based on my casual browsing of reviews here and on reddit I think I'm in the minority with my takes on this which is fun, anyways I was very pleasantly surprised! I suffered through the shades of magic trilogy ("suffered" might be too strong a word lol but) and came away feeling overall lukewarm, I liked the concept a lot as well as kell as a mc but lila bard is like my worst nemesis, I can't stand her ass, plus idk the plot was kind of whatever at times. I expected to feel somewhat similarly here with the new series but I actually had a lot of fun!

I've seen people complain about the flashbacks feeling disorienting and unnecessary, but I actually quite enjoyed them. I do think that it was a bit unnecessary for this to take place 7 years after the ending of the original series, considering that lila's goofy ass has not grown or changed as a person at all in that time, but other than that I never felt particularly thrown by the flashback chapters and scenes. I think it may be a format thing? I listened to the audiobook and maybe it just felt a bit more like a podcast/audio drama, idk.

I've also seen people generally dislike the kosika chapters, especially considering how she had little to no connection to the rest of the plot of the book, but her chapters were honestly some of my favorites. while in retrospect now that I'm done it does feel a bit silly that we spent all that time with her for nothing to happen (I was expecting her to get tied in with the rest of the plot eventually like tes), I find kosika's character captivating. blood tithes, cultish practices, visions of her dead saint? delicious. I also consistently find white london to be the most interesting london, so it was cool to spend more time there.

I can't finish out without complaining about lila some more because, come on