This book is emotional and faced paced. Its plot is tight and well-foreshadowed. The romance is beautiful, if a little desperate (on both sides).

Here is my video review: https://youtu.be/bqJ33eMl384?t=625

Alessa is the chosen one. It's not going so well, because her magic-amplification powers keep killing anyone she touches instead. She has a limited time to become the warrior she is destined to be, before a swarm of killer bugs comes for her home.

Yes, the impeding insect apocalypses is technically the main action plot of this book, but the focus of the book is split between Alessa's self-actualization and the romance. I liked all of these parts, but the standout was the romance. It was building from the beginning, but the couple didn't really come together until much later. When they finally did, it was cute and satisfying.

This book is fantastic because it isn't afraid to get emotional. When Alessa is overwhelmed or angry, we feel it too. I think it's that rawness and intensity that make this book feel YA. But in content (oooh boy, there's a lot of sexual innuendos, etc), it's more mature than that and reals like a book written for Adults. I wish more books would add in some of that teenage-angst feeling that this book is so good with, because it makes the experience richer. That's the best part of the genre of YA, and one of the reasons why so many people love it.

The themes in this story are rich as well. As the chosen one, Finestra, Alessa is restricted. She must follow the religious-traditions and societal-norms that her political position demands. A large part of her character arc is wrestling with those ideas, and trying to find what the right thing to do is.

The only part about this book that bugs me is that many of the "changing-societal-norms" moments felt like they weren't properly earned. As the chosen one, Alessa has political influence. But also when your theme is that she is chained by that political position, using it to create change-societal-norms feels like working backwards. And because this book is so fast paced, we don't get to really feel that She Is Chained By Her Position before she transitions into Rebellion Against The System Mode.

The book that this one reminded me most of was Fire, by Kristin Cashore.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.