2.5 stars. Its a beginner's book. Not bad. I honestly liked the first section best and didn't finish this. Once we get to basically pages of correspondences and then pages of recipes it became uninteresting to me. I am not brand new to that information. I skimmed a bit and there was very little new info that I don't have in other books. Some stuff was clearly not her area, for example the info about the sun and moon moving through the signs sounded like she was guestimating when that info is easily available online. Even randoms on the street know that. I really appreciated the info about connecting and finding harmony with your local area with some basic how-to's as that was new to me. But overall 2/3rds of this book was another witch's herbal.

Hmm, I didn't like this as much as the short stories oddly enough. This felt strung out for no reason. Nowhere near enough Geralt. He got 2 scenes in his POV and maybe one other where he was there. Ciri's POV was interesting and well written. But I wasn't expecting all these other people to be telling the story. And not really telling but carrying us along for the ride as if we're in their pockets and can see what they're talking about. Dandelion wasn't so bad. Neither was the opening with all these random people of different races. The worst was the Kings and Queen. Its a slog through politics and war plans that crops up unexpectedly filled with names, titles and locations I know nothing about. So it was confusing. Honestly, after that I was ready to give up on this series. But the scene immediately following which was one of Geralt's and ending section with Ciri and Yennefer redeemed it a bit. This would have been 1 star otherwise. I may be able to get through the next book now that I'm aware of the writing style.

I really liked this one. Naasir is fun. His origin story while original was kind of hard to believe. How he got Andromeda out of her vow was a bit too easily done for my tastes. The chemistry between him and Andromeda was great though. I also like the not quite backdrop of all the archangel politics and maneuvering. After the past few books the idea that things can get worse and the world is in for even bigger changes is mind boggling. I can't wait to find out how things turn out for Illium, how the cadre is going to function with 2 ancients now, how Raphael will evolve and how can they all get rid of Lijuan cause she needs to be well and truly killed.

I might bump this up to 5 stars once I get a bit of time. But I loved this. I think Sanderson is officially a fave author of mine. I was not expecting the very last twist at all. I had all kinds of theories but it hit me in just the right way. I love all the characters as has come to be the trend with the Sanderson books I've read this year. Everyone has depth and motive and complexities in their personalities and emotions. The world and the magic system is interesting and unique. And we are just getting started!! I cannot wait to find out about this Deepness business.

1st reread, I think. Why did I reread this? Its been awhile and I've started to catch up on the currently published books that I haven't read in this series. But I realized there was some stuff I didn't remember about Elena's childhood. Turns out there a bunch of foundational stuff I didn't remember as well.

I'd give this a 4 stars now because I'm not as enamored by Raphael as when I first read this. The world is still really interesting. A new twist on some old tropes. Plus, I still haven't come across such unique ideas for angels. I still think the love story is relatively realistic though too.

Loved it. Nice to get back to Elena and Raphael focus. And really great to get more of Elena's history. Also, lots of Aodhan which we haven't really had before. I love the friendship between him and Illium and how he is healing and growing closer to Elena.