I can’t quite reconcile the writing in this book coming from the same mind that wrote Juniper and Thorn and The Wolf and the Woodsman. I know not every book can be a banger. I know not every book is going to match a reader’s tastes (after all, I wasn’t a fan of Lady Macbeth but I could still appreciate the lovely writing style, world building, deliberately bleak narrative, and poetic prose); however, I didn’t think a book about five books in to an impressive and lauded catalog could feel like an underwhelming and underdeveloped YA debut novel. 

I almost DNFd this book several times, but I stuck with it because I liked the plot. I liked the story it seemed to keep trying to tell. I kept hoping it would get better or something would happen and I would be wowed. Instead, this book came in mild and left just as mild. 

From a first act that takes entirely too much time setting events up and fails to engage the reader in the story, to a sapphic romance that made no sense to me (and that was one of the parts I was looking forward to most), to dialogue so cringey I actually physically cringed, this book just didn’t hit. 

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews rated three stars or lower will not appear on my social media. Thank you.