admittedly i have become a bit cynical about books that everyone hypes up as The Most Fantastic Thing To Happen To Representation In Fantasy Ever because well. i have been disappointed in the past. i started this immediately after finishing the starless sea, which was, you know, one of those disappointments.

this did not disappoint me. which isn't to say it didn't have some Problems which i will list here (all books have them so it's not that big a deal).

the length, as others have stated, was one of my biggest gripes--stuff happened and people had to move on asap. it felt like we couldn't sit with anything for very long because there was so little book and so much going on. almost none of the characters talked like you'd expect modern day teens to, especially sumi, but i can forgive this one considering they spent the equivalent of years in various fantasy realms. my major issue, and the thing that stops me from giving this five stars, is that it's a little Weird to have your two non-white characters be someone who

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gets killed in a very gruesome way relatively early on, even if i hear she's later resurrected,

and a latino character who went to a stereotypically day-of-the-dead-themed world. that gives me the ick a bit. however, because despite my caustic exterior i am a hopeful person at heart, i am willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt on this one. this is the beginning of a series of moderate length and i'd like to think she's improved on this front since this book.

but as for the Good things...the worldbuilding is delicious. i am a slut for worldbuilding every day of my life. i am also a slut for organizing and classifying magic of different types and we got that too, baby!! sorry i'll stop saying i'm a slut for things now. the representation was nice! it's nothing super groundbreaking because i've read a lot of lgbt+ stuff at this point, but an ace character and a trans character are not BAD things by any means. most of the characters were a mix of things i liked and things i didn't. i wouldn't say there was a character i flat-out couldn't stand, which is good, and there was a character i adored with all my heart and soul, which is even better. you'll never guess who that was.

it's jack it's obviously jack. this girl was introduced wearing a BOW TIE WITH TINY BIOHAZARD SYMBOLS!! how did you expect me NOT to love her!!! i love mean girls i love mad scientists i love necromancers i love smart people who are mean about it but also a little pathetic i LOVE PEOPLE WHO

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SAY "I SEEM TO NEED ASSISTANCE" WHEN THEY ARE GRAVELY WOUNDED!

jack could not have been a character more perfectly designed to my tastes if i literally created her myself. and i mean, i DO have an oc who is a lesbian mad scientist who raises the dead so i was almost there already. anyway jack is worth like two stars just by herself.

good book! hyped to read the others when i get a chance!