I had to DNF this at 16% because I don’t hate myself enough to keep reading. The writing is absolutely terrible and, while the story could use some tweaking, the writing is what made me quit reading. I quite literally stopped in the middle of a chapter, in the middle of a sex scene even, and the writing was such a chore to read that I had no desire to even finish the scene, let alone the chapter. I would encourage literally everyone to read practically anything else and save yourself the effort of trying to read this. Every other sentence feels like it’s in a competition with itself to land in a “Family Guy Funny Moments” video clip, and the other half is spent telling you what’s going on in the story as opposed to writing about what’s going on. Combining these two things made it a herculean effort to even read as far as I did. 

The “demons” in this book are nothing more than overly sexy regular looking men, who sometimes have demon forms. Their talking with one another is cheap, vulgar, and the way they talk about women is disgusting - making it even worse that one of them is the main love interest in this book. Not to mention that the main male love interest has a curse that makes “anyone who would be attracted to him not be” and they ignore him - and yet, he’s said he’s had sex with women before, despite them not being attracted to him. Now, I’m no expert, but it really sounds like this book, multiple times mind you, is tiptoeing around him assaulting women for his own pleasure. If not, it doesn’t make it clear enough that that’s not the case.

I also had difficulty getting into the “lust at first sight” thing, when it’s stated that the main guy is a lust demon, so since Eva can see him then she has practically no option but to be sexually interested in him and finding him hot. It’s not a legitimate connection at all, and it also has some uncomfortable implications for the other demons in this book having sex with women. It makes the reader consider that none of these women are actually saying yes to having sex with these men, only that their demonic traits are so attractive that they have no choice but to be insanely attracted to them and wanting to have sex with them. So…it’s, essentially, not their choice at all. 

See, this? THIS made me question whether or not she even was attracted to him. Because this makes it seem like maybe she wouldn’t have been attracted to him, and that that is why she ‘is’! She’s not “seeing through the curse” - the curse is still working as intended, and normally she wouldn’t have been interested. Except now she is. And she doesn’t have a choice about it.

And granted. I KNOW that that’s not the intent. But, this is what I mean when I saw the very nature of them being lust demons sends a potential wrench in things, because I shouldn’t even be worried that the attraction the main woman leads is being coerced from her. And yet, that was my first thought. 

We also get to fall into the classic “men are horndogs and women aren’t supposed to be promiscuous or to feel horny, because that’s a ‘man thing.” Yikes. I know this book was originally written a few years ago, but you’d think such poor beliefs and thoughts would have been edited out for a 2025 re-release. 

Also, the word (I use this loosely) “fucknut” is on the literally first page, and it only got worse from there. 

The main love interest goes by both Asmodeus and Ash, which is fine, but there are many times where both names are used on the same page! As if they’re two different people! Surely this could have been more tightly edited to at least have him using one name during the same situation. 

ASH AND ASMODEUS ARE THE SAME PERSON. I noticed this because, up until now, Ash was pretty much only going as Ash, and then, after that one time of Asmodeus, he goes BACK to being called Ash within the narrative. 

The entire section in the middle where Eva calls her “not a normal mom, I’m a cool mom” parents could have been edited a bit better, as well. As it was, it felt a little off that she not only tells her mom that she thinks she saw a demon, but internally she’s glad her mom wouldn’t suggest something like - oh, I don’t know - seeing a doctor and possibly needing medication. The horror! Eva also calls it “the shrink” in a disparaging way when she asks if she should see someone about her mental health. 

Lovely. I personally adore it when mental health and needing medication is a joke. 

Not to mention her mom fearmongering about GMO’s during this conversation, and Eva agreeing that “the chemicals in processed food” could have caused her to hallucinate. That’s not what GMO’s are, but okay. 

Finally, this has nothing to do with anything else, but I found it a bit…uncomfortable…that the main woman lead works at a jazz club and yet spends the entire first chapter insulting the music that is playing at the club she performed at - trap music. And I understand, both are very different genres, but when both of those genres originated from black communities in the American South it seems an odd choice to disparage one and venerate the other. 

And finally, just two quotes I couldn’t help but include because they fully made me stop and question what the actual hell I was wasting my time with reading. This book, single-handedly, made me change my mind about generally not rating books that I DNF, because the fact that this book has such a high rating makes me lose my mind. I knew we were in a literacy crisis, but I genuinely don’t wish to believe so many people are so illiterate that they would not only be able to finish reading this affront to literature, but then have the desire to rate it highly. 

