I started this book thinking I was just going to get a run of the mill dark possessive over protective love interest which, don’t get me wrong I love, but omg I got so much more. Honestly I kinda went in pretty blind I watched a TikTok with a quote from the sequel and said bet let’s do this and promptly got dumped into an insane fantasy world. Here’s my generic spoiler free review. 

The first quarter of this book admittedly took me a couple of tries to get through because of all the info dumping and confusing world building. I kinda just accepted things and pushed forward and omg I’m so glad I did. The middle of the book is where things really started to pick up and then the last third of this book just kept me GASPING at the twists. This book’s plot twists had plot twists, just one after another, I got whiplash. I had quite the enjoyable time with them. 

The love triangle could go either way for me. I don’t have strong enough feelings for one over the other but each has their moments that made me SWOON. I think a lot of the romance and tension comes more from the adventure and builds slowly in a way that was a nice change of pace from a lot of insta love/fated mates books I’ve been reading recently. I think proximity and shared struggles is the simplest way to fall in love and Isla’s adventures with the love interests gradually develop her affection towards them at similar paces that makes it harder to choose. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book immensely and had a lot of fun with it. It was very entertaining despite some confusing world building and start-stop pacing at times. If you look too closely, there are some plot holes which may get cleared up in the sequel or not, honestly I’m not too bothered by them. I wasn’t expecting too much to begin with I just wanted something entertaining. Think of this story like getting that good chisme from a friend. Important points and characters only, just enjoy the ride. The writing is not beautiful poetry by any means because that wouldn’t fit the theme of this book. It’s the story of a young sometimes naive girl with uncertain yet immense outside pressure to succeed for the greater good despite her limited knowledge. I think the writing does its job fairly well and I’ve certainly read worse. Besides, I always love supporting Latine/POC fantasy authors because there is nowhere near enough out there!