I read reviews much like I watch horror movies: with my hands mostly over my eyes. My editor sent me my Publisher’s Weekly review this morning, and I read it very quickly, missing almost everything, fearful that I might find some brutally negative monster sentence that would rip out my heart and stamp on it with its mean, cold, monster feet.

Instead, I saw words like “pleasantly surprised,” “emotional depth and inventiveness,” “potent mythology and symbolism,” and “full-bodied world worth revisiting.” Here’s the full review.

I’m so pleased and proud that the reviewer saw these things in my work. It’s awesome to know that I succeeded, at least for this reader, in what I set out to do.