Thank you to NetGalley and Titan for a digital copy of this arc.


I went into this story expecting a magical fantasy world rich with character. The book is quite short, coming up to 192 pages which is not usually a complaint of mine as I do find novellas can pack a punch but this one failed at that which is a huge shame. 

I did find the world building to be rather beautiful and unique, as we have a woodland world with people who have bark like skin and other tree like attributes, yet we are then torn away from that and placed in a claustrophobic palace that was very hard to picture aside from the bedroom and the dining hall. The side characters were strong, I enjoyed seeing how they are affected by the world and the people in charge as we got to see some reality there, as I found Lufeng to be bland and self centred.

Unfortunately those are the only pros (if you can call them that). I found the story itself would drag yet also rushed at the end, which is kind of understandable for a short story but I feel like many other authors have executed this better. The technology elements were jarring as I’ll admit I didn’t realise that this was going to be sci-fi, and it would have been fine if it was well executed but it left me more confused about the world building and how everything should look. It also ends quite abruptly so when I got to the final page and tapped to read more I was confused by what happened, as I wouldn’t really call that a cliffhanger it just ended! 

My least favourite parts were the reveals. I didn’t expect the King to be Lufeng’s father nor did I like it, it was confusing especially with how he was treating her and being overall a dick, so I didn’t have any sympathy or care at all. Then you have Zinc and Copper. Like, they look similar and are also called Zinc and Copper, it’s quite obvious they’re related.

Overall, a very disappointing read and I won’t be picking up the sequel as I have zero interest in it.