”When you’re young, you think you can change the world. You think you can bend it to your will. When you’re old, you learn to change your small corner of it and live with the rest.”

I just want to go around screaming at everyone to read this series. Especially if you want an Adult High Fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic style fantastical world with the awakening of magic and animal companions.

I’m going to be honest: this wasn’t really the book I thought it was going to be… but I’m not mad!!! This played with emotions so much in the best ways I could imagine, what a wild time.

If there’s one reason to read this book: It’s Jovis and Mephi.

The way Andrea Stewart writes the chapters makes the story flow so well. The plot is still slow paced relative to the first novel but the ending was so explosive that it had me gasping. The way Stewart wraps up her books always manages to bump itself up my rating. Talk about the ending making the book.

All the back and forth “betrayals” but “not betrayals” was so amusing to watch and I just loved how unsure we all were of what was happening in this book (in a good way). By “we” I mean both the characters and us, as the readers.

“Because even if I am the Emperor, I am still one of them.”

I do think the writing style and intrigue died down somewhere in the middle (relative to the first book) which was a little disappointing to me. Especially since I am already considering the first book as one of my faves of the whole year with the mystery and intrigued it was able to uphold.

My problem with this is that I think it didn’t have the best follow throughs to an extremely promising first novel. Some specific plot choices made were sounding so cliche to me, especially somewhere in the half way point. For the most part in book 1, we were trying to figure out who they were alongside them and I think in this book, it lacked the build up for me to feel fully invested in that certain characters motivation.

Admittedly, while i did like certain other developments in this book, i overall enjoyed the atmosphere and the mystery of the first book more. There were certain characters developments that were so satisfying to see where they are from the first novel. I keep hyping Jovis up but really he’s just an idiot that makes me laugh. Lin’s dynamic with absolutely anyone in this series amuses me to no end and created a compelling dynamic that just kept me reading.

”A coward is not a man who feels fear. A coward is one who would volunteer others for the suffering he would not take on himself,”

I love how lgbtq+ relationships are so normalized (even poly) and are just casually mentioned. The language used regarding pronouns and queerness is probably one of the, or the most inclusive one I have come across in Adult High Fantasy.

The vibes and the atmosphere /is/ different from the first book,, a lot of the mystery turned into suspense for the reveals that you already know and socio-political scheming. So it might have been slightly disappointing in that aspect but really this just jumped from one type of book that I love to another.

↣ A little dark, a little heartwarming, a little intense. Definitely recommended if you are in the mood for an Adult High Fantasy that keeps you curious and refreshing characters. This was more character driven and does have a slow-paced plot but I think it was all extremely worth it in the end. ↢

P.S. the cover makes so much sense now after finishing the book T_T

— 4.25 —
⇢ content warnings// Animal Abuse (implied, mentioned), Childhood abuse (mentioned), Emotional Trauma, Body Horror, Violence, Death