y'all know I LOVE a cult story so I picked this up. I appreciated how it read like a cautionary tale, like as a reader you could see step-by-step how the Kingdom determined that Emily was isolated, how they further isolated her, how they made her feel a sense of purpose, how they got her to leave the country...all of that was really chilling.

I thought the framing of the investigative article about the cult sprinkled in was nice and added some tension about what was going to happen, but I kind of wished for a little bit more of the investigation?

Spoiler

Also the investigative article really made it seem like Emily died?? Which I get added tension but then like, since she didn't die it would be kind of a weird article for wherever it ended up being published? lol

I did think some of the mechanics of the cult itself were a bit off, which is partly because we're getting it in pieces through Emily and the article and neither of them know everything but like......................

Spoiler

when did the snakes get involved...........?

Ultimately I was engaged and it was fast-paced enough that I wasn't asking too many questions while I was reading but then at the end I was like, wait. Still, recommended for fans of cult shit and/or those who can cope with historical fiction set in 1994.