This book is being touted as the "toxic lesbian vampires" book, and I can't say that's innacurate.

There's a couple POVs, and a lot of the book is playing catch up to current events. On one hand, that makes for a super fleshed out villain. On the other, the ending is kind of abrupt. It reads very similar to a comic book in that way (which I'm not surprised because, come on, it's V.E. Schwab).

At least one part dragged, and I wasn't super compelled to bring this audiobook on long drives but moreso to work where only my hands are busy because the book itself wasn't immensly exciting. Also, as much as I love Katie Leung narrating this book, I can't separate her voice from her face. The main character is blonde, and the whole time my brain was like "No, that's Cho Chang." I do think it was either serendipitous timing or extremely smart marketing to cast her off of the second season of Arcane while Caitlyn Kiramman still has lesbians in a chokehold (guilty).

I've come to expect long-winded musings from vampire books, but I'm a little over it. There were some really great turns of phrase that I would have annotated or at least highlighted if I was reading in print. I think some of the depictions of an emotionally abusive relationship were spot on and made my heart hurt, and I was happy to see it just because I feel like it's neglected in a lot of sapphic books. I'm not mad I read it, but it's not living in my head rent-free either.