this book had a lot of promise, but the author did not deliver. it's their first adult novel and you can tell. the writing was SO repetitive. i think 100 pages could have been cut just from repetition alone.
the plot twist reveal was not bad. i also usually dont like 1st person pov, but i think it works here due to sigourney's ability to "sink in" to a person's mind. bc of this, we get some parts that read like 3rd person, which is really interesting. however, this doesn't make up for the writing style itself.
parts of the plot are still not explained by the end or dont make sense no matter what. for example,

sigourney suspected niklasson of being the one tricking them, despite reading his thoughts and knowing that he loved the king and was deeply hurt and confused by the king's change in behavior

and that's just ONE plot point. there are many more.
maybe the editor was the friends we made along the way!