Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Read full review here: 7/27/2020

“They say the First Rider brought light and meaning into a world of chaos and darkness. I wish he could have made it a little less treacherous.”

Let's talk about the good first. The world was not so far from one we would recognize that a ton of world building was needed, and the magic involved was new but understandable. The concepts were intriguing and something I hadn't seen before. Additionally, using the fear of a disease to force order was an interesting tactic (especially given the current timing).

Here's the thing, this book is marketed as a "powerful feminist fantasy full of surprising insights". Unless the definition of feminism has recently changed to "all but one of the girls are incredibly mean to the main character for no reason other than competition", then, I have no idea why this book is being marketed this way. The most feminist thing that happens in this book is when the servant says "We're women- we have to trust each other, right?" That's it.

Honestly, if this book had not been marketed as such, I would have left it with telling you it was mediocre at best, and the character growth was not something that made sense within the story. But the way this book was marketed led me to believe it would be a different tale- when instead I got a relatively same old, same old fantasy YA.