3.5 stars

I have conflicting thoughts.

» First, it's problematic. I heard prior to starting that there's racism and queer-baiting. I noticed the latter in parts five and six, but I found the world wasn't fleshed out enough for me to notice the former. That's not to say it isn't there, as I could've missed it. Are Black Witches also black? I think it was mentioned that Nathan is biracial since he's half White and half Black, but I'm not sure.

» It was a slow and ultimately not very engaging story. There wasn't enough action or explanation, and the ending wasn't even a cliffhanger. At the moment I have no real desire to read book two, though I might later. I enjoyed reading this, but it was just really plain.

» Gabriel was the only good character and he deserves more. If I read the second book, I hope to find that he's more important and gets the love he deserves. Nathan, his family, Annalise, Mercury... they all felt plain. Nathan also had anger issues. None of them except Gabriel felt very real or unique. Oops.

» Talk about anticlimactic. 350 pages of moral ambiguity, journeys, and escaping antagonists, for that? I feel like there should've been more. And why was Annalise brought back into the story? What was the purpose of being introduced to Ellen? I even put up with a bit of second person narration because I was intrigued by this book. It didn't deliver.

I know I was critical, but I did enjoy this book. I didn't enjoy the extremely slow pace, plain characters, anticlimactic ending, or queer-baiting. My explanations of why I liked this book were pathetic, I know, but it's almost 10:30 pm so yeah. Good concept, lots of potential, questionable execution.

Currently unsure if I'll bother with the sequel. It could be good, it could be as meh or worse than this one. I don't know yet. If I do, it'll be from the library. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