But first, coffee! Sigh.

We could’ve just deleted this entire paragraph and saved me the difficulty of having to read it. That would have been nicer to my eyes, personally. 

 DNF at 51%. I may finish reading this book at some point, since the sections that happen in the past with the three sisters on their island I find interesting, but nothing else about the plot has kept me engaged enough to want to continue. Plenty of other people have mentioned the glaring lack of native Americans present during the scenes that take place in Roanoke - and yet there are plenty of mentions of massacres of native peoples as well as those taken to be enslaved - so I won’t go too in-depth with that here. In all honesty, that issue is not why I decided to stop reading this book. I just could not get over how poorly I felt the plot of the two locations in this book were stitched together. 

The scenes on the island felt natural, and I did enjoy the ability to see the passing of time based on the names and outfits of the sailors - as compared to the siren sisters who are stuck in one place and from the time they were banished. However, once the main sister washes ashore on Roanoke, I felt like the plot fell apart entirely. You would have me believe that these people simply believed that a woman, by herself in a boat surrounded by treasure, washed ashore and their response was to simply believe that she is actually a princess looking for a husband? Huh? This part felt so poorly formulated I was in disbelief when her plan had come to light, because it seemed absolutely wild that anyone would ever believe this story - and especially not a bunch of godly people living in the harshness of the New World. Everything that happened during the “Now” parts felt unrealistic and like it only existed to make the story move forward.

I also found the story to be oddly told - with only bits and pieces being shown to us as we read, and yet already kicking off the plot with the much later actions. The entire reason Thelia is at Roanoke is because, apparently, she was told by Proserpina that she could reverse their curse if “she had more blood” but. That’s it. I don’t know how she was the one chosen to go to Roanoke, how they decided on the plan to shove her in a boat with treasure, how or when they were changed back into humans, nothing. And I would like to clarify that yes, I know I haven’t finished this book, but I feel like those are very reasonable plot questions that should have been answered earlier and when they were occurring. Especially about the boat with the treasure, or why Thelia was chosen, or why she chose the ridiculous reasoning for her presence that she did. Once again, I stopped reading because I felt like half of the plot was so poorly held together it stretched the imagination past believability. 

I also felt like the “romance” that was presented in this book was uncomfortable. The entire reason our main character is attracted to the woman that she is is because she, apparently, looks exactly like her former love of Proserpina - and for no other reason. Every description of the woman forces us to be reminded that she is only interested in her because of someone else, and never by her own merits. In my opinion, as the “romance” progressed and we see the beginnings of the love interest being attracted to the main character, I was rooting for her to NOT be because she deserved better than to just come as a runner-up to someone Thelia has been in love with for millenia. 

This book also goes to great lengths to show us how every man in this world is cruel and evil, and how our main character cannot talk to a single one without thinking about how he should be killed. Practically every woman in this book is shown to be trapped and unhappy with her lot in life, and every man is shown to be completely happy doing the trapping. I’m not saying that plenty of women weren’t oppressed during this time, but - even for the scenes outside of Roanoke - we cannot get one single mention of a man without the negative commentary about his actions or personality, even if he hasn’t actually done anything by that point. Instead, we (within the mind of the main character) are simply waiting for him to prove our disdain, every single time. It got extremely tiring and repetitive after a while. 

I think this book could have captured my attention better if it had done a better job of using its location properly (it seems odd to specifically mention how you, as the author, didn’t feel like it was your place to write native American characters and then use Roanoke as a location), or improve the plot and characterization. The idea of Greek sirens being the reason for the disappearance of the colony at Roanoke I think could have been interesting, but the way this was written was not and required a lot of suspension of disbelief that kept taking me out of the story. I also felt like the storytelling format fell flat, where decisions would be made and we (as the reader) had no understanding or reasoning behind them - which, when so many of those same decisions were rather absurd - having an ounce of reasoning would have, potentially, helped keep me in the story. 

Also. Why the Roman names for everyone? Odd choice.

