I was fully intending to rate higher but the ending and epilogue and then thinking more after… I decided to go with 3.5 stars!

I was definitely hooked during some of the scenes and the author is a great writer—I’ll definitely tune in to other novel by them!

However, idk if it’s just ME but I am SO tired of the fake out deaths in books. I genuinely feel nothing when characters die in novels now because they almost ALWAYS come back to life like right after so what’s the point of feeling sad? Ahn’s sacrifice would’ve been such a bittersweet ending and I believe she should’ve stayed dead!! Yes, it’s not a “happy” ending BUT it would’ve been a more impactful one imo. Having her die to immediately come back and we are thrust one month into the future with everything happy or at least neutral—it was boring.

I would’ve loved to see the book a tad longer where Ahn stays dead and her wish comes true and then we see Altan become emperor and reclaim his throne. Maybe I’m a pessimist though but I just thought the ending as is was rushed.

Also the epilogue confused me a bit and also took away some of the emotion… so Altan’s sister is alive? Why?? Genuinely, what purpose does that serve? Please let characters stay dead!! Not everyone needs to die and come back to life to shock the readers!!! It is one of my biggest peeves with books today.

I did enjoy the writing though and while I didn’t feel the romance too much with Ahn and Atlan—I liked their banter. The dark scenes were very good and I was truly engrossed in them. I would definitely read more from this author!