"I am surrounded by many splendors, and yet I am alone."

A lovely concept, a beautiful setting, yet still a very boring book.

I usually love slow-paced books. If people complain that a book was too slow-paced, I will sometimes specifically pick it up because - most of the time - it means that the story is more drawn out, the characters are given more space to grow/connect, and the plot is more satisfying. However, that was not the case with this book.

I spent most of my time reading it incredibly bored, wishing for the end. It was not bad. It was just simply very meh. The characters were very much fulfillments of their roles and nothing more. The world-building was very interesting, but sometimes felt side-lined for the mystery. The romance (or whatever you want to call it) felt rushed somehow, despite how long everything seemed to be taking.

As I said, this is not a bad book. There is plenty to love about this book. It does read sort of like a fairytale, which may help others overlook the things that took some of my enjoyment.

Judy I. Lin is a very talented writer and I do think that this is works very well as a standalone, I just wish things had been executed slightly different.