I think I may have to DNF this book at about the 42% mark. There were a few things that didn’t work for me, but notably the first thing that caught me off guard is that the race of slaves described in this book are all lighter-skinned than those who own them - and this is mentioned quite a few times. I only found one other review mentioning the possible racism in this book, and really tried to continue reading to give the book a fair chance since this isn’t a large author or publisher(*this statement isn't true, but I found out later), but I do want to include this in my review so no other readers are caught off guard. I really think this book should have at least one, or a few, sensitivity readers added to it before the final product, as I think the concept of this book could be good if we removed the uncomfortable undercurrent of racism running throughout it. 

I tried to continue reading past this initial point without too much judgment, hoping that it was just shaky worldbuilding, but this specific trait kept coming up. It also feels a bit odd that so many named characters are intentionally described as being “mixed” and this being obvious by their lighter skin, and that so many of the antagonists in this book are not. I’m not saying this was intentional, but it just didn’t sit right with me that an entire race of people - quite literally called “The Peaceful People” - live in forests, have no words for war, and are regularly enslaved by those with darker skin than them because they’re too peace-loving to fight back. It just feels like a really weird combination of the “noble savage” trope, as well as the idea that light-skin is somehow related to morality. 

After the first part that specifically mentioned a character’s darker skin forcibly relating him to the literal race of slave-owners - the first mention of skin color in this book - it caught me so off guard that I started highlighting every mention of skin color after this point. 

–
I’m reading this book as an advanced copy, so any quotes I’m including are subject to change or not be included in the final product. However, they were in my copy so I’m relating them here. 

“Rif-Atten was <i>nearly as dark as a Ninelander </i>[group of people keeping the U-ru-ku as slaves], but he was U-ru-ku through and through, and eager to prove that fact <i>because of his coloring.</i>” - 3%

"'Are you part U-ru-ku or Chean?' Morrigan asked, noting his slightly <i>light-toned skin</i>. He was certainly <i>dark enough, </i>but surely there was more in his blood than upper-kingdom stock." - 9%

“All the slaves are fetched, that’s why they’re <i>so pale and fair. Bleached,</i> they are. <i>Without color or substance. </i>You can practically <i>see through them.”</i>

"Loren noticed the large man had just had a haircut. A thin strip of <i>pale skin </i>ringed his neck on an otherwise <i>deeply and carefully darkened complexion."</i>

The king (described with <i>”dark skin and hair -”</i>) who the enslaved woman at the beginning of this book was over twice her age when he bought her at 15. I’m mostly including this due to the fact that this isn’t the first time one of the people in this slave-owning society (remember, they all have dark skin) is attracted to or enters a sexual relationship with someone younger than them. It never says with the second person if the age is as concerning as a 15 year old, but it’s implied this second relationship is consensual despite the power imbalance. (There’s also a prince who marries and then assaults a girl of 16 (who is described as being as light as the race of slaves, even!) later in the book. This is seen as bad within the narrative of the book, but the visual of a violent darker skinned man assaulting a white woman didn’t help my initial feelings of unchecked racism within this book).
 
Mentioning the other man having an inappropriate sexual relationship with one of those of the enslaved race:

“You see, Senalin? He may have lived among the most egregious of slavers, but he doesn’t judge you for <i>your light skin. Rather, he judges me for robbing the cradle.”</i> -10%

–
Now, the undercurrent of racism throughout wasn’t the only thing that put me off from this book, but it did sour the rest of my reading experience and make me less willing to forgive other slights and mistakes. I got the entirety through part one, and I felt not only were there too many POV characters, but that their chapters were mixed and included in a strange way. Timelines are all over the place, with one chapter happening and then another chapter either occurring before or after this chapter, but with no way to tell one way or the other. And then these two competing timelines would fight with each other, and so in the end I simply had no idea what was going on. This is not the final draft of this book, so it’s possible that the final product will add a timeline to each chapter heading, but since mine did not have one I was never certain who was doing what at any given time. 

I also felt like there was almost no explanation within this book to tell you what was going on. Brand new words and concepts would just appear and be spoken about, with not even an internal definition or any way for the reader to figure out what these characters were talking about. There is a page that gives character names, and while I believe a glossary would have not been amiss, practically every fantasy book I’ve read (even those with a glossary) usually give a brief in-world definition of new terms to allow the reader to easily follow along. I’m not asking to be info-dumped at every given moment, but I feel like this book went too far in the opposite direction to the point that I was reading entire chapters without understanding what was going on, what these worlds meant, or how it was even relevant. 

