Look, I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but how can you not expect the absolute greatest when the cover looks like that?? It just appears so full of potential, and I think it's one of my favorite covers from 2022 overall.

In the end, this book also largely held up it's end of the bargain. I was invested in the story and its characters, and wanted Ning to achieve her goals and save her sister. I was intrigued by all the mystery surrounding the identity of certain individuals, and there was a lot at play regarding who to trust and who to avoid. My favorite thing definitely had to be the writing itself, generally, as the lush and evocative descriptions perfectly fit how absolutely stunning the cover was, and I could always picture events and backgrounds so clearly, every detail painted in crisp lines. This was most obvious whenever food was mentioned, especially in some of the later scenes, and I've honestly never wanted dumplings so badly before (and I absolutely adore dumplings!) It was honestly impressive how these foods just seemed to jump off the page, and it was real difficult to read this while I was hungry.

However, this book, like many others, just wasn't perfect. Its main issue was how shallow some of the description/world building was in certain regards, especially the magic system. We honestly didn't get much explicit description of how it worked, just examples of it in use, and a lot of techniques that Ning uses or knows don't ever feel fully explained or worked through. It all feels very loose and sometimes hand-wavey, and it results in us, as readers, not truly being able to gauge Ning's skill in comparison to other competitors except for the fact that she's still in the competition or passing certain, difficult-seeming tasks. I don't always need a magic system weighed down by a heavy system of rules and restrictions, but a bit more explanation here would've really helped overall with my understanding of what was actually going on. The pretty writing did a good job at sort of hiding how loose a lot of the magic really is, but I do just want to know more specifics!

This same comment kind of holds true for a lot else. Many other things would've benefitted from just a bit more time or explanation, like Ning's relationship with other characters, especially Kang. I liked most of the main characters, but I never felt strongly connected to any of them (except for a few near the end, perhaps), since our time is so limited and divided over so many characters. Additionally, it's definitely easier to be convinced of a friendship in fewer pages than a romance, and this is why the romance in this book didn't fully work for me. There wasn't enough space given to it beyond their initial meeting, and the spark I felt from their run through the city did eventually fade since it wasn't maintained. I'm curious to see where this, and other relationships Ning has with those around her, will go in the second book, and I do really hope we get a bit more, of just about everything in there as well.

Overall, this book was a strong debut and Lin's descriptive writing really blew me away at points, I just hope for a bit more depth in the sequel and in future books. I am really looking forward to A Venom Dark and Sweet, though, and I can't wait to see where that book takes Ning!