all fucking no substance which is fine but I didn’t really love the prose either. 

This was not what I expected it to be, but I enjoyed it! 

In the first third or so, I was convinced this was actually YA. You have a younger character learning about herself, coming of age, discovering her place in the world & trying to make it better, plus just making any and all terrible decisions along the way. BUT, in the second half, things got more political, darker, and by the end our main character finally had some growth & development. I was really happy with where it ended and I want to read book 2! 

For fans of The Foxglove King but slower paced and more queer (so much toxic sapphic yearning, plus a gay couple as one of the main side characters). Tons of political intrigue, religious trauma, parental issues, and a mysterious Death that is NOT the love interest (thank you and also curse you romantasy for the brain rot that has conditioned me to expect that). I loved the raven side kick too. 

I did spend a good chunk of this book debating DNFing but I’m actually quite glad I pushed through. 

I can’t really explain why the latte shop in this book feels like cultural appropriation and yet…. 

this is just the struggle of capitalism except the fantasy is now you’re the small business owner instead of the employee. it’s found family except they aren’t family, they are your employees who you “treat like their family” (but with the power to fire them? idk) 

near-future climate fic where humanity is at war with (trying to make peace with?) humans who have been genetically altered to be more able to handle extreme conditions on earth. A sapphic romance subplot but very minor. 
This is book 1 in a series. Starts slow but has various action scenes throughout, and ends on quite a cliffhanger. I wish we had gotten a lot more from the Altered POV; what’s their society? What are their politics? There are hints of radicalized groups but not a lot of detail. I also was curious why the humans in this book didn’t seem to be suffering any ill effects of a climate-ravaged world (other than lack of farmable land/food shortages/money issues) since that’s the whole point of why Altereds were created. I’d also like to see more deconstruction of the whole military angle, since clearly an organization accepting 12 year old marines can’t be the good guys. Presumably there will be more details in the next book.