I think this, combined with how clunky the writing and dialogue itself was at times, that finally made my decision to stop reading entirely. Much of the writing itself felt awkwardly phrased, and concepts were written about in a very awkward fashion, that at many times it took me out of the story itself. 

For instance, this was one of the first times that made me quite literally pause and reread what I just read, as it was so awkwardly written.

<i>“Sky’s face was passive. It’s not that she didn’t feel compassion, only that she had been trained in the Queensguard to cycle through such emotions quickly and without conscience. Sometimes Morrign felt a twinge of guilt about that.

‘The threat of war has done what nothing else ever has, then?’ Morrigan said and her guilty thoughts quickly turned to worry. She, too, had served a term in the Queensguard before her mother died and she had been forced to rise to the throne. And as such, Morrigan had been trained to cycle through emotions as rapidly as Sky had.”</i>

There are quite a few sections with information this awkwardly included, but this was the first and most noticeable that I had to make a note of. As I continued to read, I just tried to focus on reading/finishing the book rather than continuing to make notes as it wound up not being conducive to attempting to finish reading. 

Finally, the characterization of a few of the women in this book kind of felt sexist-adjacent “not like other girls” to me - which isn’t the biggest issue, but since I’m including my other reasons for not finishing this book I’m including it here. 

The Queen is described as only being in her 30s, and yet, somehow, this makes her “old enough” to not be “jealous” of Sky’s beauty. (Because all women are in competition with each other for looks, and for some reason being over 30 means you must be too old to care). The chapters that included both the Queen and/or Sky were very awkward at points, and at times it felt like the author was speaking to me, directly, about how women are just as capable as men. It felt less like worldbuilding and more like “inserting strong female characters into this sexist world to be better than the men, haha!” 

The last instance of this before I quit reading, was when Sky seemingly took over an outpost and “figured all that out in less time than it takes most men here to find the shitter.” Not that competence isn’t realistic, but it is unrealistic for her to be seemingly great at everything she does without effort. Her entire character just felt very “the way Marvel writes strong women,” as opposed to anything else.

I’ll end my writing women rant with two quotes I highlighted when we met the Queen, here. 

<i>“A fetching knitting needle, as if those who wished her dead felt they needed to mock her for being a woman. It still irked Morrigan to think about. Especially since she had no idea how to knit in the first place.” </i> Ah, yes. Only weak women knit. 

<i>”The misogynists and slavers were aligning, and it wouldn’t be long before they collapsed upon her.”</i> - I’m mostly including this one, because it is insane to me to equate being sexist with owning literal human beings. 
–
Now, I’d be willing to continue this book and give it more of a chance - especially if some sensitivity readers are added to hopefully curb some of the (hopefully) unintentional racism throughout. I don’t think I’ll have time to come back to this book, to see how it ends or how I feel about it, however, since it was only available through the Netgalley app and not on my Kindle, so I may have to simply end my reading where I did. Despite my harsh review, I do think this book has a lot of potential, and that it could have come together in a very coherent and beautiful way that I just simply haven’t gotten to yet since I DNF’d it. There were quite a few parts I did enjoy reading, but unfortunately the rest of it was soured by my issues I wrote about above. I feel a bit bad about how harsh my review currently is, but like I stated before I didn’t want anyone else being caught off guard by the potential racism present from the first few pages, like it did to me. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Victory Editing for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

* I'd like to add that I was under the impression that this was an indie/small author, based on how I received this from Netgalley, the writing itself, as well as the author and book descriptions. I have since learned that this isn't true, but this belief did severely lighten my criticism within this book, as I was under the impression it was simply one person who may not have realized how harmful the ideas she had written were, and wanted to leave space open for it being addressed and corrected properly.
Also, when I had written my review, not a single other review mentioned the racism present in this book, and myself being white, I was worried that I was somehow imagining the harmful messages in this book or being overly sensitive, and was wary about overstepping in some way. Knowing what I know now, however, I absolutely would have been harsher in my criticism of the racist worldbuilding and would have not let multiple positive reviews to have me gaslight myself into not believing what I was reading in front of me. 
I'm leaving my review as I originally wrote it, but I did want to include some context for how softly I tried to critique this book, as well as addressing that I had not done my proper research on this author before (incorrectly) assuming it was an indie/small/debut author.