this was a dark, intense, political drama fantasy novel. fun magical forest vibes! magic entertwined with faith and religion! i really enjoyed Ava Reid's writing style (very descriptive .. lots of similies!) and felt that the world building throughout the book was done in a smooth and clear way. it is a mostly slow-paced read. i'm Jewish, and I think this is the first time i've read a fantasy book drawing from Jewish mythology. so that felt .. pretty awesome. the moments when evike connects with her father and his religion were very clearly written with love. a point of frustration was the incredibly poor decision making of our two main characters (but i'm sure other readers won't care a bit or will even enjoy watching MCs flail!). the enemies-to-lovers romance subplot was a little funky at times (Évike is strangely obsessed with gaspar's "purity"). but then later in the book, the romance was SO well done.