I had a delightful time reading this book. It took me a while to gather my thoughts, but I'm finally ready to put them into words. Not all of them are positive, but most of them are.

I loved Tam and Nicolau. They were such a fun pair to read about. But I also liked them individually. They are the epitome of grumpy/sunshine, in the best way. I enjoyed the side characters too, especially Kel. He was so funny, and so was Tam's reaction to him. I loved the gods and how they watched everything happening like it's their favorite TV show (I would do the same, honestly). I may have related a little bit too much to Tam, as a somewhat... prickly... person myself, and therefore, I feel a little bit protective of him.

And it is for that reason that I didn't latch onto the plot as well as I could have. Tam had undoubtedly done things wrong and his character growth was needed, but I felt like everyone else in the story shucked any responsibility they had. We find out pretty early on in the book that Nicolau bullied Tam pretty relentlessly throughout their teen years, contributing to Tam's intense dislike of him, but it's brushed off by Nicolau as "pulling your pigtails" because he liked Tam, and it is never brought up again. Even when Tam asks for an apology, he doesn't bring it up either, just wants an apology for his marrow being smashed.

That's another thing—the marrow. While it is a funny premise and I understand it being the start of Tam's dislike for Nicolau, I felt like it took up way too much space in the story. I think Tam had way more legitimate (for lack of a better word) grievances with Nicolau—like the bullying—that were ignored in favor of this.

Switching gears here, I felt like I got the occasional whiplash from the very antiquated setting and the modern dialogue. It wasn't every line of dialogue, but there were some that stood out to me, like when Nicolau described a memory as a "long line of italicized exclamation points". I feel like one more round of editing could have caught those types of inconsistencies and tweaked them to be more in line with the setting.

I know my complaints seem to be a lot longer than my praises, but that's because I always have more to say about negative things—I'm like Tam in that way. I do this with almost everything I love because I see the potential for greatness so clearly and, with just a little push (from me, who has perfect ideas), it can get there. So when I say I truly had a great time, I mean it, even if I'm being very critical.

My favorite scene is when Tam first leaves the village on foot and he stops at a bridge in the countryside and talks to Angarat. Not only because

Tam calling Angarat a bitch is iconic

, but because Tam finally has a safe space

to air out all his grievances

. It is followed closely by

Nicolau praying to Idunet after Tam rides him and then offers to do it again

. Same, Nicolau.

The ending also tickled me. I loved that Nicolau was able to understand the underlying meaning of Tam's (literal) downward spiral and accompanying ramblings. It felt like such a sweet ending to the internal struggles they faced throughout the entire story. It felt a bit abrupt so I wish we'd gotten another chapter or even an epilogue (I admit this may be my greed talking), but that's a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.

I want to give a quick little shout-out to the setting of this book. It really intrigued me and it's way more fleshed out than I was expecting for a silly little romance. If you love Gaelic mythology and worlds inspired by it, I think you should give this book a shot!