The Marionettes is fucking phenomenal book. It shines in the depth of the worldbuilding, the characters, and the amount that happens in its short run time. Author Kaite Wismer fifth outing knocks it out the park, just like her other four. The difference here is the tonal shift, and the adult content on the page. This book is graphic in almost every nature and I loved every minute of it. It's a fast ride, that I wanted to painfully endure. And, oh boy, that cliffhanger ending smacks you with such a force you're begging for the sequel.

The writing just like every time before is beautiful. Every single thing, if it's a location, or to the magic itself is well realized. I never once questioned if it made sense, I just wanted to know why. Normally she told me in an organic way that never felt too info dumpy. Which in my opinion is rather hard to do and I applaud her for doing it.

With the writing comes the characters and this book is chalked full of characters to an ever-growing cast. The few characters that have dimension shine over the ones lacking. Val herself has a ton of character growth but also feels lacking a lost throughout most of the story. Making her best protagonist for this wild ride. She is just as confused as the reader for most of the novel. She also feels different from Mare, and Jo which is nice distinction from Wismer other works. I will say the lack of development that might be there is shined by the plot that never stops. Her friends have yet to flourish but I see a ton of potential, and normally I would take off points for this. Due to the lack of page time and this being book 1 of 4 or more they have plenty of time to leap. Reid, this books love interest of a prince was a nice choice. It puts us in the thick of it with the politics of the world while also making him bruting enough to care. I will say this a deep slow burn and the main romance just have tiny simmer on the fire. With the heat building to a high by the end I can only imagine what's in store for book 2. Then we have one of the many villains, The Queen. We have just a few scenes with the royal bitch but they all left me wanting more. On top of that we have Corner a unluckly love interest thrown in too deep.

Lastly let's talk worldbuilding. With Wismer abilities shown in her pervious works to make setting so well realize that you feel like you're in that room, it came to no surprise what she could do with a world. The world here at the moment is small, but has so much room to grow I'm excited to see what's to come. On top of that, the tiny little mentions here or there make me want to know more. The building that is done here is tasteful. Suchas the blood dens, to the way the estates are laid out. To the schooling itself. Each in its own well realized.

If you put all that together you get an amazing start to another brand-new series.

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