“Everything dies,” he whispered back. “I’m afraid of so much more than dying.”

Stars (Out of 10): 10/10 Stars

Favorite Character: Torwin and Asha of course (although I loved a ton of the characters)

Spoiler Free: When I got this book in my Fairyloot box, I wasn’t actually all that interested since it wasn’t a book I’d heard much about/ever planned on buying. So it sat there on my shelf, from October until now, when a fateful Scrabble reading challenge made me pick this book up just because I could use it for the letter “I”.

Sometimes, it’s the books that we are the most cautious about that surprise us.

Looking back, I’m appalled that I ever let this book fly under my radar. Badass female main characters? Dragons? Why did I go so long without reading this!

Something snatched my heart from the very beginning of this story, and never let it go. That something was most likely the strong narrator that was still human, still afraid and trapped even with all her strength and power. The narrator that still cared about those around her, even though it made her weaker. The narrator who still had lessons to learn.

My love for this book was strengthened by the complex side characters, the well crafted world, and the gripping plot. I have no complaints about any part of this book, and for a debut, that is an amazing thing to say.

When it came to the characters, most of the main ones of focus had such depth. Even the villains we hated had more to them then their evil, had sets of morals and desires that they adhered to. But when it came to the allies, the characters we were meant to love, the amount of emotion that the author was able to draw out of me for those characters blew my mind. In this relatively quick moving book, my heart made space for not only Asha and Torwin, but Dax and Safire and Roa as well.

Additionally, the world itself was a beautiful thing to experience. We are told about this world both through experiencing it through Asha’s eyes as well as hearing about its history in the form of forbidden stories. This combination never got old, and I was sad when I read the last story contained within the book (since the gray pages stood out and I was able to see when each story was!) The world itself was also a highly interesting one, with conflicting histories told by different groups of people, much like our world is.

Lastly, that plot. THAT PLOT. I was only able to guess one of the twists, and all of the others elicited a gasp. It managed to keep me on my toes the entire time, not knowing what any of the characters were going to do next or what was actually the truth. The pacing of the story was fantastic as well, and I never felt that it dragged or lulled at any point in time. Every chapter was enjoyable, and each word made the end of this story that much more tragic.

Overall, this tale is tied for top book of 2018 with Graceling right now, and I can’t wait to see what books surprise me the rest of this year!