Alright so this is a really fun light fantasy that pulls a lot of really commonly used and enjoyable tropes like the unknown chosen one with immense power, school for the magic and naturally a Victorian-ish setting and time.

So I read this via audiobook and I have to absolutely recommend this format. The narrators are fantastic and the comedic lines are delivered perfectly!

I am always a sucker for a girl finding the Draco of the school and then deciding to hang with her Ron and Hermione instead and then they stand together to defeat a great evil (Charmed anyone?). Sarah develops quite a bit over the story and I'm very curious to see what she'll do with her powers in the rest of the series but also how she'll help other changelings as well as how her friends will help her (and vice versa).

Okay so I'll admit, despite my love of Daughter of the Pirate King, I was a little thrown by how short this was when I got it considering it was a standalone. However, I've just realized that Levenseller's has this amazing ability to write concisely without underdevelopment the world and characters. The only thing I "didn't get" in this book was how her mother acted.

The mc definitely didn't have the humour of Alosa but she's just as likeable and is just as betrayed. Of you read the summary, you know she gets betrayed so I was immediately on the look out for it but it still shocked me!

The romance...is absolutely adorable and I love that it's secondary to her achieving her goal. She also isn't overly dramatic about the betrayal at the beginning to the point it affects all her relationships. She just has to get a better grasp of who and when to trust people.

I think it did lack a bit of the history element. Basically all we got was "she's a Viking" so you just...filled in the historical elements BUT...this was a little weird. There's a lot of modern sexist hierarchy in the societies which kind of threw me. I also immediately compared it mentally to The Valiant and Sky in the Deep which seemed to just have a stronger comprehension and infusion of that Viking culture.

I don't know how to explain this book other than "touching." It truly is a very different type of story and experience that Lillian goes through . The cultural and language I pact alone but then add I. Your mother, hovering Japanese soldiers, poverty and having to step up at 15 to take care of your sister who clearly has some disabilities...you just can't not feel for her. I loved how Lillian makes this effort to keep doing little things that remind her of home or her mom but then she also says "I can't remember my mom's name."

The pacing is relatively slow but consistent. For the most part, the book doesn't drag but instead takes its time taking the reader on this long timeline.

There's a little bit of heartbreak for me when I look back as a whole but thankfully nothing tore my heart out and left me to die which I find to be rare for WWII books but something I kinda need sometimes.

I can't exactly explain why but I really happy I own this book because I will absolutely reread it. It's quite unique from other WWII historical fictions that I've read and I could definitely see my views of Lillian's father changing with each read.

This is a hard one to rate so I'll sort of meet in the middle with a 3.5/5 stars.

It's sort of like a Moxie meets Henry VIII and his 6 wives. There were things I absolutely love love LOVED about this book:
1. Calling out of sexism
2. Checking men and women for slutshaming
3. Each of the women were well defined and distinctive enough that I didn't mix them up
4. The continuous addition of information causing the split in who Cleveland should believe. This specifically was done so well and gradually from the beginning
5. Cleveland's POV as a whole was consistent and solid.

My big hate? Why is Cleveland still friends with him?! It made no sense! He's a deplorable person even when he's got his "charm" on. This just kept bugging me. Especially when you have friends in both sides of arguments and/or couples breaking up, why are you standing by this guy who jumps from girl to girl? Who you see is ridiculously paranoid about everything? Charm can only do so much. He was just garbage and had absolutely no redeeming qualities to help me understand Cleveland's long-term support of him.

Pacing wise, I found the book fell a little flat somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 mark to the point I did debate DNFing it (especially because I was so frustrated with Cleveland sticking around as Henry's friend) but the last part of the book was actually really interesting and I LOVED all these women coming together to connect dots and support each other.

3.5/5 stars

Okay so I do not know how to rate this book honestly.

I enjoyed it immensely! I know some people just do not jive with Johnston as a writer but that isn't me. There's an absolutely adorable f/f romance. I lived the pacing, the magic, and the questing. I specifically LOVED that knighthood barrier was finances and not sex. My real beef: I think it's wrongly titled. The book focuses very much on the past. Not just the afterward. That just didn't make sense

Okay I legit liked this book more than I remembered and I actually think I retained part of it! I legit don't know what it is with this series. It's my third time around reading it and I always enjoy it but it just flies right out of my memory. I so thoroughly love getting more magic and politics and always my girl Safia. Like LOVE that girl

3.5/5

This is what I call "middle book filler syndrome" where the author wants to stretch it to a trilogy when in actuality, it could've been a duology. It felt like a lot of repeating activities and spinning your wheels plot-wise which was kinda frustrating. I still enjoyed it but this could've been cut down and a hundred extra pages could've been added to book one and three. I also thoroughly detest this cover

I DID IT! I FINISHED THE BEAST!

Aside from book 1, this is either my second or third favourite of the series. So much happens! So damn much! I'm immense trash for both timelines honestly which doesn't tend to happen a lot. I also love historical fictions where most of the problems would be solved with the intention of the telephone and DMs. It amuses me endlessly...and that is basically Outlander as a whole

Solid 3.5-3.75 / 5 stars

I think I struggled with the start but it drastically improved as the book went on. It felt very info dump right at the start just dropping all the world & politics very abruptly and all at once. Once everyone left the city, things REALLY picked up. Very "treat everyone equally" message along with the dangers of drugs.

This reminded me a tiny bit of her Timothy Wilde series. This book took on A LOT more representation and topics than I was expecting. I cringed everytime someone used the N word and other slurs, and when the KKK was brought in. I have to also credit the author for tackling the subject of racism and fear of anyone not straight in the early 1900s. She didn't sugar coat it and really researched the time period. Makes me look at Portland differently though. I just think of it as that corky place where alpacas ride transit. Not the place where African Americans were illegal until the 50s