I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Melita is a witch with a chronic illness who swallows bones in order to do her magic. When her village is attacked, she has to flee with her friend into the underground city full of monsters to find help. I liked the worldbuilding, the magic and the ruin exploring parts. The Capper was a truly terrifying villain, and the descriptions of the dark threatening to eat everyone were also delightfully creepy.

Unfortunately, I found most of the characters flat. Melita's constant self-loathing and pacifism even to the point of letting herself nearly be killed was frustrating. The traps were all laughably bad at their jobs, but I feel like a lot of open questions remained there. Also, so many questions about Kinta!! And once they make it to the city they've been chasing for the whole book, it's... underwhelming. I am also not quite sure how to feel about the ending.

Overall this was an okay read, but it felt lacking.