I was lucky enough to be sent an eARC of this through NetGalley, all these opinions are my own.

This was a tricky story to get into. At times the writing didn't seem to flow correctly, and the tone often teetered towards juvenile. I loved the history behind the world and it's magic. I loved the unique way in which the characters accessed their magic and the abilities they had.

At times it was a little inconsistent with regards to timing, or world development. For instance there was a scene where they were described as jumping from a hotel fire escape, which I found to be at odds with the world that had been built - carriages, castles, hunting for food ect.

I did think that the book really picked up in the latter half of the story though, but it was a shame that you had to wait until over halfway through to feel any connection to the characters at all. Some of the characters didn't have any backstory until half way through, despite being introduced in the very beginning i.e Eadric. Some I realise their backstories needed to be a little later on. However I feel that there was a lot of 'wasted time' within the story that didn't actually develop the character's relations.

I know it sounds like I'm being overly negative about this story, but I did enjoy the book the more I read, but if you are someone who DNF's a book if the first few chapters don't grip you, then this may be off putting.

Love the premise, love the magic system, some of the characters I felt were more flushed out than the main character. Rose was a particular favourite.