I now kind of understand why stupid kings are always saying to people who please them "I will give you anything you ask, up to half my kingdom!" because I am very, very drunk on the ending of this book and would easily give out more than five stars without half thinking about it.

This book is what we call... legit.

First of all, I love capitalism. The beginning of this book is slow, but to be frank Miryem being a moneychanger is half the fun. I love her scrupulousness and the part of me that played the "Made for Trade" board game every single day for an entire summer as a kid was excited enough to see the slow, clever growth of her household empire.

The OTHER half of the fun is the characters. EVERYONE is such a distinct personality, from characters that barely feature to the POV characters themselves. There's more individuality in all two of Miryem's grandfather's speaking parts than there is in entire books written by other people. Also, did I mention that there are like five or more POV characters, and I, notorious hater of multiple POVs, liked it a LOT? It's nice because it lets you meet Wanda before speaking from her point of view, and does that with almost everyone. And everyone has such a unique voice, it's very impressive.

There's more fun even though I've run out of halves. For instance, the way there are only two great evils in this book: an underworld fire demon, and Wanda's dad. Everyone else, no matter how cowardly or cruel, is shown to be multifaceted and complex. From this, and from the way romance is dealt with, you can tell this woman has read her Jane Austen.

From the moment he appeared, my only greatest wish was for Miryem and the Staryk King to have one of those unpleasant marriages of circumstance until suddenly... one day... they realize that they actually care about each other. AND IT HAPPENED EVEN BETTER THAN I EXPECTED. I felt more emotions in the last chapter when Miryem returns home than I have in entire other series. AND I can't believe the tsar was saved, too. He goes on to become a good king and a great husband, RIGHT? I can accept nothing less.

AND THE WAY MIRYEM'S PARENTS JUST... ADOPT WANDA AND HER BROTHERS? And the way they get adopted in return, by the three kids, who almost certainly know more about how to live and provide for themselves than both parents? Priceless. Iconic. Show-stopping. Incredible. Stupendous. This is what it's about, folks. It's why I'm here.

I have to say, it is a freaking bold move to make up a Fake Lithuania to set your book in, and then just bring over literally everything from the real world. Scheherazade, and Jews, and the Bible, and the Catholic Church wasn't referenced but it was implied heavily, and honestly the implications are profound. Somewhere out there, Israel exists, and Jesus did too? And so do the Arabian Nights, which means Islam? What does that MEAN?!?!?

It's a little mind-boggling, but I'm okay with it. She couldn't have invented a fake race of eternally-persecuted moneylenders and called them something else, anyway. Better to just be straight with it.