This is an epically long novel and deeply involved with lots of details. I am a little disappointed in how much of the book has the feel of Galland, and not as much as Stephenson. Overall it was good, but could have been a bit shorter.

꧁ 3.5 stars ꧂
ok look: this book met all my expectations, and i was invested in the plot. however, it was so long. the format and writing style just made it drone on and on and i spent weeks trying to get through the first 10%. even though it's only 560 pages long, it felt so much longer.

HOWEVER: if you enjoy semi-accurate shakespearean self-insert stories, i think you would love this series! there's a lot of time travel (they give an explanation in quantum physics, but i didn't understand most of it) and some witchy things. there's a lot of terms, people and acronyms to remember, so it's definitely a time investment. also, for any DODO newbies, it's completely written in diary entries, after-action reports, random pieces of writing, emails, etc. i found the format really interesting when it's from people i liked reading about, but it gets boring if it's from the pov of someone random.

so this book takes place mainly in shakespearean london (a whole lot goes down there) and partially in ancient rome. the "present day" parts are mostly wholesome found family moments (with a group of 30-somethings and an elderly couple so... not my typical demographic but it's fine cuz i love them) and some povs from the antagonists. GRAINNE NEEDS TO GO TF AWAY. SOMEONE TRIGGER DIACHRONIC SHEAR ON HER PLEASE :)

the romance is pretty scarce and far between, but mel and tristan are ADORABLE TOGETHER and also i lowkey love (view spoiler)

so in summary: i liked most of the book. the plot and the characters were interesting, but the pacing was too slow for my taste. erzsébet deserved a bigger role in this, and also (view spoiler) died for nO REASON. I AM SALTY.

ok thanks for reading my review. it was a bit all over the place but i hope you got the gist! also, thank you morrow group for the eARC; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This beginning was a drag. It was trying to catch me up with what happened in the last book but as this epistolary book is told through reports this makes the many recaps clunky. Once the action happens, the pace picks up. And how long this book is, the middle is a quick read. Then the ending happens and it felt very unresolved. Considering how long this book is, having an abrupt ending was surprising. There were so many pages to give me a proper conclusion. It was if this was a season finale.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

Time travel is always a tricky thing to write. This book, a continuation of The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O, is the story of two factions fighting it out along the strands of time. One side is working for the government, the other has gone rogue. Each is trying to undo the others work in the past. The narrative is told through communications, letters, after action reports and other means through the voices of multiple characters. That combined with the nature of time travel writing can be a bit hard to follow until you get used to it but overall it was an interesting read that leaves the reader what could possibly happen next.

Sadly, this book hit the DNF pile fairly quickly. I wanted to love it, but it was missing some of the magic that made the first book so fantastic. I'm not sure what it was, but it simply did not speak to me.