Wonderful. This book goes into themes of justice, choice, and freedom deeper than most fantasy books will touch a single theme with a ten foot pole. The world will be well-loved by fans of steampunk subcultures, HP Lovecraft, Slavic/Egyptian/Other mythologies, and much more. The characters are believable and more complex than simple flat archetypes which I’m tired of seeing in fantasy. The vocabulary and grammar is high but it came off natural imho. Makes you question what it means to take away someone’s freedom of choice. Cw/ tw drugs, violence, gore, and rape.

This book was very difficult to get through at first. The character was extremely judgmental, especially towards other women, and she was, on the whole, not very likable. However, over time, the main character became more likable and various elements of the plot drew me in to the point where I couldn’t stop reading. This was a shock, since at first I wasn’t sure if I could finish the book or not. Going from a possible dnf to five stars is a big deal. What I will say is this-don’t come in to the story expecting a typical romance. Don’t come in to the story expecting a typical magical realism book or psychological book. Instead, come with no expectations except perhaps an open-mindedness and willingness to read past the first 30 pages or so. If you do, you won’t regret it. I’ve seen some people claim that this is a book about falling in love but it is more accurate to say that this is a book about self discovery or discovering meaning in one’s life.