This was a really solid first book. First, to be fair, I have a soft spot for Scotland and Scottish lore, so the setting and faerie names/types were all just really up my alley. I may be bias on everything else as a result of that. Who knows? I love Aileana as a main character, she's tough and vulnerable at the same time - wanting to really prove herself but also having a hard time fully cutting ties with the "proper" life she led before everything changed. And, no worries about spoilers because this is revealed really early, everything changed when her mother was murdered by a faerie (which are considered either extinct or myth by the majority of the population) and Aileana met Kiaran, a faerie who helped hone her need for revenge and trained her to kill faeries. I think Kiaran's character is pretty well written as well. For a faerie who's been alive for thousands of years, he has a reasonably complicated history that is only slowly revealed and the suspense in finding things out (like why is he helping train Aileana to kill his own kind??) is well drawn out. I'm definitely excited to learn more about him as the story continues. Also, I love Derrick - the pixie who lives in Aileana's closet, mends her dresses, and is obsessed with honey. I wish I had one of him in my own life really badly. I can't decide how I feel about the "steampunk" aspect - Aileana's ability to quick invent/build weapons and flying contraptions and things. It's a really cool addition that makes this story a little different from the many like it, and I do love the steampunk subculture, but I have yet to decide if it actually fits well in this story or not. Plot-wise, the pacing is well done and the story is developed nicely. Even though it's nothing super original, it's really easy and entertaining to read.

A couple things did bother me though. First, the writing itself was borderline. There were times where Aileana's inner thoughts made me cringe a bit. I mean, I understand her conflicts (mentioned earlier) and respect that as a YA heroine, she may not be the most confident and self-aware character ever. But I do think that there were some thoughts she had that confused me, like at the end when she talks about not being "worthy" to carry her mother's tartan with her. Like what the heck? Her mother wasn't a warrior or anything, and she'd just have it as a momento/memory, so how can a person be worthy (or not) of carrying a remembrance of a loved one? Just...a few odd moments like that made me scrunch up my brow and prevent the flow of the story from being seamless. Also, although I like both Kiaran and Aileana, I think the way their relationship is written takes advantage of many other similarly written relationships. As a reader, you have suspicions and hopes because of what similar things you've read in the past, I think, and not necessarily because this one is written particularly well. For me, I feel like this is very similar to Aelin and Rowan in Maas' Throne of Glass series, but not as well developed. However, because of having read Aelin and Rowan, I'm assigning similar development to Kiaran and Aileana in my head, and May benefits from that. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone else, but that's what's happening in my head. Haha. Also, as I usually find in books where there is a proper "public" figure who has a secret pastime (killing faeries, in this case), there are lots of plot holes that arise - like how does one stay up all night fighting and then process normally at all the next day? Plus, for their friends, like Catherine in this case, I feel like they get written very shallowly, just to fill a necessary public figure role and generally "all supportive" sidekick place, that just rings a little false. Gavin is partially like that here, but he has much more potential and I cannot wait to see where his story goes next. And, conveniently, Aileana's one surviving parent is often absent, which at least makes that less of a possible plot hole.

In any case, the action was consistent and the ending left us with a serious cliffhanger (both relationship and plot-line wise), so thank goodness I wanted to start this until all three books were out! I definitely enjoyed this read and cannot wait to jump into the next one.