This was engaging enough that I wanted to keep reading to untangle the mystery, though I had a strong hunch about what was going on (which turned out to be right, and somewhat cliched to be honest) — but the prose didn't work for me, it kept jarring me out of the flow, and I really wasn't sold on any of the characters/their relationships/the group dynamics. Even at the end of Part One, it felt like we were still in the very slow exposition; Part Two felt like a completely separate novel, with just a handful of shared backstory elements.

In other words, although I was intrigued by the setup, I was disappointed by how it played out. There were some fairytale and/or fantasy allusions and tropes that I liked, but it felt like they were introduced only to be fairly quickly abandoned (not undermined or twisted, just abandoned) in order to keep the plot moving along.

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CONVERSION: 6 / 15 = 2 stars

Prose: 4 / 10
Characters & Relationships: 3 / 10
Emotional Impact: 2 / 10
Development / Flow: 4 / 10
Setting: 7 / 10

Originality / Trope Execution: 2 / 5
Memorability: 2 / 5