This is a blood-soaked book. I have not read Damsel, although I've heard it's controversial. I'm not sure if it would have prepared me for this or not? It also has some of the more graphic sex scenes I've read in a YA book. The tense is second person. To me, a lot of these things should somehow combine to make a book that is hard to read and absorb. And at times, it is. And at times, the period talk is so frank that you are surprised, and then feel disappointment that something that happens to roughly 51% of the population is so shrouded in mystery. There was something about this book that reminded me of Rory Power's work, so I think those would be interesting to read in conjunction.