This is an extremely dark read. It takes place in a dark dystopian near future in which society has fallen through a series of events discussed but never fully identified. The main character is a member of a convent that follows a religion of enlightenment that is maintained through high levels of pain and violence. 

If you cannot deal with details of injury then this is definitely not for you. Through the book it is present in explicit detail. At the core this book is about coming back to yourself, the pliability of morality and finding something to fight for. I think this book leaned much heavier into dark violence than the previous works I’ve read by this author. It almost felt like it dragged out too much that every page for much of the book is just infliction of pain or pondering on such in some way. 

Disclosure: I received a gifted finished copy from the publisher.