I was tempted to give this book three stars since I had a number of issues with it overall (despite enjoying it), but the ending left me super hyped to read the next book in the series. A great ending is enough to push this up an extra star for me.

What I liked most was the overarching story. I really enjoy the plot and the character's roles in the story. I think it's a really cool idea. I have some issues with the execution, but I really just want to see where the story goes. I can't guess how she's going to end it, and that's one of the things I enjoy about fantasy. Authors aren't tied to real world plot twists, which can make them harder to guess for me. I just can't picture the rest of the series' arc, and I'm excited to discover it.

I think this book relied a little too heavily on using tradition as a justification for everything that happened. I know that's much more common in fantasy and since it's a different world, you do have to accept it to a degree, but it felt like too much in this book for me. There was so much that was inherently a little too absurd. Three sisters who have to kill each other to become queen and spend a decade training, a former queen who leaves as soon as giving birth and stops being queen. Like why? It seems like a ridiculous way to govern, and I really felt like I needed more reason behind it than was given. But perhaps that will come later in the series.

I've heard complaints that this book was too slow and while I wouldn't necessarily call it slow, I understand what people mean. It felt like it skipped a lot of development. There were a lot of things going on in this book, but the fighting hasn't started yet and the three queens are preparing to fight. It skipped around between POVs and it felt like there was nearly a full novel for each queen, but then it got cut down into this book. We didn't get to see the natural progression. The characters would say they were going to do something, and by the time we came back to those characters, the thing would already be half done. For example, Kat's teacher wants her to learn to flirt in order to win the hearts of the suitors. We're told this at the end of the chapter. By the next chapter about Kat, they're talking about what a little flirt she's become and the progress she's made. I felt like for much of this book we skipped the steps in between and it lacked a natural flow.

I didn't trust most of the characters. A few were because they were untrustworthy, but in large part it was because they all felt fake to me. With only a few exceptions, none of the characters felt super real. Because they felt fake, it translated into their actions coming across as pretend. I could never tell who was lying and who lacked enough characterization for me to believe them.

That also translated into the romances feeling shallow and fake. I literally didn't believe them. There was so little chemistry I still don't think any of them were real. A character would profess love for one person and then turn around a profess love for a different person, and I didn't care either way because they both felt painfully fake. I really like romance, but it just didn't work for me here.

It sounds like a lot of negative for a four star book, but I was so here for the story. I loved the different factions with the poisoners, naturalists, and elementals. I loved the murder dynamic between the sisters and the different ways they were raised by their guardians. And I really loved the ending.

For all its flaws, it was a really worthwhile book for me. I'm glad I read it and even more excited to continue on and read the rest of the series. I'm hoping they just improve from here.