Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Trade, and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an audio review copy of this book to read and give my honest opinion. All opinions expressed here are my own.
Kosera lives in a walled city full of monsters. As a Witch, she's spent her days fighting them. But there's one monster she has not defeated, her ex The Zmey. Betrayed by a close friend, she loses her shadow, the source of her witch powers. To get her shadow back, she'll have to pair with a cop from the other side of the wall who is investigating the mysterious death of the smuggler who helped Kosera get to the other side of the wall. With time running out, can Kosera find her shadow and defeat her ultimate nemesis while ensuring those closest to her aren't the ones betraying her?
I love the idea of this book. Witches, monsters, and a walled city. It reminds me of so many fantasies I've read. But the twists are totally different from anything I've ever read before. I really enjoyed the world building and history behind it. I don't know much about Slavic folklore at all, so this was a great introduction. And the two cities the author builds out are perfect for showing the differences between poverty and privilege, a perfect commentary on so much of what we see in modern day society.
I enjoyed the characters in the book. Particularly Kosera and Asen. They are both developed well. I found it easy to connect with Kosera. Much more so than Asen. Their relationship is quite interesting. But if you're looking for romance, you're not really going to find it in this installment. There is attraction there and something brewing but it does not go anywhere further than Kosera admitting to it and a few chaste kisses. Each of them is packing a lot of trauma from the past which ultimately gets in the way of anything blooming between them during their time together. But this is not a romantasy, though I don't know what will happen in the future.
As for the narrator, I did enjoy her voice. I think she did a great job with the voices of the characters for the most part. Though I do feel like she could have had a bit more of a difference between a few of the characters to be able to tell them apart. Overall, I would listen to other books by her.
I will say, I've not really read anything like this book before. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author gives a fast paced story full of rich plot and interesting characters. The details are vivid and paint an amazing picture. I'm excited to see where the story goes in the next book!