I am a sucker for Hades/Persephone retellings, and this one got me. For the entirety of the book you’re not really sure who the true villain is since you are only seeing the perspective of one character, Nyx. Her two main traits are that she is stubborn and conniving. When she finds out she is essentially being married off to an evil demon, she isn’t so much surprised as she is angry and ready to put up a fight to kill him when she gets the chance. Her first meeting with Ignifex is one of my favorite parts of the book because you get a good read of his personality. He’s charming and ancient and you can tell that he has a certain expectation of what Nyx will be like and is pleasantly surprised by what he finds. He seems to be particularly interested in her compared to his other wives. I assumed that was because most of them didn’t live for very long and he had never actually fallen in love with any of them. Nyx to me is a very complex character that serves as a good first person narrator for the story because her lack of knowledge on everything that is happening and her own character flaws help to make her more relatable. It is rare to have a main character like her that openly expresses feeling resentment, envy, and even jealousy, especially for her own family members at times. It gives Nyx a more human edge. I think what I loved most about the romance with Ignifex is that he knew that she felt all things and openly expresses that he loved her anyway. Usually romances in a lot of novels only focus mostly on the positive traits of both partners in the relationship, but this relationship felt more balanced to me in the sense that the flaws of each character were acknowledged openly. 

Ignifex is enslaved to his masters and forced to commit evil deeds, but despite his lack of culpability in doing them, he is still doing some damage there. This is what makes Nyx struggle with the conflicting emotions she has. On one hand, she wishes to protect her family and her people, and on the other she is in love with the demon that is supposed to be her enemy. Ignifex does have moments where he shows that underneath his more intimidating exterior, he does not which to be the bringer of evil he has been condemned to be. Nyx’s complexity is also demonstrated by her concern for her sister while at the same time feeling a sense of resentment towards her and the rest of her family. 

On the downside, this is not a book I would recommend in general, solely because I don’t think it caters to the general public. Much of the romance is more than anything else implied and it is difficult to tell how much time has passed when Nyx is imprisoned with Ignifex. For some people I’m sure their romance would come off as insta-lovey. I will be the first one to condemn insta-love in a book, but in this case the book doesn’t feel insta-lovey to me. I believe it has to do with the fact that Ignifex and Nyx spend a good amount of time together with no one else but each other and they learn about the worst parts of each other reasonably quickly, something that in a long term relationship usually wouldn’t be revealed into much later. The depth of their relationship I think makes up for any shortage of time it feels like they have together. The one part that did bother me a bit is how quickly Nyx seemed to become interested in Shade, though. He was the only person who from the beginning was outwardly kind to her, but I couldn’t see very clearly why that led up to their first kiss and pseudo romantic attachment. I couldn’t tell if it was just Nyx’s way of getting information she needed or if she liked him romantically. However, overall, this is a book I highly enjoyed despite any flaws.