For anyone else unfamiliar with the Diné mythos, the beings, monsters, and cultural attitudes that sculpt this novel will be a fascinating peek. Post-flood Dinétah has danger and beauty at every corner. Special shout out to the trickster, Ma'ii, who was the perfect balance of unnerving and interesting.

The ending surprised in some refreshing ways -

such as Neizghání not being the Big Bad

- but was underwhelming in others -

Maggie was too sharp to be that surprised by Kai's silver-tongue power, which had been blatant from the first encounter with Hastiin, and forgave too quickly

. I've never asked a novel for more flashbacks before, but the love triangle would have been more compelling with a couple scenes to make Neizghání as appealing a choice as Kai too (and perhaps a little more negative impact from Kai's slipperiness). Also, it would have been interesting to see the one thing Maggie does that is as monstrous as she fears herself to be -

beheading Atty based on faulty logic about evil spreading

- actually factor into all the page time she spends grappling with her morality, in my opinion.