I was excited to read this one, and then once I got into it, I was hooked! This book had so much to it! It had wonderful mythology/fantasy world building. Characters with a lot to them, both the good and some of the bad even. Although what we consider the bad in this book aren’t either of the main characters, even if others in the story may consider them monsters.

Pratyush, the Slayer, the only one left, was such an interesting character. His life may have seemed like he was a hero, but still he was under the King’s thumb, and often had to do things he might not have felt was necessary. Many of the monsters that could have just been avoided, and people who might not have died, but either they wouldn’t listen to him, or he had to for the King. It was easy to kind of fall in love with him a little in his interactions with Manisha when she was a priestess.

Manisha though was who I was rooting for. Seeing also what she had to go through to survive when her family and people were attacked and almost completely destroyed by the King’s army. The way her life at the holy temple wasn’t great. How there were mean girls there, and what happened when they took over thanks to the death of who had been in charge. Her life there made it hard for her to know who to trust once things changed and she was back in the world below the floating mountains. Made it harder for her to trust even when someone was actually offering help or friendship.

Of course there is also the whole theme of being violated. What happens to Manisha, what happens to the women she meets in the world below. And how even trying to help them causes her to doubt if things were her fault. What she could have differently to maybe prevent it from happening. The author does such a great job weaving into this fantastical story what it is like for real life girls or other victims in those situations. The doubts we feel. The way we are afraid to tell our story, because there are or could be those people who will basically feel as if it was our own fault it happened, that we did something wrong or deserved it because of the way we dressed or where we went. Once again there was line included that was one that has always resonated with me because of how it applies to my own situation. When Manisha says: “…took something from me that was not yours to take.” That feeling right there is one that sticks with me to this day, from the first time I read the basically same thing in the book After by Anna Todd.

And finally, the author’s note at the end. How she talks about her love of mythology being really ignited when she read Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, and how insane it is that she is now writing for his line of publishing with her own mythology. And I love bringing the story of Medusa to life in this retelling. How she is a villain, but think of how we overlook her past and what made her that way. The statue of Medusa holding the head of Perseus perfectly goes with this story, except we might not want our Perseus/Slayer dead this time.

I am also glad to see that we will hopefully be getting another story in this world, from one of Manisha’s sisters it seems!