I've read quite a few Armentrout books over the years, and loved them all, but unfortunately this one just didn't meet my expectations. To be fair, it is definitely one of Armentrout's older works, and I can say with certainty she's grown a lot in the past 10 years, but there was just too much here I couldn't get over while listening.

The world itself was interesting enough, even if the plot felt predictable (at least in this book). I always love gods in stories, and this one seems to have a loose sort of attachment to the gods of this world that may come more into play later. I also found the system itself interesting, if not the most unique compared to some of the other fantasy novels I've read these past few years. Overall, I felt the book was good in these aspects, though not great.

My main issue had to be with the slut-shaming and girl on girl hate that took place within the book. Honestly I think this book was just a product of its times, but listening to some of the comments the MC made in 2020 felt weird and cringy often. There were so many moments where the characters talked about girls dressing like a slut, saying "No, I'm not a whore" and the like in relation to dressing/acting in certain ways, etc. The only other semi-important female character served to only be a way for more of these comments to come to light since the MC hated her with such a fierce passion (and for WHAT?), with the two just getting into frequent bouts of insulting and name-calling (often related to appearance and slut-shaming). On top of that, this book felt super gossipy at points, and while this is logical, it is sort of a high school, it was just tiring at points, and I was glad for the moments Alex was away from the students.

I'll still be continuing this series because I am intrigued by where it will go, and there are things Armentrout has done well here (Alex and Aidan's budding relationship, her interactions with the Apollyon, etc.), and I do feel the issues I have with the book might become better as the series ages, and as Alex pulls farther away from whole high school setting of the novel (which, while there is still a lot more to come, it does seem like we do eventually break from the school). Overall, I'm not sure if I can recommend this series yet, but I do still highly recommend Armentrout, and would push you to try the Blood and Ash series or the Lux series if you'd like to read her works!