This is such a great YA fantasy read. It’s a little bit horror mixed with Secret Garden inspo. I thoroughly enjoyed it after I hit about 150 pages in. It hit its stride and just sucked me into the story. I couldn’t put it down. The writing was so good. I felt myself speeding up with her nerves or her running just by the way the sentences were structured. And a mute character as the main character/protagonist was written so well. The little glimpses into her past interspersed in the story really rounded her out as a character and showed her desire for a family from a very young age. Merilance was so vivid in my mind just as much as Gallant and the other Gallant. Just such good writing.