Even though it took me a long while to finish this after I’d started, I ended up really enjoying it all the same! I loved Rin’s debut trilogy, The Bone Witch, and I’ve been following their work ever since. When I originally heard they were writing poly vampires x vampire hunter, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. It ended up not being entirely what I originally expected from Rin’s original tweets, but honestly, I probably enjoyed it much more with how it turned out!

I think the main struggle with this book, for me, was that it took me a bit to get into it. The world is quite intense and large, and our guide through it, Remy, is locked out of a lot of doors, even if he’s one of the best vampire hunters currently. While the isolation makes sense, it does mean there’s a large learning curve to the world and setting. In the end, I switched to an audiobook to help me get into the story more, and it was the best decision I could’ve made. Not only did it help push through the slower bits in the beginning, I also really ended up enjoying the narrator, and how he brought Remy, and his dry narration style, to life. It’s definitely a big reason why the book ended up being 5 stars for me still!

My favorite part of the book was surprisingly not the romance, but rather just Remy himself. He’s such an interesting and unique narrator, and I loved the perspective he brought to this world and story. He’s a skilled character while not actually being all that smart, and it works so well when put together with some of the other characters, especially Xiaodon and Zidan. While he definitely knows his stuff, he’s not an intellectual, and it pairs so well with Zidan’s scientific smarts, and leads to some fantastic banter between the three of them. There are also plenty of jokes at Remy’s expense, often made by himself, but it’s not done in that classically self-deprecating way we’ve seen in so many jokester characters of the years. Remy himself is far from a jokester character, but these small quips about himself and his (lack of) intellect are a small breather at certain points in the book, without any of it feeling too malicious or bitter.

I also just really enjoyed the romance and relationship between the three, and it just felt like a light point through most of the story (which needed some lightness at moments, due to the plot itself being quite dark). The banter was fantastic, but I also loved how the three genuinely grew to care for each other so strongly. I also loved that Remy had a unique relationship with Xiaodon and with Zidan, and that the vampires also still maintained a separate connection as well. It showed that while all 3 loved each other, it took on slightly different forms and shapes, which made it all feel so real.

I honestly cannot wait for the next book in this series, though I was a bit sad that I was left on a bit of a cliffhanger since I went in expecting a standalone. However, my excitement at getting more in this world, and with these characters, makes up for all the waiting I have yet to suffer through (probably… maybe ask me how it’s going in a few months!)