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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really, sincerely wanted to enjoy reading this book- however, I didn’t. The ending is the case for the three stars I’ve given it, and the plot was fantastic. It was the execution that seemed to hinder this book more than anything.

There were times when, instead of feeling taught about these myths, things were info-dumped onto me. As an adult reader, I have no problem with this. Middle-grade readers, however, tend to prefer a show don’t tell method of storytelling. Riley Oh is a bit of a cookie-cutter character. She is a known cry-baby in the first half of the book and then is suddenly not in the second half of the book. It felt like her crying all the time was supposed to be a character flaw, but then we removed it. The story hinges on important character growth for Riley, and while it does happen, it’s not as impactful as it could have been.

I was incredibly interested in this world of magic, and the lore within it. This is what kept me reading and would have me consider reading the second book. However, I would just hope that the pacing, dialogue, and character development would grow a little bit more before then.

My full review will be on my blog on May 14th, 2021