ARC Mini Reviews: Chaos on CatNet, Defekt, Dustborn, & Titan Song

Happy Friday everyone!  Today, I'm sharing four ARC mini reviews - Chaos on CatNet (CatNet #2) by Naomi Kritzer (available April 27, 2021), Defekt (LitenVerse #2) by Nino Cipri (available April 20, 2021), Dustborn by Erin Bowman (available April 20, 2021), and Titan Song (The Carter Archives #3) by Dan Stout (available April 6, 2021).  I received these ARCs from NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews.  Read on to see my thoughts:

❋ ❋ ❋ ❋

Chaos on CatNet (CatNet #2) by Naomi Kritzer was one of my most anticipated reads of April and luckily it mostly lived up to my expectations.  2019's Catfishing on CatNet was such a  pleasant surprise that I was really excited to for this sequel.  I honestly don't know why this isn't on more peoples radar because this YA near-future sci-fi thriller series hits the right notes.  Whatever the case, it really deserves to become a sleeper hit.  Tonally, this time around the story is a bit different than it's predecessor, but it's just so compulsively readable and I can't resist the world and characters Kritzer has created.  Plus, there's a cool AI character that really enjoys a nice cat photo.  I can't wait to read more from Kritzer in the future.

My review is also on Goodreads.

 

❋ ❋ ❋ ❋ ❋

Defekt (LitenVerse #2) by Nino Cipri is the perfect sequel/ companion novel to Finna which was one of my favorite novellas of 2020.  My expectations for this were needless to say sky high and I'm so pleased to say this one totally delivers.  I've only read two of Cipri's books, but they're quickly becoming a favorite.  At this point, I'm pretty sure I'll read whatever they care to write from here on out.  It was so much fun to be back in the mysterious and weird world of LitenVärld, an IKEA-like store where portals to various dimensions of the multiverse sometimes appear, and sometimes things from the other side come through.  There's so much to love about this, but I can't resist the brand of humor in this story.  In this installment of the series, my favorite aspect  were all of the Dereks from across the multiverse - they were so cool to get to know.  Overall, I think this is going to be one of my favorite reads of 2021.  If you haven't started in on this series, what are you waiting for?

My review is also on Goodreads.

❋ ❋ ❋ ❋

Dustborn by Erin Bowman is a great gritty YA western post-apocalyptic standalone novel.  I haven't read a lot from Bowman, but I was incredibly impressed by her YA western Vengeance Road series.  I particularly enjoyed this genre mashup here.  Bowman's world-building is outstanding.  It's incredibly vivid and the character voices are quite unique.  The author's writing style is easily able to pull you in right from the start and it doesn't let you go until the very end.  If you're a fan of Mad Max and Vengeance Road, I have a feeling you'll enjoy this book as well.

My review is also on Goodreads.

❋ ❋ ❋ ❋ ❋

Titan Song (The Carter Archives #3) by Dan Stout was hands down my most anticipated book of the month and high on my list for all of Spring 2021.  I adore Dan Stout's brand of 1970s-esque urban fantasy noir and this third installment is firing on all cylinders.  It was great to be back with Carter and Jax once again as well as some other returning cast members.  I feel like I haven't mentioned the whole buddy cop thing they have going on, but it is delightful to see them work off of one another.  I also loved getting to see a little more of their wider world beyond the city they call home.  The central mystery at the heart of the story is also very well written and keeps you guessing with all of the plot twists and complexities, but as always I appreciated Carter and Jax's methodical detective work.  Overall, this installment of what has easily become an all time favorite series that somehow just manages to keep getting better and better was exactly what I was looking for.  I'm glad that to know that this we'll being seeing more of Titanshde, Carter, and Jax in the future because I definitely wasn't ready to be saying goodbye so soon.  If you're a fan of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Dirty Harry, and The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee, I have a feeling that you'll love The Carter Archives too.  The upcoming fourth book in this series can't come soon enough!  This series deserves all the love and attention it can get!

My review is also on Goodreads.

Are you planning on reading any of these books?  What are you reading?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!