I’m super happy that I decided to reread this book. It’s not something I typically do, but this book was definitely worth it. I should probably mention that even on my 2nd read of this book, Sarkan is still my favorite character. There is something I need to get off of my chest, though. I know that The Dragon in this story gets a lot of hate and some people even put him in the category of being abusive. I vehemently disagree. I think it is important to distinguish when a male character is a jerk and when he is actually abusive. If anything it is really harmful to people who are actually in abusive relationships to use the label so lightly. It diminishes the importance of being able to recognize the signs of an abusive relationship. I appreciate Sarkan as a character because he is both consistent and interesting. He isn’t just a jerk to Agniezka, he’s cold and very Simon Cowell to people in general. He is ancient and wise because of the experiences he has had in the past. Despite looking so young he has seen an entire kingdom fall and has been in a serious romantic relationship in the past which is probably why he is so hard set on not having people get too close to him. In his mind everyone is a passerby with a much shorter life span that will die way before him or otherwise leave him. After all, that’s what they’ve all done until Agniezka. He comes off as someone who doesn’t care when if anything he is the one who cares most about what The Wood is doing to current kingdom he is in. Hear me out, this man who is part of a group of magic users that are few and far between could have given up a century ago on fighting The Wood. He could choose to keep his power to himself and not train anyone in what he knows. Instead he limits himself to working under a king who he believes to be a fool and spending his free time putting up wards to protect people. He even goes to rescue Agniezka and the villagers when she escapes the tower risking his life in the process. The more we get to know what he has been through the more it is clear that he attempts to isolate himself from everyone because he does not feel that anyone can relate to him and most people will eventually leave anyway. It’s a mask for his defense mechanism. 

 Agniezka is also an interesting character because she is able to think outside of the box in ways that Sarkan has not before, despite his vast experience. The scene where she is able to perform a spell that he thought useless was great. He’s lived such a long time and knows how to work his magic so well and is so surprised when this young girl is able to do something he has never been able to figure out. Within their relationship there is some sense of admiration that they have for one another. Sarkan has probably never been quite so intrigued by any of his other students before which is why he feels so strange about the feeling he develops for Agniezka. He at first seems to think of her as someone incompetent because she’s clumsy and comes off as pretty clueless. It’s nice to see that she ends up surprising him in so many ways. It also comes to show that there is more to her than meets the eye. She isn’t useless, and proves her worth and has the determination that many other people that have been fighting the Wood for decades lack. I think that her role in the story is to administer that extra push against all odds to be able to defeat the curse that has haunted many kingdoms for decades. 

It is also really nice to see Agniezka’s relationships with other people. She is an excellent juxtaposition against Sarkan’s isolation. She cares about the people she has grown up with and it shows through her friendship with Kasia as well as the people in her family that she interacts with. Agniezka risks her own well being and goes against warnings given to her to rescue her friend as well as her village. It displays explicitly how connected she feels to the people around her which is the opposite of the way Sarkan is presented. Sarkan seems distant towards everyone around despite also taking major risks to save them when things get gritty. It’s ironic because they both care deeply about people, but Agniezka is a lot more impulsive and expressive about her feelings than he is. I think that’s also why I think they balance each other out pretty well. I do like the romance between them in the book because despite Sarkan not being overly expressive about his feelings, there was enough time spent with them together to merit the relationship, I think. At the end of the day, Sarkan is a lot more prickly on the outside than the inside. I can understand that he won’t be appealing as a love interest for most people, but I know people in real life that like Sarkan have trouble expressing what they actually feel, so maybe I just see a side of him that’s appealing to me that isn’t as clearly visible in general. I mean, the man was so afraid of his feelings for Agniezka that he feels the need to go off on a “mission” to get away. Even when he comes back he comes up with some absurd excuse for why he came back, but it’s clear that it was because of Agniezka. Overall, this is a very enjoyable fantasy fairy tail inspired book that I’m sure to reread again in the future.