I have a love hate relationship with this book. It took me months to get just under halfway, at which point I put it aside. But I wanted to finish so bad! I figure this style simply wasn’t for me.

This book has action, no doubt about that, but I had a hard time putting things together. The past had a huge affect on present action, but it wasn't properly explained. Or tiny things I threw away became bigger and I forgot the detail from chapter 1 and years ago. Plus, I either didn’t like the plot, or couldn't connect with the MC enough to care about.

What really pushed me through the pages was the world. Oh, what a world! The magic system is incredible, the interaction between the countries. I'm pretty sure the Israeli Palestinian conflict was the inspiration, and then got boosted up with feminism. with a bit of racial dynamics thrown in too based on historic wars with other cultures. the world is what i read for, it's complexity and beauty. it's uniqueness. it's diversity. But ultimately, that wasn't enough to pull me to the end.

I still praise this book for world building to friends though. i might have put it down, but two weeks later a friend took it from me.