations? Hm. Kinda want to reread that to be able to discuss it intelligently...and the next book comes out next week so that's a better idea than I first supposed!

Unrelatedly, I am frustrated that I can’t search audiobooks for a character name to remind myself how we originally met this particular character 7 books ago. My theory that binge-listening to the Flavia Albia series would let me keep details from earlier books in mind by the time I got to the most recent is not playing out as well as I hoped. Oh well, slightly more retention of knowledge is worthwhile.

Thanks to my freshman-year Maleficaria Studies textbook, I know that our deliciousness goes up another order of magnitude every six months between thirteen and eighteen, all wrapped up inside a thin and easy-to-break sugar shell instead of the tough chewy hide of a grown wizard.

That may be all the explanation we get

Thanks for the recommendations, Cashmere.

It does have illustrations and they are even labeled in the table of contents. Hard to see while reading on my phone but pretty nice on the Kindle Fire. I’m all excited about book 2 again, whee!

I am tempted by the forthcoming Outlander book; Go Tell the Bees That I am Gone is an excellent title! I stopped reading after book 5, I think, exasperated with plot development and character choices at that point. I haven't watched the show at all, although that's more just lack of capacity to watch much of anything. Anyway, anyone have opinions on whether it would be worthwhile to just read the new book cold, or if I should pick back up at book 6, or not bother? I don't think I want to start back at the beginning although now that I say that maybe I should - I read them out of order originally and maybe I would be less irritated by everyone now (or maybe I would be more irritated, hard to predict)

anyone have opinions on whether it would be worthwhile to just read the new book cold, or if I should pick back up at book 6, or not bother?

I would not try to jump in without catching up on the intervening books - the cast and plot are BONKERS out of control at this point and Go Tell The Bees won't make any sense. (It might not anyway, DG is almost at Anne Rice levels of I Don't Want To Edit And You Can't Make Me.)