This was a tightly written duology, and it earns its twists, horrors, and happy-endings... but it was PAINFUL to read! For 300 pages I was having anxiety, my heart broken over and over. It reminded me a lot of The Hunger Games: The female protagonist who misinterprets the situations she's in because she's not politically savvy, and whose allies are willing to make devastating sacrifice plays while keeping her ignorant (for fear of her intervention).

The book has a LOT to say about systemic racism, and especially erasing a race's identity and contributions to society through genocide/appropriation/monarchal consolidation of wealth and power/the passage of time... It's painful and TRUE and still, sadly, relevant today.

I did not have a fun time reading this book. It hurt my soul to see the characters I had come to love torn apart and made to feel helpless/hopeless, and it also hurt to have a mirror held up to my own world/country/ancestors/race. But I cannot deny that it is an impressive, brilliantly written, and important book. Much love for what was accomplished here ^_^.