The story was very engaging and the characters were a lot of fun, especially the protagonist (I just love characters whose main flaw and the main motivation for everything is anger, the kind of protagonist that wishes to see the world burn and is doing everything to get to it). What helps this book is the narrator - it's a first-person omniscient with the grown Eskara narrating her past to us. It means were not confined to the head of a fifteen-year-old child soldier-sorcerer but rather we see the events portrayed here from the perspective of a grown woman who lived through them. This means there's a lot of commentary on her behavior, the reminiscing and, the best, little hints of her life after the events of the book which were amazing. The magic system is also very interesting, worldbuilding feels both huge and claustrophobic.

My biggest complaint is that there was a lot of information that was repeated to readers and even some repeating descriptions. There's no reason for different characters to be described almost in the same way with the same words. There are some repetitions for stylistic reasons and that's fine, but most were unnecessary which is a shame because otherwise, the book is very well-written.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by amazing Moira Quirk who did, as usual, a great job. It was so easy to get lost in this book and just binge through it. I'm definitely reading the second book because I want to know what else happens to this mess of a girl.

If you liked the prison scene in The Chronicles of Riddick or Bane's prison pit in DC, I think you'll find this book enjoyable.