This is a tough one for me to review, because I have so many mixed feelings about it. I think, in the end, my take is that it could have been successful if it knew what it was. 

First, I don’t think this is a cozy romantasy. Its advertised comps are Howl’s Moving Castle and Cerulean Sea, and I think a more accurate comp is actually Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson. It has ELEMENTS that cozy fantasies have: a domestic focus, talking animal companions, a potentially twee magic system, but then it has put these in a universe where they are a very dark sign of a very dark magic. The stakes are sky high, the magic system is quite visceral and gory, and the implications of what happens in this book stretch to multiple countries! Not cozy. In the acknowledgements Eames mentions two things that might explain the book’s sort of disconnect from itself: first, that it was originally a novella, and second, that it had two editors from two different publishers. I wonder about that original novella, and can’t help but wonder if maybe that was the form this book should have had if cozy was her goal. 

All this to say, I didn’t have a BAD time reading it, and a lot of that I believe was due to Jessie Elland’s astonishing narration. I’d listen to her read a shampoo bottle. Her sense of humour, pacing, and characterisation were all truly lovely, and her actual voice is so listenable and engaging. For her work alone, it’d be a five star. The rest of the book, however… 

I’ll try to make sure it finds its way to the people who it’s for, even if that isn’t me.