3.5 stars that bumped itself up to 4 towards the end.
I...am not good with poetry or prose or metaphorical flourish or symbolic writing. Therefore, this book was tough for me to get into. It's a short story, but boy was I struggling, even with the audio book (maybe, because it was an audio book?).

BUT! I just went with the flow, hoping my brain would pick up the kernel of the story plot and slowly let it grow and root and flower in my brain, helping me understand what in the heck was going on.

And what was going on was a sapphic love story, enemies to lovers, the slow burn of two women on opposite sides of the time war and two completely different personalities--Red and her almost robotic-like Commandant side of the war, and Blue, the natural, druid-like agent from Garden--crashing together in a carnal hunger for each other.

I'm glad I stuck with it because it was a wild ride through some really fantastical, futuristic settings with an excellent love story at its core!