I haven’t tried Buried Giant, but I think there’s a reason why “Never Let Me Go” and “The Remains of the Day” are Ishiguro’s most popular books. They’re both beautiful.

I genuinely cannot believe they have Fourth Wing on there.

I enjoy Mandel’s writing stylistically, but I completely agree with you in terms of the substance and weight of her plot and characters. It definitely feels a bit flimsy and lacking. This is part of the reason why I actually thought that the TV adaptation of Station Eleven was SIGNIFICANTLY better, more nuanced and with so much better character development than what Mandel gave us in the book. Sea of Tranquility was fine, but there really was no meat on the bone in terms of the character development or where the story actually took us.