3.5 ⭐️

I was actually kind of conflicted with this one, which is a total shock because portal fantasy is almost always an instant love for me. Which is actually what saved this book from being a two start to be honest, the world was awesome and I had a lot of fun learning the politics and complications of the Realms.

I found the plot to be kind of lacking, and the timing was so weird too. There was one point around the halfway mark where Maddie said she had only been there for 2 days or something and I was genuinely shocked, I thought this book took place over several weeks at least. It was weird because it felt like too much happened in too short a time, but at the same time it felt like very little happened at all. I think it was just one problem being drawn out which a bunch of smaller, unrelated problems sprinkled in at random, but it ended up feeling pretty disjointed.

When it comes to characters, while I didn't dislike the main character, I did find her to be kind of forgettable. I finished this book only a week ago and I'm struggling to remember what her personality was. I also found her constant inner monologue about her brother got old really fast. I understand grief and recognize that her way of thinking is probably pretty accurate to what it's like to go through that trauma, but holy shit she couldn't go through a single page without bringing up her brother or cupboards or blue fur and just oh my goddd shhhhhh! It was way too much, to the point that I couldn't even feel bad for her anymore. I did like the other characters though, especially Taya and Graylin.

Overall I did quite enjoy this, even though it definitely wasn't a favourite. But I am looking forward to whenever this series will continue!