"Surround yourself with those who love you always, through your mistakes and your faults. Make a family that will find you more beautiful every day, even when your hair is white with age. Be the light that makes someone's lantern shine."

Wow! This book surprised me in all the best ways possible! This was only my second Elizabeth Lim book (Reflection was my first) and was astounded.

First of all, I need to talk about why I didn't give this book 5, or even 4.5, stars. It was very hard for me to get into. I didn't like Shiori's character because she seemed ignorant and a little entitled. Maybe this was because of her upbringing, but I just couldn't connect with her at first. I didn't like the writing style of the book at the beginning either. The plot was slow and dull from the start till around the 45% mark.
However, as the story progressed, I could see the change in Shiori more and more. The story and plot itself became much more developed and enjoyable - it kept my attention throughout the whole 50 to 100%.
My favorite thing about this book was the worldbuilding through cultural ties. The food, the mythology, the stories that made up this world made me feel as though I could walk into the pages and into it. In addition, the one of the main twists I didn't see coming at all (though most of them seemed obvious to me lol) - Lim really faked the readers out on who the true villain was.

Overall, this story is magical and spell-binding. I highly recommend it if you enjoy mythology and learning about a culture. I cannot wait for the sequel and I am surely going to pick up The Blood of Stars duology soon!