Everything I want from a faerie novel! Cunning Fae, clever hard magic, found family, and hard high stakes that keep the pace unrelenting. You won’t want to miss Parry’s latest masterpiece!

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The writing and the world was definitely a bit dry and melancholic, so it took me awhile to get into the story. Although I didn’t really connect with any characters in this book and especially found Clover extremely selfish and self-serving, I did like how faes were portrayed. The book kept true to folklore and presented them as cunning and even dangerous creatures you should know better than to bargain with. It takes but a few careless words for a fair one to twist your wish into something sinister and damning, which was something we got to see in the story.

MINOR SPOILER(S) AHEAD:

There was one particular plot hole my mind kept coming back to when reading the story. In this world, technically anyone can practice magic with the correct incantations and hand movements; it’s just more difficult for people with no magic in their bloodlines. After finding out about the existence of magic following the end of WWI, Clover studied diligently and was granted a scholarship to the magical academy of Camford. It didn’t make sense to me why the academy accepted a student from a common family with no magical lineage, as this went against everything the Families believed and stood for. They’re a society that would go as far as kill people to keep their secrets, so for them to grudgingly let Clover attend their institution didn’t fit the equation.

Overall, I did enjoy the dark academia + secret magical society mashup. Would be very interested in checking out more work by H.G. Parry!

This book was more than I hoped for. There were characters I grew to love, a beautiful world filled with both magic and real life struggles, and a story that felt historic and brand new all at once.

It did feel YA (which I’m not totally sure if it is categorized as such). The first half of the book still kept me hooked, even without much action. The second half of the book I finished quickly because I couldn’t put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.