Why was I so surprised by how odd this book is? It's right there in the title: 'Oddfits'. It's about people who don't fit in, who are so obviously and fundamentally out of tune with where they are that it's clear that, although they're here, they belong somewhere else.

Yet I didn't expect a Roal Dahl meets Kafka reading experience that made me feel so off-balance. That I, the reader, was the oddfit who can't quite grasp what is expected of me or what I should expect of the author. I'm not sure what's going on or what is likely to happen next. It feels like being thrown around on a fairground ride. The only option is to give up control and go with the ride. Which is part of why I hate fairground rides.

If I'm going to read this book to the end, I'll need to find a place to stand and quite soon.

Well, not quite a cliff-hanger ending but not quite a free-standing novel either. More like Part 1 of a spectacular Season Finale of a long-running show.

I'm very glad that Part 2. 'Battle Ground' will be in my library on 29th September.

here's only a quarter of the book left- ok that's still another four hours of audiobook - BUT it feels like I'm heading towards a cliff-hanger ending. I know the next book is out in a couple of months but I still hope I'm not left hanging

I'm enjoying James Marsten's narration. He's making Harry (finally) sound quite grown up, partly because he's not rushing through Harry's internal reflections. He's giving them some weight.

No one does supernatural fight scenes as well as Jim Butcher. He starts with an attack from a knee-weakening, apparently invulnerable monster and then escalates until that feels like the easy part.

He makes every step physical and immediate so that, by the end of it, you're exhausted.