3.5 stars.

I've had my eye on this one for a while, drawn in by the tagline and the UK cover. When I got my hands on an ARC of We are Bound by Stars I decided to jump into this one first to familiarise myself with the universe, and I'm glad that I did. Both are standalones, but this one definitely gives a stronger explanation of the universe.

The worldbuilding is my absolute favourite part of this book, the magic is inventive and interesting and I love the world that's been crafted. It's also put across in an interesting way that means we can get a lot of information without it feeling like an info dump. I didn't like the way that the ableism in Duke's Forest wasn't really addressed. Characters with disabilities are mistreated and 'Marked' and sent to the crypts, but while this was implied to be backwards, the main character never really addressed that thinking. I liked the dual POVs though, and Lena and Constance both gave very different perspectives that made me curious about the mysteries threaded through the book.

I found the book a little slow to start with, but around two-thirds of the way through it picked up a LOT and I was hooked for the rest of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed it, it's just a shame that it took me a little while to get into it. I did finish the book really excited for the second book in the series, though.