Initial Response
I'm...really confused. But it was quite the entertaining read!

High Lights
- Even though Madeline is the main character, I think the character that really stood out the most to me was Jason. He was just. so. funny. He had some of the best lines, and his loyalty to Madeline was so endearing.

Though I understand why he chose not to ever lie (because of what happened to his sister and all), I...didn't really understand why he just...blurted whatever truth came to his mind at the moment. There's a difference between telling the truth and just blurting out all the information you have. I thought it was really weird that our main characters couldn't trust Jason with simple things, like, telling their enemies where they were. Or, telling the bad guys Madeline's name, which they then use to kidnap her. I just. I don't really get it? Like. Dude. You're not lying if you don't keep your best friend's name a secret from the evil bad guys trying to kill you. This should be common sense.

- Darius was SUCH a sweetheart! I really wished he had been in the book even more than he was. His character was SO interesting.

And I reeeeeally wanted to know a lot more about why he chose to help the Scim. Like, I get his motives, it's not just to let the Elenil leech on the Scim. But how did he even end up with the Scim? And why does he seem chill with killing people, including his friend Jason? There is just...so much I'm slightly confused about.

- Hanali is AMAZING OKAY. BUT LIKE. WHY WASN'T THERE MORE OF HIM. WHY. I NEED MORE OF HIM.

He was like barely in the book. He's introduced in the beginning, guides Madeline and Jason through the Sunlit Lands a bit, and then...he's like totally gone until the climax of the book. Um excuse me but no I need more of my boy.

- The worldbuilding was soooo fascinating. Everything is so gorgeous and beautifully described. It felt really magical!
- I gotta say, the beginning of the book is probably my favorite. It introduces us to the characters, we get a glimpse at Madeline's life, and then it gets turned upside down when Hanali arrives, and AGH it was so fun and whimsical!

Low Lights
- Oh boy. Okay. So. I did really like this book, I won't lie. It was a fun romp, and it had some really memorable characters (*ahem*JASON*ahem*). But...I have a few problems. And most of them are spoiler-y.
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Whoooo is the bad guy? I seriously had such a hard time trying to figure out who to root for. And I guess that was kind of the point, like, there are good and bad sides to everyone...but, I don't know, that just doesn't work the best in a story for me. When I was first beginning to learn about the Elenil, I could immediately tell something strange was up with them. You could never get a clear answer on anything. And then I learned about the Scim, and the battle raging between them and the Elenil. And they definitely seemed gruff and mean. But I had mixed feelings. And then the Archon came into play, and I realized that maybe the Elenil are the bad guys after all...that's a pretty neat twist. But then I read on...and I just got more and more confused. Hanali wants to kill the Archon and take his place as ruler, because he thinks the way the Elenil treat the Scim is unjust. But the Scim think the Elenil should be destroyed for all of the pain they've caused. I don't know which side to take. And then I think, or is the Archon the bad guy? He hates the Scim and makes his people fight in a never-ending war against them. WHO AM I ROOTING FOR I NEED TO KNOW. My brain wanted to explode. After I finished reading the book, I just sat for a moment thinking...'Is this some sort of message that goes over my head, where the author toys with the readers' emotions to make them see that there is no good or evil, just people who choose different paths in life?' Where's the good triumphing over evil? Where's even the evil triumphing over good? The lines were so blurred and it was mildly infuriating (in my opinion, not anything against the author, I just don't understand these kinds of stories. XD)

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Why...why did the priest say to not make a deal with Hanali. Why'd he say that. Was that just a...a red herring? It's literally never brought up again. Is it because of the consequences of Elenil magic? If so...why didn't it ever tie-in to anything at the end? ...I don't understand.

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I'm...suuuuper confused about the ending. I...have sooooo many questions. So...Jason and Darius are staying in the Sunlit Lands now? What about their parents? Aren't they worried? If Jason swore loyalty to Madeline, why didn't he come home with her? Darius didn't swear loyalty to anyone (except for the Scim...kinda…), so why doesn't he just go home with Madeline and they can be together? Why did Yenil and Shula come home with Madeline? Yenil has no family anymore, so yeah, sure, whatever, but Shula? Why didn't she go home to her country? Did she break her promise to the Elenil by going back to Earth? If she did, that means she didn't get what she wanted in the bargain. Why'd she do that? Why are Mr. and Mrs. Oliver chill with letting a little, not-quite-human girl, and another random girl live with them? Who does that? Is Madeline just... dead? She can't breathe anymore, and the epilogue deeefinitely implies that she's giving up on life, but that she's okay with it. So...our main character...just. Straight up dies. Sure, um, okay.

- The middle and end of the book are...really thick to read through. It's a lot of description and characters waffling about, getting moved from place to place because nobody wants to be responsible for them, and...not a whole lot of action happening. A bit disappointed with that.
- A lot of times, character—Madeline in particular—seemed to do things totally out of character. Jason, for the most part, stayed his same goofy, lovable, but loyal self. But Madeline...it kind of felt like her personality jumped around quite a bit. At first, she seemed like a cool, relatable teen, but then she starts doing that things where she clearly didn't think before doing it. And at the end...she's suddenly really brave and courageous? That came out of nowhere. I guess having Darius believe in her helped?
- There were a few scenes/chapters that made me think...'Why is this scene in here? What was it's purpose?' There was one scene in particular, a market chase that happens about midway where this strange little girl named Ruth tells Jason to steal a piece of fruit...for absolutely no apparent reason. It felt really odd and stilted and I couldn't decipher any clear purpose for it being included in the story. It was such a strange chapter.

Conclusion
WOOOOW I have a lot of words to say about this book. XD And from the look of it...It really looks like I'm bashing this book. I'm really not trying to, I'm just saying what confused me while I was reading it. And it was a lot of things. Maybe for someone smarter than me, this story would be amazing and sophisticated and they would thoroughly enjoy it. But it just didn't quite strike a chord with me. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, in the style it was written in, and how the main action/battle happens at the end of the book. It was a very interesting read, I don't know if I'll pick up the sequel, but in any case, it had it's entertaining bits and some genuinely funny parts.