If I were rating on vibes alone as a regular reader, I would rate this one 4.5 stars. It's entertaining, the story is unique, it's very romantic with lots of slow burn tension. However, as an ARC reader who read this not only for enjoyment, but for critique purposes? I can't honestly rate it above a 3-3.5.

When I reread my review of Heartless Hunter (which I also read as an ARC) I found that many of the execution issues I had with that novel are present in this one. The pacing is all over the place, and it really started to drag before we left the first act, and throughout the second. The chemistry between the two main characters, Gideon and Rune, is able to flourish here, because Alex is no longer in the picture, but I still don't understand why these two fell for each other in the first place. The plot is a mess. Instead of constructing the dam (plot) piece by piece before filling the lake so that the flow of water (narrative) is smooth; the dam was built into an existing lake and constructed of pieces that are different shapes and sizes, so the water leaks like a sieve.

One of my main issues with Heartless Hunter is that there is no explanation at all for the main conflict: bad witches versus innocent humans. The reader isn't told why the witches decided to go full-on evil one day. We still don't know after reading the sequel. We do find out that there were seven goddess witches who created the world (not sure why this is relevant overall, but ok), and that they entrusted magic to witches (for reasons?), and then some of those witches decided to go off script from the goddess's plan. But we still don't know anything about what prompted the witches to do this in the first place. What was the original end game?

Also, and as in the first novel, events would occur and the solutions appeared without any foreshadowing or back story leading the reader up to them. For example, Seraphine and her true nature. Cressida's resurrection scheme. Gideon's curse. The way Cressida's sisters were disappeared off the face of the earth. There was a lot of world building as the world was being destroyed. So while the climax was awesome, it felt like an island unto itself (pun intended) because there was no groundwork for it in the narrative.

The best part of the novel is Gideon. Rune is fun, but I have to admit she frustrated me by the end. Ultimately, their interpersonal conflict in this novel relies almost entirely on the miscommunication trope. The fact that they don't truly trust each other until the third act, and therefore were constantly second guessing each other's motives and plans, became a truly belabored point. I think that this also contributed to the pacing issue because Gideon and Rune were caught in this never-ending cycle of who's on first.

The thing is, though, I really did enjoy this read. I just had to content myself with plot points all over the place like in a pinball machine. But because I wanted to see how Gideon and Rune got together, and I wanted the good guys to win, it was satisfying by the end, even if the resolutions were too tidy and simple given how high the stakes were supposed to be.

Thank you SMP/Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this novel prior to publication. All opinions are my own.