Love the writing, the writing is utterly stunning, however as much as I love the vision I just wish it had been taken in a more satisfying route. The characters feel so real at the beginning of the book, and I really like their grounded problems and very human struggles that I thought would be a cornerstone of the story, but things take several fantastical twists and the human struggles make way for more magical conundrums. Some are much more captivating than others, and unfortunately I think we spend too much time on mysteries that were pretty obvious from the first page they're introduced. 

The main thing that put me off however was how a lot of Greta's agency seems to come and go fairly often. A lot of the choices she makes are choices that are put into her head by other characters, or she gets to wash her hands of the consequences and claim she didn't technically do it

( the witch scene from when she was a kid. If you know you know )

. She had moments throughout where she expresses personality, but half of these are contrived conflict points that don't end up meaning anything in the long run, it just stretches out the story. You could take the misunderstandings out completely and the story would be exactly the same, nothing would be missed.

Again, this is beautiful writing, and the scenery is awe-inspiring, the mid-section just got a little long and predictable for me personally.