The book opens with our protagonist...er...we do not really know that they are our protagonist, but our protagonist is getting a powerful flower through an archery contest with a nature spirit in a Chicago Park District facility. 

That pretty well lays out the entire plot, really. Were I inclined to be derisive, I would call it a sort of Mad Libs project where this is indistinguishable from any other urban fantasy, save its inclusions of both "Slavic folklore" and "Chicago," the former that you usually have to pull from The Witcher series (one of the inspirations cited by the author), the latter that have several contenders in the fantasy space, but - to this book's credit - none with as much veracity of the City So Real. (Maybe not the Uber to the steel mill.)

Except that it is also not Polish mythology, in that sort of way of Urban Fantasy that cannot resist hitting frappe and mixing in any other good mythological bits from other cultures, or otherwise treating them as a uniform whole of mythic existence. All of course operating under the noses of mere mortals, with the less mere of them doing something about it. 

There are high notes. The action scenes are good. The Twist is the best kind, one that you foresee but hope is not going to happen (and of course it does). The magic was great, embracing the way that I always want to see magic work. And look, having

Baba Jaga the reason for the Uptown Theater being as it is and having her live over the Buena Park Harold's

is a level of genius that makes me want to pay for the author's Chicago flag tattoo. 

The book however spends too much time dwelling in explanations on the ways of the supernatural and what everything is called and really is, and the romance feels distinctly Bioware. But it is short and fun. Maybe not unique, but definitely distinctive.