I loved the worldbuilding and magic. The big reveal about

river being a witch, and a prince, and the emperor being a colonizing villain who stole the magic and the witches are just victims

at the end wasn't surprising, it's just been done too many times to not be as recognizable as a favorite song being heard on the radio. I did think

the magic being stolen and placed into random objects

was cool and pretty unique though. The main character is a super tough badass and I liked her a lot, I just didn't see any change in her from the start to the end of the book. Overall it's good but I think it feels like an introduction to a story more than a complete story. I'm glad they didn't shorten the climbing, because that's the point of the whole book, and I can see how it would be hard to keep that exciting without it feeling forced. I think the author struck a good balance with interest in a boring landscape, and mixed in enough climbing terminology for it to make sense but not to the point of being confusing for people not in the know on it. I think I'll add the second one to my tbr, but I don't know about making it a priority.