I'll start by saying I feel like I'm sort of all over with this book. It was very up and down for me. While there are aspects I loved, there also seemed to be just as many that I didn't enjoy.

I'll start with what I loved: the characters. Characters are the core element to any good book. If you don't have interesting ones, then the rest is all going to fall apart. I will say Violet, while I definitely didn't hate her, was my least favorite character. And, yes, I know that she is our mc, so that should bother me. It doesn't. Maybe that's because we get so much of the other characters. I loved each and every monster in this story. And Anna? She brought the necessary lightness to this otherwise fairly dark tale. I think she was absolutely pivotal to me liking this book at all.

I also enjoyed the relationship between our monsters. They have YEARS of history between all of them. They seem to have settled into a nice rhythm, mainly trying to forget the existence of one another. Then Violet shows up. Now they are once again pulled into one another's orbit. The interaction between the monsters was by far the best part of this book.

And I have to mention how fucking gorgeous these covers are.

What I didn't like: This book is LONG. And very slow moving. I lost interest several times while reading. I felt like there were too many pages where the story didn't progress at all. I understand that Ms. Cunning is setting up a fantasy world here, and that takes time. However, I needed a bit more seeing, and a little less telling.

I read this back in April. I still haven't read the remaining books. I do plan on picking the series up again. Usually, when I wait this long to write a review, I re-read the book. I just skimmed this one. I had no interest in doing an entire re-read. For me, that is the most telling thing about this book.