I had a few coworkers recommend this book to me, so I picked it up. At first it was slow. I didn't think I was gonna like it. It has some misogynist undertones that a lot of gothic/fantasy novels have. But then about once the main character started actually getting good at magic, I was hooked. 

First red flag that I considered stopping reading was when Agnieszka and the Dragon almost had sex. She is 17 in this book and he's hundreds of years old. It was very out of nowhere and incredibly awkward. They both acknowledged it was out of pocket and I was willing to say "ok maybe there will be discussions on age gaps and inappropriate power dynamics." They do not talk about it though, and they separate soon after that, though not without Agnieszka trying...

So uh. Quite the opposite of a conversation. But since he's not brought up much in the second third of the book, I kinda forgot.

What really made me stop reading though was Agnieszka's conversation with Alosha after one of the princes goes to hold off an impending army (the whole political part of this book is so stupid I do not care about it). She specifically mentioned when she comes in that she is Black. Dark skinned. But she is a power magic wielder and I liked her as the voice of reason. Anyway, Alosha is telling Agnieszka about her family and mentions her mom being a slave and dying at child birth. After that, Alosha spends most of her life also as a slave, noting that while her masters were kind, they were not family, with an obvious distaste in her choice of words. 

I am so tired of seeing fantasy books put slavery in when it doesn't need to be there. Why would you create slavery in a fictional world? You could make any world you want and you still choose to have slavery. But you know, fine. Not every world has to be a utopia. AND I understand that the writer is heavily basing the setting on medieval Poland. But why do the shitty racial dynamics of our world have to be in this magical world? 

Agnieszka asks her why she stayed in a country that treated her so poorly. And I think I would've asked the same. Why do you care so much about a country who does not see you as human? I THOUGHT Alosha would respond with that same distaste mentioned earlier. But no. She said she likes the monarchy. GIRL. THAT'S THE SAME SYSTEM THAT IS OPPRESSING YOU WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!? 

Anyway, I had to stop there. This is the farthest I've gone into a book and stopped reading it. I hope you enjoyed my TedTalk.

Racist.

I adored this! It's written absolutely beautifully with gorgeous imagery, and the ending is maybe my favourite I've read this year. I'd read more by Naomi Novik in a heartbeat