Interesting concept, neat and novel magic system, mostly liked the character work. There’s some very endearing interactions, but I found the plot wildly inconsistent and it to have some serious middle book syndrome.

Even breaking up the court intrigue twice, it still felt very long, I think due to the dialogue work there. A plus was that I think he writes women fairly well. Not crazy about protagonists that are just naturally good at everything - but it’s somewhat balanced with putting her out of her element, which tied into her character arc. I just wish it wasn’t such a trudge with those parts is all.

It does make up for it in the last quarter-ish of the book, when things finally come to a head. It’s very awkwardly paced for a heist book, because it’s not really one. So I don’t know why you’d set those expectations so early. It’s way too early to get anything out of the subversion, imo. But yeah, I’m into it. Feels a bit like some new author problems so I’m hopeful about the next one. Though somewhat balk at it being even longer.

A strange thing about this is people don’t consider this YA. Just YA friendly? I consider it straight up YA and that’s where my expectations were. That is where they should be. Sentence structure, dialogue, and prose are YA. Short, sometimes clipped, simple, accessible—but not conceptually complex or purple/flowery. I can see why people who expected adult epic fantasy would be cold on this. Something to be aware of.