Format: Print

While reading this, I was really unsure how I was going to rate it. At one point, I even considered dnf’ing – I’m sorry but those footnotes added nothing to the story in my opinion – which did get me quite panicky as I have loved everything that I’ve read before from Alix E. Harrow. Luckily, I persevered and it paid off because I definitely enjoyed the second half of this book more than the first. I found the first half to be slow and a slog to read, which is quite unusual for me as, at 304 pages, I’d expected to read this quite quickly. Having said it was slow for its length, it was too short to fully explore all the elements that it could have done. There was so much more that I think could have been explored that wasn’t – I’d loved to have seen more on Charlotte, Bev and the Hellcat for example, or to get more of an idea of what Jasper was up to – these characters could have been utilised so much more. Opal as a main character was difficult to like, and she acted quite young at times (although I’m willing to forgive her that given the responsibility thrust upon her from a young age) and so I just couldn’t gel with her enough to be truly invested. But despite this, I did enjoy it (particularly when it got more action-filled towards the end) and actually I found the ending quite satisfying. So overall a decent read, but a bit of a disappointment given my previous experience with the author.