The audiobook production and narrator were good. I don’t have any complaints on that part.

I read 38% of this before dnfing it. I couldn’t continue. It really jostled me how often we were experiencing flashbacks. Like listening to it I found myself very confused. It was hard to follow.

Another thing that was annoying to me was it felt like each new chapter there was some big info dump about the world and history. It just wasn’t great to have this info thrown at you constantly, it was boring.

I was also kind of confused because I believe this is meant to be set in a different world than our own. There are talking geese and weird trees. Yet there are references made that are linked to our world. So that didn’t work for me.

I also disliked all of the characters. Plus I found it weird to follow a 14 year old protagonist who very much is childish and whiny. This did not read like an adult book aside from some of the more brutal elements happening around Sophia.

I decided to stop reading it because I just couldn’t make myself care about the plot or characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ALC!

This has all the elements of a dark fairytale: a forgotten city, myths, magic, and fables, a young girl striving for her mother’s love, a talking goose, and war threatening the execution of all children.

I found this to be a creative and imaginative coming-of-age story. But it’s also deep and thought-provoking, depicting trauma and heartbreak with interludes of whimsy and longing.

The audiobook's narration was well done and brought a unique dynamic to the narrative.

Thank you @harperperennial for the gifted book.

Thank you @harperaudio for the gifted audiobook via #Netgalley.