Format: Print 

This has been the most difficult book to review so far this year. On the face of it, this should be my type of book: fantasy, book about books, hints of romance. And I really enjoyed it. But I didn’t love it as much as I hoped to. 

First off, this is very slow. This wasn’t actually a problem for me and it was nice to take the time reading it, but it also meant that for the first couple of hundred pages, I couldn’t read much more than 50 pages at a time until I’d really gotten into the story. There is a lot of set up, and I generally prefer a book with a bit more action. It felt like the story started, stopped, and then started again as we had some initial action, then a lot of set up and then more action again. 

This is perhaps why I found myself more interested in Livira’s story early on. The book is dual POV but we undoubtedly get more from Livira with often 2-3 chapters of her storyline for every one of Evar’s, and this allowed me to get to know her as a character sooner. This meant that when there was action, I was more invested in what was happening with Livira and how things would be resolved. In essence, the stakes were higher in Livira’s storyline (for me). In contrast, while there was some early action in Evar’s timeline, I didn’t spend enough time with him for his storyline to grip me as quickly. And it probably didn’t grip me as much throughout the book, because I just didn’t spend enough time with him to care as much. 

I do think the book was too long as a first book in a series. Although I liked how much time we spent with Livira, and wouldn’t cut this to spend more time with Evar (which I do think was needed), at times it was just a bit too slow. The world building is great, but as a set up book, it was almost too detailed. I would have preferred a shorter set up book, followed by a book two with more action, rather than a ‘slow for 75-80% book with lots of action towards the end’ or a standalone story. And actually, I would have accepted another 50-100 pages for a standalone. 

There are several mysteries in the book. The initial mystery is one that I guessed quite early on, but others kept me thinking throughout. And there are several twists I did not see coming. The direction the book went at the end isn’t what I expected (and maybe not exactly what I wanted), but it has left me very intrigued to see what will happen next for our characters and I am eagerly awaiting book 2. 

So overall a mix of positives and negatives for this book, making it a very solid 3 star!