Wow. What the hell.

Reading this I got the feeling that I’d consider this a three star book not because it wasn’t good, but because i perhaps wasn’t able to fully appreciate it. I like a lot of escapism that still shows injustice, but
this book is brutally, graphically violent and dark and it’s a necessary part of depicting slavery and colonialism realistically. I’m also not great with court intrigue. So I thought maybe I was just not the ideal target for this book though I could appreciate what it’s doing.

The twists and turns this took changed that for me completely. That ending! While I wish they had just killed Character X and ended it there I will be steeling myself for book 2. What a gratifying, painfully resonant reveal. I can’t talk about the weight of it without a spoiler tag, so I’ll come back and add one later.