Reviews

There’s an unavoidable note of amateurishness that plagues the writing of this book. For instance there was a lot of repetition of mentioning something being rose-gold in color to mimic ichoron, the book’s fantasy super element, far past the point where the reader would have learned to associate rose gold with ichoron. Rose gold is just too specific of a color to forget this and this descriptor could’ve easily been dropped after the first few mentions of it without losing impact. There are many repetitions of filler descriptors, characters often “waste no time” or force a smile in situations I don’t think anyone would expect them to smile in. Every character besides Nix and Kess speak in similar, rather awkward registers to the point where I had trouble telling them apart. There’s a lot of stiltedly delivered expository dialogue that I wasn’t particularly fond of. Characters speak rather matter-of-factly about certain aspects of the world without offering much commentary to give a glimpse of their own viewpoints informed by their circumstances and further develop their characters. The dialogue lacks voice-the characters feel like they say things in the most neutral manner to say them rather than the manner in which that character would say them. The beginning of the story also feels incredibly slow. It takes around a hundred pages for the actual plot to get going. The world building felt shallow despite the sheer amount of pages spent outside the setting of the action proper, though I did appreciate the ocean related metaphors peppered throughout the narration, it felt like a very natural way of reinforcing the setting (however there is an instance of a character saying “Gee, thanks” and the implication that Jesus exists due to the etymology of that phrase briefly broke my suspension of disbelief). I also feel as though the backstory to this book’s setup should’ve been shown in the book itself, rather than Nix’s tragic past with Kess being relegated to heavy handed narration that’s ineffectual at arousing any actual emotion. Pointing out parallels to a story I didn’t witness doesn’t exactly make me feel anything. The middle act of the book is incredibly strong, but the last act felt very rushed with a few abrupt plot beats that felt unearned.

That said there was still a lot that kept me reading. Nix is a very amusing character to read and her charged interactions with Kess are rather fun. Her perspective is also very entertaining to inhabit on account of how she’s (ironically) a fish out of water in this situation as a down to earth, no nonsense, uncomplicated soldier type who wears her heart on her sleeve surrounded by scheming nobility, which is one of my favorite character archetypes ever. At one point she thinks on Kess’s motivations and comically narrates “Because this was some cunning shit” which was a masterful piece of character work that made me chuckle aloud. Overall the story’s quite a page turner. It picked up rather quickly after the plot got going and there was always some hinted intrigue that kept me wanting more. If my criticisms do not bother you, you will very likely enjoy your time with this book. That said, I cannot in good conscience recommend it because it is the first book in an as yet unfinished series that I believe does not stand up well on its own

because of its inconclusive ending

cquinn96's review against another edition

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5.0

IM SORRY BUT REBECCA THORNE WHAT WAS THAT ENDING?!?! I NEED BOOK 2

ravensilvertongue's review

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No

3.0

This was a bit of a disappointment after Can't Spell Treason Without Tea. It wasn't all bad, just not as gripping or humorous. There was an entire scene that felt pointless. It did absolutely nothing to advance the plot, and that was annoying. It might have been four stars if not for that.

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