The book was fine, just not my favorite

~This book was given to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

I have to say, there were many things that kept tugging my opinion back and forth while reading this book so let's start with the good. The mythology was rich and original, and the writing was very nice. The worldbuilding was also definitely a highlight which was a nice surprise as that was one of my main criticisms from her last work. The story is straight forward and fast paced. This was very solid for a debut novel, and I am truly excited to see this author's writing continue to evolve, as it was by far what made this book the most enjoyable. I love how detailed he world and the lore surrounding it are. It can be tricky to have such strong worldbuilding without making the reader feel overwhelmed with knowledge and this book did a great job.
Unfortunately there are some issues that I can't ignore with this book. For one was the under-developed romance that really was not as big of a role as was promised. I am not someone who relies on romance to get through a story, but I was disappointed at how much more we could've gotten if the romance had have gotten a little more development. I also feel a distinct lack of connection to most of the characters in the story and wish they had been a bit less of a cliche or archetype.
Regardless of some things that fell short, it was an impressive debut and leaves me excited to read the rest of the trilogy and see how these characters and story can grow from here, especially with such impressive writing straight out of the gate.