Man did the last 6-7 chapters save this for me. The world building was flimsy and after reading someone else's comments, I thinks it's because of this all being written from Meira's pov. She has know knowledge of Winter or anyplace else as they used to be and she's kept in the dark about other things purposefully. So she makes a lot of assumptions and the author seems to just roll with them without grounding anything in a more realistic way for the reader. I mean, for example, I'm still confused about why the seasons are the way the are and the rhythms as well. Is that because of magic or what? Also, some things just never get explained. Like, how is Meira able to all this acrobatic climbing. and running around in all the cities if she's never been to one before? I don't know.

Most of the characters are pretty one-dimensional except for Meira. There's really no surprises in this story. Others mentioned twists and turns but everything was so obvious to me. The only surprise was the magic and how it works and only because no one really seems to know anyway.

I will say the Meira growing as a character was cool. She knows herself pretty well and is not too over the top. I am interested to see where things go now that she knows her status in the world.

The action scenes contain all the best writing on this book. Hence why I think the last third of this book is the best. Angra is definitely a proper villain and I am looking forward to him in the next book. I won't preorder it and probably won't even buy it but I will read it.