Such a great fantasy book. Once I was drawn in, it was so hard to put it down. The world building was spread through the story instead of just one section in the beginning which I loved. As the characters discovered more about their heritage and world, so did we. I will admit that Amari’s character did annoy me for awhile, as did Inan, but I think that’s a testament to their origin and privilege, so I won’t go into details because spoilers. This story may be set against a fantasy background, but it’s clear that it has roots in the BLM movement, the battle against police brutality, and what privilege looks and acts like in the face of both (which the author mentions at the end).

I can’t wait for the follow up.

Mild Spoilers:
There were a few things I wanted more of. One of them was this story of what exactly happened with the King’s family. They kept framing that as his whole reason for his vendetta against the maji and diviners but we never actually got clarity on what happened, just snippets. I’m not sure if that’s because his actions were rooted in hate, if he was making it up or if that’s something we’ll find out more about later, but it was something that bothered me.