This book is loosly inspired from Venetian culture and is filled with so much magic, mayhem and intrigue. To be honest, I was very confused for the first 30% as this world is extremely intricate and there's so much info to unpack. The world reminded me a bit of mix between The Lies of Locke Lamora and Ketterdam only more complex. There are two very complex magic system in place and both have their own rules and logic - It took sometime for me to get the hang of things if not completely understand it but I found the magic to be so compelling and unique. Apart from that, there's plenty of political mechanisms, powerplay between noble houses and a hell lot of backstabbing betrayals, which made the book extremely immersive.

The supposed villian is identified pretty early on in the story but we have absolutely no idea what their end goal is. This created a sense of urgency and the feeling of an impending doom through out the story. The mystery is written so well with such intricate web of lies and manipulations that we as readers were kept guessing until the end. But boy the end delivers and it does it so well.

The characters are awesome, you absolutely can't trust any of them. They all have their own agendas but I couldn't help but admire them for their grit and determination. It was also amazing to see that even though the characters don't trust each other, they are able to form this working relationship among themselves. There's also some very compelling siblings relationship which forms a huge part of the story and I enjoyed that immensely.

I cannot wait to start The Liar's Knot asap!