I enjoyed having a strong female protagonist that is not constantly questioned by the men around her. The men surrounding Shahrzad celebrate her strength and admire her resolve; they aim to make her stronger rather than tear her down. She isn’t a flawless protagonist either. She acknowledges her shortcomings and works to fix them.

But I still felt this book had some limitations. I understand the allure behind being cryptic every now and then, but so much of this book was extremely muddled and difficult to tell exactly what was going on. I felt that a lot was left up to reader interpretation. The magic was underwhelming. For how much of this plot depends upon the existence of wizardry and curses, magic was hardly ever mentioned or explored. I also felt that this book was twice as long as it needed to be. The story was very drawn out and slow-moving, and it doesn’t ever really pick up.