Wow. And that’s not even a good wow.

This was a literal hot mess and I don’t even know where to start.

The plot had real potential but it was all over the place and too confusing for me to follow through. The world-building was non-existent, LGBTQA representation was great but there wasn't much else to rave about, and the writing style wasn’t to my liking. I can literally go on and on but I’m sure you got the gist with all the other low ratings for this novel.

Nevertheless, there is something we can all learn from this: Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Nuff said.

( )

I really enjoyed this book, reading it nearly in one sitting. It is weirdly, wildly imaginative, dark and beautiful, with lyrical prose and complex characters, The world-building was unique, although at times I struggled to visualize elements (like the labyrinth). I loved the characters. (Cam is a favorite). This IS a fantasy novel and parts take place in a wholly imagined world unlike our own, so I was ok with not always being able to picture some elements.

I appreciated the LGBTQ rep as well as how normalized it was - Tav's pronouns were in use without need of an explanation of her character.

While I was left with a few questions at the end, I hope to see them answered in the next book - which I will be looking for. This would be a book that I probably would read again, too, right before the next book comes out, and I'd probably take away more in the details.

This is a story about standing up for yourself, and writing your own story, and about how the monsters aren't always who we're told they are. Sometimes, they are us.

A full review will be available on my blog.

I was provided an advanced digital copy of the book from the publisher via Netgalley for review purposes. All opinions are my own. ( )

Good book, but too much magical and too little realism for me. ( )

Let’s start with the good. The characters are everything. We love a found family, we love a diverse cast, and we love characters who don’t let romance ruin their entire life’s plans. This was a highly character-driven book, but a tad too short to really get background for our four most prominent characters. We got a decent bit about Eli the main character, but my fingers are crossed the sequel is either focused on a different character's perspective or at least delves into the past of more than just her. This, of course, is biased because I liked two or the other characters more than Eli but you get the point. The other major good is I like the concept of how the witches’ world and the human world connect in this book.

I think this book's biggest downfall is simply the poor start. The beginning felt like I was reading a sequel without reading the book that came before it first. We were tossed into a magic system and a whole separate world without explanation. On top of that, the characters had next to no initial background of any sort, I thought two of the main characters were just sided characters that didn’t matter until suddenly they both showed up again. While they did develop loveable personalities later on they gained no background, it took too long and many people will not be willing to push past that beginning to get to the middle and end, let alone a sequel. I am glad I pushed through, as the book as a whole improved over time but the world-building sadly did not. The world and its magic system were not spelled out, simply passed overhead in hoped you’d see them go by but often I did not. I had to double back in the book to re-read things, and even then I couldn’t find myself understanding the world or being sucked into it at all. Too many holes in the plot of the actual book regarding the world itself. The prose just didn’t fit the narrative, it is a very complicated idea with so much potential but the writing was too simple to keep up. Which is unfortunate because I didn’t dislike the writing style at all, it just felt suited to low fantasy or even contemporary where the world is already built. The concept is all there, and again this is an ARC, the first in a series and a debut so there’s a decent chance this will improve and so will the author.

Overall, I’m not writing off this author, I still plan to keep an eye on their works and I’d still suggest giving this book a try if the description really intrigues you. This book just didn’t meet expectations for me personally ( )

I was given this e-book by Netgally and the author for an honest review.

And honestly, I don't know what to think about this story. I give it 3.5 stars out of 5. I do like the characters, especially Tav and Cam. I also liked Eli but found her to be confusing at times. There was not much world building. And at times I thought the story was a bit slow and a lot confusing. I will have to read it again to really understand things. I do like that it has LGBTQ characters. And I think it would be interesting to see if Eli and Tav get together. I would read the next book to see about the characters. Overall I did like just have to get less confused about things. ( )