Nicely spooky, if a bit too old-fashioned to be truly scary. It's definitely enjoyable and I see why Lovecraft liked it; it's got that lovely unearthly (if not quite eldritch) Lovecraftian vibe.

Solid addition to the canon. I would have liked to see more of Tevinter though.

It's a pretty common complain that the second book in a trilogy feels like filler. I have to say, I've never encountered a trilogy where the entire first book feels like filler. With brief interludes from the present, Tea narrates her entire bone witch story from reviving her dead brother to being taken to the big city where she can become an asha (which is basically a geisha but with magic) and like, learning to dance and shit.

You never get a good reason for what Tea wants, why she is narrating her entire story to this unnamed character, or anything else for that matter. The entire book is so incomprehensibly boring I'm truly proud of myself for finishing it. The world building is lackluster, there is zero character development, and overall it feels like someone's high school nanowrimo story vomited up in one draft with no editing.

Spoiler

I also rolled my eyes so hard I was nearly blinded when I found out that Tea actually fell in love with Kalen, not Kance, whom she'd been mooning over the whole book, and he's the one she resurrects at the end. You can't just say "enemies to lovers" and make it happen, you actually need to show it. JFC.

I literally have nothing nice to say.

Did I really just listen to 8 hours of a butler incapable of understanding human emotion narrate the most boring life possible, with brief interludes in which he is alternatingly indifferent and rude to the housekeeper who inexplicably loves him?

Actually, I sped it up to 1.5x so it took me 5 hours and 48 minutes, but I regret every single one.

What would you trade your soul for? And once the deal is done, would you regret it?

I live for Faustian stories, even bad ones, but Schwab's deft and poetic style has truly crafted one of the best.

A quick read, very blunt and funny. Marie Kondo's method was to ask if items spark joy, while this parody asks, what do you want your space to feel like? Both are valuable questions, but I really liked the idea of deciding what a space should feel like and getting rid of things that don't fit that vibe.

Too boring, even for bedtime reading. Maybe I'll pick it up again in the future. 18%.

Deliciously creepy.