Thanks to Red Tower for the copy of this ARC!

I picked this book up for two reasons:
(1) I’ve read and loved every Red Tower release so far
(2) Avatar: The Last Airbender vibes.

This was a big miss for me. In the beginning, there are 4(?) POVs that switch without notice, and then after that it’s mainly just the two main characters, so it’s easier to follow.

The elemental magic is, I guess, similar to Avatar in that elements are used, and it’s very simple, so doesn’t get much of an explanation on how it plays into the world. Overall, there wasn’t really much world or character building until later on in the second half of the book.

Raith is described as a winged shadow of death, so that definitely held my attention - but he really doesn’t speak much and it’s pretty awkward for the first half of the book — but they still fall in Insta Love. Their love story takes some turns in the second half that had me shaking my head a bit, while other parts of the story (like wraiths being freed from slavery under a Queen) were a one-sentence mention. Given that and the later world building, the romance is definitely at the forefront of this story.

In general, this read either very YA or like it could’ve used another round of editing, and then pivoted to some very long and very spicy scenes. I don’t prefer to read YA or high spice, so this one wasn’t quite for me.