I quite like Slatter's Sourdough universe novels, but what I like best about them is how they all fit comfortably as standalone books in a shared universe. This one ffelt like it was making an uncomfortable effort to connect with the others, as if it didn't feel capable of telling a tale that stood on its own. Every character from the previous books shows up, and some -- like Asher Todd -- in a way that would have felt like an unconnected thread if I didn't know where she originally came from. Unless you'd already read the other books, it hurt the coherence of this one; and if, like me, you had read the other books, then the strands of connections felt forced and box-ticky.