This book had such a great premise. The pacing was a bit off for me though and the characters relationships felt a bit insta love to me. I really loved the magical system and mystery surrounding it but other aspects fell a little flat. It did keep my interest and I will probably check out the sequel. I really loved the side characters the most so I hope we get more from their view in the next book. Sadly, I didn't love the princess or her POV. But the other POV's kept my interest more.

I am obsessed with the procedural aspect of this story. Having a court drama within a fantasy setting was unique and I couldn't get enough. I read this book in one sitting because I just needed to know what happened. This book gave me Ace Attorney vibes.

I really loved this book, I was just not prepared that it was going to leave me hanging for a second book! Scholte knocked it out of the park with this one. I was on the edge of my seat and loved the world building. I can't wait to see what happens in book 2!

*Spoiler free*

I really enjoyed both Four Dead Queens and The Vanishing Half, so I was looking forward to her next book! And when I found out it was about a prison that holds those who have illegally used magic, I was even more eager to read it. I was ready for the dark and twisty world that is a lot more morally gray than it seems.

I really, really, really hate to admit it, but I didn't love this book. I just don't think it was for me. At lot of aspects sort of just felt there to me, I think.

At first, I was really intrigued by the world and the magic system and everything that it was made of. But, as the book went on, I found it less enchanting and mysterious and it sort of just felt like a fantasy world. I wanted more out of it. I felt like there was the potential for there to be a whole lot more to the magic, to the veil, to the everything that makes up the world, but it just didn't go in that direction. I wanted more out of it.

I enjoyed the characters, but they also irritated me a bit. I wanted more out of them as well. There just sort of there. I wanted to like them, and I did like them to some extent, but I just wasn't invested in them.

I also really, really wanted some of them to be queer. It's not an unqueer book, there's a small mention of a f/f relationship of side characters, but I got such queer vibes from basically all the main characters. And I really, really wanted the romantic pairings to be queer. And I knew that it probably wasn't going to be queer, but I wanted it anyway! It was very weird. Of course, this is just a personal thing.

I think one of my biggest qualms with this book is that it does such a great job setting up the mystery, in setting up the plot into looking twisty and dark and mysterious, but then it just isn't. When reveals happen, it just made the book seem like a straight line. Instead of the path actually being twisty, it was just boxes that could be pushed out of the way. I didn't become more invested as more information was revealed. I think this is where I wanted more out of basically every aspect of this book. It's fantastic at setting everything up, but I just didn't love what the result of that setting up.

Overall, I don't think this was a bad book, I think it just wasn't for me. The writing was very good, and the characters are enjoyable. The world is actually pretty interesting. There were just things that I didn't particularly enjoy. But, I do hope that other people who read this book do love it!