Summary
Review
I received a review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I really struggled with the first part of this book. It felt like an info-dump where, as the reader, I wasn’t privy to the lore behind the world yet or all the terms, and so I was just left feeling really confused. However, once the world starts being revealed to the reader, it’s a much smoother and very enjoyable journey. So, if you also struggle at the beginning – persevere! It’s worth it.
While I still enjoy young adult books, as an older-than-I’d-like-to-admit adult, I realise I have well and truly outgrown books that take place in schools. I’m just past the age where I can relate to school ground politics and first loves, even if they are in a more interesting, magical setting. However, I still really enjoyed this book and I know full well that younger me would have loved it even more.
The best thing about this book is the plot. It definitely kept me reading on and wanting to find out what happened next, and there were plenty of twists and turns to keep me interested. The concept behind the story was well planned out and I feel like the chosen supernatural entity of the protagonist is a rarely used one, which made it all the better. The characters were fine, they weren’t bad, but they almost felt cliche to the YA genre, especially those set in schools. It felt like the author played on certain stereotypes a little too much, but that could just be my adult cynicism. Overall, a great read, but maybe one that can be better appreciated by younger readers who can relate to the characters more.