DNF - You know what they say, there's a first time for everything. And so A Psalm for the Wild-Built gets the ignominious distinction of going down as the first time ever I've given up on a novella, because I honestly can't stand to go on for another page.

There's something about Becky Chambers' writing that just doesn't work for me. How to describe it? Obviously, I know she writes cozy, so I try to align my expectations accordingly, but that's not quite it. Rather, it feels like everything is filler in service of a broader message. There's so much description and so much information, yet there is no point in knowing any of it. It's like all worldbuilding and setup, but the whole story consists of nothing but that.

Put another way, stories are normally either character driven or plot driven, and I happily accept both. But here, the characters aren't fleshed out and there's no plot whatsoever. Instead, the writing feels predominantly message driven, which I have a lot of trouble with. My mind keeps blanking out because I'm not actually reading anything of substance, so I can't retain any of it, no matter how hard I try.

It honestly pains me to finally get to an author everyone else is raving about, only to find out unequivocally that they are not for me. I have now read two Becky Chambers (her two most popular ones) and both were DNFs for me. That is about the worst I have ever done, but it is what it is. At least now I know for certain and no longer have to wonder if I'm missing out on anything.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

DNF - I think I started with the wrong Becky Chambers, because what in the galaxy is going on here? Or rather, not going on?

I knew before I started that this was a cozy, but I didn't realize cozies could be so low stakes as to be no stakes. So far, we've met every single resident on the spaceship, each overly friendly and sweet in their own way. We've also engaged in thinly veiled lessons on not making assumptions about other cultures and how every person can be beautiful no matter what they look like, along with an in-depth discussion about AI sentience and autonomy.

That's all great, don't get me wrong. But where is the tension, the plot, the anything? So far, my jaw's been getting a good workout from excessive yawning, but that's about it.

It's totally possible that if I kept going, this would've grabbed me eventually. But in my effort not to put myself into reading slumps, I think I'm going to call it. I'm not giving up on Becky Chambers just yet though. I'm going to move on to her novellas and see if they're more my speed.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

Perhaps a day will come when I can resist a reference to my favorite Agatha Christie, but it's not this day. And so from the moment I saw the title to this book, I knew I had to read it.

Let's start by setting the correct expectations though. Any similarities to Agatha Christie or And Then There Were None really begins and ends with the fact that both books contain quite a few dead bodies and one title is a pun of the other. But that's it. On every other front, you should really think of this story as not at all related to its namesake.

What this is though is a blend of murder mystery and romance, all set to the coziest of atmospheres and quaintest of villages.

The mystery itself was quite fun and interesting. Georgie's beloved Buncombe-upon-Woolly is gripped in the throes of crime. As more and more residents pop up dead, Georgie can't help but be concerned. Surely five suspicious deaths in a year seems a bit much. And so she has no choice but to stick her nose where it doesn't belong and sleuth out what's really going on.

I liked the mystery. I thought it had clever twists and turns and red herrings of the sort that every mystery reader would approve of. There were quite a few moments throughout when it took me by surprise, and even though the investigation was conducted in the bumbling way this sort of story usually is, it all came together in the end with much satisfaction.

But when it came to the romance, I was less certain. To be fair, I think this is in large part due to the fact that I'm just not crazy about the cozy genre. The writing and the characters ooze a sort of preciousness and by golly jolliness that feels distinctly inauthentic. And so when two of its characters come together, it feels even more fake.

With Georgie especially, although she is so smart in other respects, she exhibits a sort of cluelessness with Sebastian that is immensely grating. There are only so many demure "you can't possibly like me" a reader can take before having had enough.

I'm a little surprise because Martha Waters comes from a romance background and this was her first mystery, But go figure, I wasn't that into the romance and my vote goes solidly to the mystery side of things.

By the way, could this be the start to a mystery series? Now that the ridiculous romance has been all sorted out, I wouldn't mind reading more of Georgie and Sebastian's adventures.

"Why should I need to read about a fictional cozy village full of homicidal maniacs when I am already inhabiting one?"

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars