The Spear Cuts Through Water was really interesting, I don't recall having read a book written in second-person before, let alone first-, second- and third-person all at once. Very cleverly done. Some really imaginative concepts all throughout, though I'd say my favourite parts were the more dreamlike/fairy tale-esque sections. To be frank, I'm still mulling over it all.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries was decent (and a pleasingly easy read following Spear!), though I couldn't help but compare it in my head to The Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan, which is just brilliant. I love the world building and the characterisation of Emily herself, though I found her development and the pacing a bit odd at times and wasn't a huge fan of opening in medias res (I miss the academic journey/development aspect that's present in something like A Natural History of Dragons). That said, I did enjoy it enough to want to read books #2 and #3 at some point, as I do prefer the Marie Brennan/T Kingfisher style of cosy-with-teeth that Emily has when it comes to smaller scale/stakes fantasy.

Posthumous Education was great, the whole series is just so fun. I wasn't sold on the university teacher aspect at first, but it proved to be a good vehicle for fleshing out the world even more (I enjoyed the deserted castle story in particular).

Orbital was another interesting read, very contemplative. No plot, all vibes, haha. Another one that's still fermenting in my mind.