The main word I would use to describe this book is empty. The story seems to be building towards a dramatic final confrontation and then sort of falls flat. Themes are developed and then abandoned while subplots culminate in “plot twists” that are exciting only because they come out from nowhere. 

The main story centers around Catalina and Paul going on a quest to find the Man of Sap. By their very nature, quest plots provide a lot of downtime for the characters to think and talk while they travel. Catalina thinks a lot about her family, her memories of her mother, dealing with loss/grief, who she truly is, and her hopes for the future. These themes are repeated in her conversations with Paul. But the themes rarely factor into the conflicts or their subsequent resolutions, making the protagonist overcoming them feel devoid of meaning. Apart from the final confrontation with the main antagonist, the banker, Catalina responds to each danger by running, hiding, or being saved by someone else.

None of the antagonists in this book felt very compelling because the priority seems to make them look/feel creepy rather than to have any interesting or thematic motivations.

For example, the wedding party scene with Ruth could have been a warped/deranged reflection of Catalina and Paul’s sense of survivor’s guilt but ended up with the antagonist as essentially just the ultimate Bridezilla, monologuing in a cartoonishly evil way to deliver exposition. There is nothing clever or meaningful about the way that they defeat her and it seems to take barely any effort.

The main antagonist, the banker’s, entire shtick is that he offers Faustian bargains/deals with the Devil, using the wording of contracts to trick his victims and making what seems like a blessing to be a curse. But his power alternately seems bound to the contracts that he makes but when convenient or required for the narrative, he can suddenly do as he pleases.

The “terminating the contract” clause doesn’t make sense because the book implies that the banker continues to be bound by the terms of the contract even after it is terminated and the victim is released from its terms. That’s not how contracts work!?

John aka the Man of Sap’s storyline ended in an anticlimactic and unsatisfying way. John’s POV is told through letters/journal entries that he’s writing in order to tell his whole life story.

When she finally reads these letters, Catalina spends maybe a page thinking about them before moving on and their contents are never brought up again.

The descriptions of the world are poetic and vivid but the actual worldbuilding is barely fleshed out. Catalina and Paul encounter various mythical beings:

tree weepers, Hill Dogs, and a White Spider tree.

They each appear for a single scene, don’t speak, aid Catalina and Paul for seemingly no reason, and then are never mentioned again. Apart from describing their physical appearances, we find out basically nothing about their backstories, how they came to be, or what they do. 

Some more minor issues: The descriptions rely very heavily on similes and metaphors, initially to great effect but it begins to feel overdone later on. Also, some of the similes are kind of ridiculous or don’t make sense (for example, Catalina compares a row of three apples to teeth).

The romance between Paul and Catalina is generic and feels like it’s included solely because a romantic plot or subplot seems to be a requirement in fantasy books these days. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.