My favorite Hawk and Fisher book yet! I blew through the whole thing in one sitting because I was just so interested in seeing what happened next. I did kind of see the spy before the reveal, but there was plenty of tension nonetheless and Hawk and Fisher's confrontation kept me on the edge of my seat. Loved it.

I was really disappointed with this book because I could see that it had great potential, and the author had a good writing style and was an awesome world-builder. However, I just couldn't get past the ridiculous gender issues that this book does not manage to deal with. I was completely horrified with the plan to raise this child as a boy and then magically reveal her as a girl later in life. No one seemed to care how much that would upset the kid and cause gender dysphoria -- there's more concern about the father's best friend not knowing than there is about the kid. Once we hit the big reveal, the child was shocked and horrified, but the author immediately started using female pronouns. There may be some resolution of this problem in the other two books in this trilogy, but there's so much fail in this one that I won't be reading those. Interesting concept, terrible execution.

A dreamy fairytale of a book that kept me interested all the way through. Feels like a YA novel, but not in a bad way.

Great writing style and a fascinating plot, although I got a little lost in the middle and the ending falls a bit flat. Loved the strong women in their oppressive society and the fallout of women becoming mages.

The worldbuilding in this was wonderful and it really drew me in. I wasn't particularly fond of the first-person style but the narration was good nonetheless. I was disappointed that the ending was not a real ending (all books these days must be series, apparently) but even without the other books following, it was a good and satisfying end. The characters were crafted with great care and were quite believable as well.

This book was described to me as the female Dresden Files, and I have to agree. The sexism that I disliked in DF was almost completely absent here. There was a cast of fascinating characters and a sympathetic protagonist. The plot was fascinating and the world-building was too. I am definitely going to read more books in this series.

Although this book is at a lower reading level than I usually enjoy, it was still very good! I loved feisty Stephanie and her determination not to be a moppy boring protagonist, and Skulduggery was fun and funny too. Although the plot was a little open-and-close, it still kept me interested until the end, and the extra story at the end of the volume was a lot of fun too.

Quality lesbian fiction! Let me say it again: quality lesbian fiction! I have so much trouble finding good lesbian fiction because it all seems to be Harlequin romances with f/f pairings, but this book was nothing like that at all. The style and voice of the narrator felt extremely real -- it was difficult to believe the book was fiction! I liked that she was imperfect and got into messes and dealt with her problems, and the various settings and stories kept me intrigued all the way through. Definitely recommended.