I have ... no idea how to rate this? Or how to review it? I’m still in shock, honestly.

This book was wild, and really strange and unsettling and disturbing but also really heart aching at times and meaningful. I really liked Vassa (even though she made me want to scream at times) and connected to her character pretty deeply. Some stuff I need to think about more cause I just really did not get it the first time reading, especially how things worked out with her memories of her mother (???). But the book was so weird that it was riveting from start to finish (though I maintain that the prelude should have been left out because we learn in three pages everything the book tells us in the next hundred pages). Excuse me, but I’m going to go shower now and think about darkness and roses. Go get this book if you want to be perturbed, disturbed, and lost in thought for the next eight years.

Well, that was rude. *glares at the last few pages of this novel*

I don't really know how to review this. I listened to it on audio, and the narrator was /phenomenal/. I think I might have been confused while reading this if I had just been reading it physically. It was really long, and kind of slow, but I was never bored. Gideon was just such an engaging narrator. She was so snarky and funny and witty. I loved being in her head.

And the enemies to lovers arc? Perfection.

I have mixed feelings about the ending. My heart is a puddle. But I will be for sure following the rest of Muir's works. She's such a skilled writer, and the dynamics she created with this large cast were so well done! I didn't get anyone mixed up, really. They were all such strong characters.

Like I said, idk how to review this. I'm kinda all over the place. Just go read it. You won't regret it. (Highly recommend the audio book!)