No clue what to rate this right now.
...weirdest most confusing ending to a trilogy ever. I'm so confused

I legit do not understand how Cat Winters isn't more popular. She always writes books that are pretty creepy with some historical fiction helping me learn about the time period. The mystery is always good and her female characters are so well crafted. I always feel my heart clench and pout when I read the ends because it hurts when the books end. This is a very Cat Winters book and I just loved it. Perfect for October read and exactly the kind of creepy book people like me (*cough* scaredie cats *cough*) read for Halloween.

3.5/5

This was super adorable. Took the evil witch and wicked step mother but turned it on its head while also emphasizing fears only have power so long as we let them.

oh hell yes to this whole thing. Come my friends and let's go time traveling to stop people from making edits to the timeline as they try to destroy women's rights. If this ain't the most diverse and inclusive feminist novel I have ever read...this ain't no white feminist b/s. It's actually feminist! They specify multiple times in this book that the changes are to be done to protect cis women, trans women and non-binary!

We alternate between two POVs (Tessa originally from 2022 + Beth originally from 1992) as they go to multiple other time periods. I feel like we constantly do time travel novels but it's always "be careful not to change ANYTHING" but this one is literally the opposite. The whole idea of purposely changing somethings but with the goal being a very specific change is...like that would be SO HARD!

Rep: Chinese, Korean, Black, Jewish, transgender, F/F romance & non-binary!

This was a very political intrigue...y? (that's a word, right?) sci-fi which is a big plus for me but I know that is a big turn off for others.

While I did enjoy the book overall and do plan to read the sequel, it's...a bit messy? I think it struggles with pacing in parts and that's coming from someone who can appreciate slow pacing to world/character/relationship build. The plot also became a little fuzzy to me at parts. I had to pause for a few minutes and refresh and go back to it.

My biggest issue was that there was a very clear disconnect between the political background of the world and the world of the characters. The main character spends most of the book in captivity while the whole world is crumbling in riots and chaos. We just hear of so much of it in passing and it happens off page yet has such importance to the world and book. I don't know what the reasoning behind that was. To me, it's as if reading The lunar Chronicles but as if Cinder or her crew never leave Levana's palace and just get told about the revolution by a guard. I hope there will be a new POV or shift in what is done off page vs. on page in the sequel

Rep: F/F romance own voice

Okay I'm like...having issues. So I'm binge reading the trilogy as a whole which included me rereading this book. I love the world. It's very high tech Gossip Girl which can definitely not be for everyone. I am taking issue that we're using the

"Kill the Queers"

trope. This is a relatively new series so there's no reason for that to be used. Unless I get to the end of the 3rd book and it's suddenly "actually those characters aren't dead!"...I don't know why this was published.

Okay I'm like...having issues. So I'm binge reading the trilogy as a whole which included me rereading this book. I love the world. It's very high tech Gossip Girl which can definitely not be for everyone. I am taking issue that we're using the

"Kill the Queers"

trope. This is a relatively new series so there's no reason for that to be used. Unless I get to the end of the 3rd book and it's suddenly "actually those characters aren't dead!"...I don't know why this was published.

I'm so incredibly disappointed in where the series went after book one. Authors, please look at who you are killing off and if they have a common denominator.

This was a pretty interesting read which is a lot more political than I thought it would be and it really does make you think how we are going to handle a world so hell bent on rolling back rights for LGBTQ+ people. The main character wasn't my all time favourite but he was bareable.

Rep: Gay own voice with a m/m romance, side bisexual character

Okay I give up. I've spent days trying to explain the muses in this and I just cannot coherently do it! You just gotta read it to get it.

I think of the 3 Cat Winters books I have read, it's my least favourite and I can see why not everyone would love it. I also feel like I want to reread this after having read some of Poe's work (yes, curse at me. I've never read anything by Edgar Allan Poe).

I think the strength of this book was it played with such an iconic character that we know such little about which is just so perfect considering the type of work he produced. I always just saw Poe as this:



and never thought about him having to go through life pre-40. It's kind of awesome to find these large open gaps in peoples lives and just mess with it. I love that Cat Winters so clearly always does her research into the time period and definitely into Poe. Reading the authors notes and finding out about all the misinformation out there about Poe like the drug use (I had definitely heard about that before this book).

I think my issue with the book is the ending seemed a bit abrupt for Poe's adopted parents. They play such a large role in who he is in this book and who he becomes. It's also a small snap of his life that we know sort of what happened. I wish there had been an epilogue with his mother or something.

Definitely a future re-read. Also, Winters and [a:Laura E. Weymouth|16706932|Laura E. Weymouth|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1507769039p2/16706932.jpg] need to share the secret as to how in the HELL they keep getting stunning dust jackets and stunning under dust jackets!