2.5 stars. I’m rather disappointed with this one, but I can see why a lot of people like it. If you’re a fan of faerie tales, or study them, this one’s for you. I, unfortunately, have grown sick and tired of faerie tales and most of their discourse. I feel like I needed to have read this novel when it first came out, before the media got flooded with faerie tale discourse left right and centre.

That isn’t to say I didn’t appreciate Sybel as a protagonist—she’s feminist as heck and I love her for it. But I felt her relationship with Coren (who’s an egocentric ass, in my opinion) was wooden and forced. Tam’s home-away-home-again journey was also fairly on rails and I wasn’t invested in his growth.

Where the novel really shined was Sybel’s inner journey and her struggle with the patriarchal structures of society that tried to tie her and her innate powers down. Maelga was an interesting side character and sort of foil to Sybel as well. The rest wasn’t really for me.