This was an insanely quick read. And one I quite enjoyed even as it twisted ways I couldn't have guessed. So I leave you with this very wise quote

"Oh, you mortals, with your desperate prayers, with your terrible fates. You all want something from us--you all think there must be an easier way, a shortcut through the harder parts of life.

There is no shortcut. There never is anything we can give you. You must live the life you have; it's all any of us can do." ( )

This did not pull me in, unfortunately. The writing is really pretty, so two stars for that. ( )

Beautiful, heart breaking sorrow. ( )

I honestly shouldn't have read other reviewer's reviews because it makes me wonder what book they read. I think maybe part of the problem here is that this isn't a typical YA novel. It's slow and meditative and poetically written, rather than full of romance and/or action. There is love here, but it is familial love. There is death and heartache and revenge and the end of the world, but told through the eyes of a character trying very hard to keep herself apart from the world, and so the telling can feel detached and uncaring. At its heart, though, this is a book about loss and grief and the ends someone might go to to bring someone back. It is a tale told through a veil of grief and loss and heartache, so it is a tale that feels told through fog or a layer of cotton batting, with all its colors muted and edges blunted. Perhaps those reviewers who found it "slow" and "boring" are lucky enough to have not yet experienced grief and so have a difficult time contextualizing the pace and feeling of this novel. Because it may be slow (for a reason), but it is definitely not boring. ( )