I loved the world that Enright has created. It’s dark, full of lies, deceit and mystery. I enjoyed all the blood working and how the “magic” works. I think the strongest part of the book was the characters. I loved Shan and how she’s living two lives. I was stressed for her throughout the book! I think it is so intriguing when a character lives a double life. I was much more interested in her life living in the shadows. I would love a prequel or novella about how she started all that and found all her birds.

Samuel was a bit of a conflicting character. He’s living a life in the slums and trying to stay alive. Samuel ends up on the noble path, and I was disappointed that he was so lost. You would think, with all the street smarts, he would have been a smarter player. This is where I found his character confusing. I’m hoping he finds his way in the second book. He was my favorite character because he will be Shan’s moral compass. Isaac is a character with great representation. I didn’t trust him throughout this book, and it was harder to love him. We will see what happens there. In my opinion, most of these characters fell too flat for me.

The plot of this book was so slow. There were times I had to force myself to jump back into this book. It had been a long time since anything had happened. The beginning was so promising though because the first line felt like it would be so promising! Throughout the book, we have many side plots, and several are not developed. It made the plot feel so disjointed and hard to keep up.

I liked the relationships stirring between Isaac, Samuel, and Shan. I do think it took over a lot of the book. There were so many different things going on, and it felt flippant to their relationship status. I missed the opportunity for them to really look into the murders.

Overall, this was an okay read for me. I have read much better fantasies. Maybe the second book will delve deeper into the side plots and politics. I did enjoy the characters the most, but they were so one-dimensional that it made it hard to love them.

Thank you to Orbit for the ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.