I didn’t know anything about this book except that everyone was talking about it. I didn’t want to miss out and jumped on the opportunity to read this.

I’m going to be honest and tell you that I struggled with the first 35% of this book. I was at a crossroads of stopping or pushing on. Thankfully, I jumped into a Twitter discussion and was told to keep going. I’m glad I did because it was worth it. The plot of this book is slow-moving. Keep that in mind if you are a plot-driven person – It is so very slow. Swan has some great prose and once I to used to his writing style I had a hard time putting this down. I’ve seen a few people talk about the world being kind of similar to ours and I think that rings true here. There’s not a lot of world-building, which works for the most part. There’s magic but it’s only lightly touched on. I would have liked a little more here but maybe that’s for later.

One of the things I found interesting is the way this story is told. It’s a retelling of events, written by the much older clerk to the Justice. We are getting the story through her experiences from the past. I really enjoyed her perspective and thoughts about Vonvalt’s actions. On the flip side, I think I would have enjoyed this much more if we would have gotten Vonvalt’s POV too. It was an interesting choice and it works for the most part. Even though we are getting Helena’s story, Volvant definitely steals the show. Another reason I would have loved his POV.

“’The wise man arms himself with knowledge before a sword.’”

All the characters in this book are what I loved most about this book. I attached to them all so quickly and was on the edge of my seat. I was hoping and praying that they would get out of this alive. Did they? I can’t say but it’s stressful! I found myself going through so many emotions when it came to each of their journeys.

While I struggled with the beginning of the book, I had the opposite issue with the end of it. I had a hard time putting it down. Events start to take off and so many impactful moments that you can’t stop. I love how we start in one place morally and then start to cross into a more gray area. It makes you think and it makes me excited for a sequel.

“Empires are built and maintained with words. Swords are a mere precedent to the quill.”

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I struggled with a good chunk of it but once we got past a lot of the legal jargon, things take off. There’s a lot that happens in the end that has me wanting more. Swan makes some choices that kind of come full circle and are brilliant. Although I didn’t completely love this book, I think that there’s a strong start here, and I’m excited to see what comes next.

Many thanks, to Orbit, for providing me an e-arc of this book to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.