I’ll be the first to admit this was a total impulse, cover-buy! A sapphic re-telling of The Goblin Emperor? Yes please! 

 

But while the story was set up with political tension, a unique magic system and a fantastic love interest; it was let down by a slightly flat (and dare I say it, whiny) protagonist and an over excess of slightly dry politics that threatened to eclipse the tension of the plot. 

 

Although, the highlights were the queer-normative society in the book. No-one is assumed to be completely straight and there are non-binary characters with “they/them” pronouns that no-one questions. In addition, the titles in the book are not gendered at all which was totally refreshing. I really would’ve liked to have the relationship between Ekata and Inkar better fleshed out but since the entire plot takes place over 6 days, this didn’t really happen!