I really wanted to like this book.

This book is an example of a good book in Huff's mind but she executed poorly.

Pace: Almost random

Characters: Literally didn't need the amount of characterization she put in while also making it seem like half of them are surface level. This book could have been cut in half if we left the amount of nonsensical dialouge

Vibe: Hit or miss. It picks up more when you get into the Land

Prose: bluntly, it was trash. Weird way of phrasing and tended to begin sentences with conjunctions, which are fine in dialouge text, but not outside written text. She also uses the same sentence structure every other paragraph that it became obvious.

Plot: it was fine.

Worldbuilding: The biggest missed potential of this book was barely going into worldbuilding. Misadvertised as "environmental fantasy" and barely got into the environment descriptors, which I know readers can imagine but I can save 20 bucks and do the same thing in my head. The worldbuilding itself, when we do get it, is barely even there. Mostly about the relationship between Gateway and Marsanport, the aftermath of the magewar, and two crumbs about the mages.

More notes in rabbit notebook but save your money. Rent from a library, go into it for characters going on a camping trip with a quest in mind and not for an actual fantasy book

1.5/5