A slow start but a very satisfying burn. I loved the magic and the complexity and the mystery and Alex's deeply flawed character.

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Bardugo is truly just so brilliant. Re-read reveals that this book, ostensibly about magic and ghosts, is truly about issues of class and humanity -- in the most disgusting and classist of ways, where the rich never hesitate to chew up the poor. It bites like The Menu, another of my favorite meditations on vanity, wealth, and being obsolete. I finished it in a day this time and loved it even more.