A very enjoyable middle grade read with excellent fall vibes! I loved the overall concept of the book, two brothers being unwilling apprentices-in-training to Death and Memory, while a suspicious death in the town sends a member of a rival family into an investigation to who, or what, is truly behind it. I really liked the softcore spooky feeling the book has, which is to be expected when Death is literally hanging over the shoulders of the characters. It did take a while for the action to pick up, but when it did it was flying straight through.

I did find Gretchen a little overbearing and entitled at times, though she became somewhat more likable towards the latter half of the book. The romance aspect was kind of shoehorned in, the focus was more on the families themselves and the dynamics within them, thereby making that plot somewhat tacked on just for the sack of "conventional kid's media trope." Still, I had fun reading it and would definitely recommend it as a worthwhile fall read.

As someone who loves Uprooted and has a decent respect for Spinning Silver, I'm surprised I didn't really gel with this book. Novik has a way of creating compelling plots with rich character dynamics and worldbuilding, but this one just felt a bit...much. The first handful of chapters are major exposition dumps, which would have been fine if that information was more evenly spaced out with dialogue or more action. There were many times where my eyes just glazed over and I couldn't for the life of me take any more input because so much was being thrown at me, to the point where I had questions about the world that were probably answered but I couldn't remember them because it came along with so much other information.

One question being, and I'm sure this was answered somewhere, why the hell would anyone allow their child to go to this death school? I think there was a bit about the survival rate being higher in the school than learning magic outside where mals could get them even easier, but seeing as the school is in a constant state of disrepair and the other students are just as ready to kill you as the mals, does it even really matter? 

I thought El was an interesting character, she reminds me a lot of Sarkan from Uprooted in a way, extremely grumpy and acerbic, but a little bit more amiable to those she eventually cares about. I wouldn't say she's completely unlikable, more like her personality makes sense once you consider her background and possibly destiny. 

Orion, on the other hand, feels so much like milquetoast in comparison. He's your standard hero who feels like it's his duty to save everyone and I don't know, he just felt a little shallow. Maybe he'll get a little more development in the sequel. 

The themes of classism were interesting and I think I may pick up the sequel just to see where that particular plot thread goes. Personally, I'm hoping for anarchy. 

On the whole, this may be the weakest Novik book I've read, just because it seems so much more dense than the others. So much time is devoted to being in El's head, given her solitary nature, and with the first person perspective it really bogs down the pace of the story. Here's hoping the next installment is a bit more evened out.

Every Bradbury story is a gem and this one is no different. It's nostalgic, warm, heartbreaking, tense, reflective and just all around magical. The book itself feels like a bottle of dandelion wine, ready to give readers a taste of a truly memorable summer all year long.