It took me such a long time to finish this. I wasn’t always in the right headspace, so that didn’t help. The writing style also took me some time to get used to. For whatever reason I just couldn’t read this book as fast as I normally would. Somewhere in the middle of the story I really had to push myself to keep reading. It wasn’t that I lost interest, just that things were getting a bit slow for my taste.

The magic was described in a (at least to me) very unique and refreshing way, which I enjoyed thoroughly. The scenes in which Agnieszka makes illusions are beautiful to read. I could see them taking shape perfectly in my mind. The Wood was just the right amount of creepy and horrible and I appreciate that the author didn’t shy away from writing some gruesome battle details. That kind of stuff makes the story so much more believable. The big creepy fairytale-esque revelation that eventually unfolds the mystery was very well done in my opinion and I loved the sweet ending.

For a long time I was kind of confused by Agnieszka and the Dragon’s relationship. I mean, I could predict where it was going, but I couldn’t really imagine it actually happening. Their banter was great, but I could’ve done with a lot less of him calling her stupid. But hey, apparently that’s okay when you’re a grumpy old man? Anyhoo, I liked both their characters’ development and where they eventually end up.

4 stars