I feel so conflicted. On one hand, this is probably the best trials based fantasy book I’ve read in a while. On the other, I feel like the magic system in world building could’ve used work. The system didn’t make much sense, at least with respect to Lotte, who should’ve been able to do magic without the use of her blood. I also couldn’t picture how the circles/district worked. Also, it felt like a blend of modern and fantastical, because cars and yachts and magical charmed devices exist, but the knights are still using swords? 

As for the POV‘s, I loved Nora‘s self-awareness, her love and loyalty to those closest to her, and looking back, at the way, we get insight into how her mom raised her. Lotte was annoying at first, but I actually ended up loving her so much. I don’t think Theo‘s or August’s POV‘s were needed to be honest. Theo felt like the classic “my family or my honor” archetype and August was too much of a blank slate for me to feel any real sort of emotion about him. I will be reading book 2 when it comes out though.