I'm going to start off by saying that I went into this book completely unaware that it was tied to the author's other series, the Winner's trilogy, which I haven't read. This made me somewhat worried that I would be missing out on certain details or inside information that would help me understand the world better but, given the setting of an isolated island that has forgotten its own history, I actually was able to get along quite well. It makes sense that this story would have somewhat sparse world building since the characters themselves have very little clue of how their society came to be, just that it was always this way. The class system was especially interesting and dark at times, what with the Half Kith sacrificing literal body parts to get out of jail time and just the whole situation with the High Kith, which sucked me more and more into the mystery behind this world.

However, there were a lot of moments when this mystery took a back seat to the romance between Nirrim and Sid and I wish we got a deeper look into it by the time the book ended. By the end, we're given the answers, but not much time to settle with and examine them. But I suppose that's what sequels are for. As for the romantic aspect of the book, it's okay. I'm very lukewarm on it, it wasn't bad, but neither did it blow me away. It's great to see more sapphic romances in YA, but this particular one didn't stand out to me for some reason.

The pacing as well was a little wonky in the first half. There were moments that stretched on a bit too long, like if chapters were combined or condensed it probably would have flowed a bit better, but thankfully this problem disappeared by the second half, though I would also say the ending came on too quickly. It overall came off as uneven, though it wasn't enough to put me off the book entirely.

Originally I was debating on whether or not I would continue this series, but that hesitation immediately went away once I finished the book. The last two chapters really throw a lot at you and you really can't help but wonder at what happens next and where the characters will be the next time we see them. Dang it, sucked into another series, foiled by my own curiosity!