There's a lot I love about this book, but one thing not so much. I like that the writing is a huge step up from The Lotus Wars series. Instead of forcing information dumps on the reader, there are added annotations of information on some pages of the book. I also loved Mia as a character, and many of the other acolytes. The story and training they go through is dark and troubling, with humor injected as Mia's interactions with her shadow. My love/hate relationship with this book comes with the descriptions given to the reader. They definitely help create a precise picture of what is happening, but it is overwrought with metaphors to the point of being cringe worthy.

Overall a book that is very engrossing and quickly captured my attention once it got past a slow start. 4 out of 5