I’ll be thinking about this book for months. Readers are thrust into a dying, fantastical world from the start and are forced to slowly unfold the plot, the people of the world, and their deities (the Ladies). We follow along as Pell (Yarrow) and Kew (Hawthorn) are on two separate, though eventually overlapping, journeys to protect the realm and destroy the Beast before it rises to full power. I simply cannot give anything else away about the plot. Everyone should go into this knowing very little about it, as I think that’s the best experience. All I can say is that the vibes are weird fairytale (think: Alice in Wonderland) crossed with absurdist fantasy (dark topics and often graphic descriptions that seem to come out of left field). This book is an absolute wonder and if you’re looking for a strange, character-driven fantasy with unique world-building, this just might be it for you.