★★★
Synopsis: In the ancient river kingdom, touch is a battlefield, bodies the instruments of war. Seventeen-year-old Mia Rose has pledged her life to hunting Gwyrach: women who can manipulate flesh, bones, breath, and blood. Not women. Demons. The same demons who killed her mother without a single scratch. But when Mia's father suddenly announces her marriage to the prince, she is forced to trade in her knives and trousers for a sumptuous silk gown. Only after the wedding goes disastrously wrong does she discover she has dark, forbidden magic—the very magic she has sworn to destroy.
I’m very torn about this book, and have been swaying between 3 stars and 4 throughout the whole book.
I had a little trouble getting into it for the first 50 - 100 or so pages. I’m not sure if it was just getting used to a new book and new characters, etc., but the dialogue seemed forced and the writing as well, as if it was trying too hard. However I think this subsided after a while, since it didn’t bother me after that.
Secondly, this book has been marketed as feminist, and I think the feminist theme was woven into the story expertly. All the elements made sense, and it didn’t feel as if it was trying to be feminist for the sake of being feminist, which has been the case with a few other books. Having said that, I don’t know what is up with the trend that feminist books make sure none of the male characters are actually nice. Yes, Dom and Quin are great, but they’re not heterosexual men. All the straight men in this book are oppressors, rapists, or anything else bad. I don’t see why this is necessary. Not all heterosexual men are sexist? Right? Right.
Like I said before, the feminist theme really did come through in the story, and the story itself was great! I loved the lore, the settings, and the plot twists! I didn’t realise this was going to be a series, but oh my god I need the next book, like right now. There were some parts of the story I thought didn’t make any sense. (And if you haven’t read the book, I’d skip to the next paragraph because there’s a big spoiler coming up). My biggest issue was with Kaeri randomly being in the forest. Why was she there? Why wasn’t she in the castle, under Angelyne’s spell? This annoys me still so if there’s something I missed, please, someone tell me so I can let this go. I should include I might just be upset Kaeri got killed because I loved her!
Overall, I loved Mia’s story, despite it taking me a little while to get into it. So if you’ve started reading it and are thinking about DNF-ing, keep going! You might start liking it a whole lot better, like I did.
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I would like to thank Harper360 for sending me a review copy. Please note this review is based on an ARC of this book, so there may be differences from the published edition.
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