Worth a Try - This may not be for everyone (see key point #3 in particular for more) but it’s pretty good if you can get past that, and worth a try on that basis.

Basically fantasy (I think it was nominally referred to as sci fi somewhere). No romance.

Integrated worldbuilding
Worldbuilding is tricky. Communicating that worldbuilding is even trickier. Authors will often either throw you in the deep end and let you figure it out, or do a bit (or a lot) of infodumping to address this.

What I really enjoyed here was that the setting, which is markedly different in many ways, was gradually introduced and integrated throughout the story. It felt really organic and, therefore, less jarring to learn about the world and environment we were in. This would not have been an easy feat and is definitely commendable.

Anatomy of a traitor
Bravid is arguably one of the main characters in this story. I promise I’m not spoiling anything by saying he’s a traitor; it’s more or less apparent within the first few pages. He’s not the bad guy here, either.

What’s interesting about seeing it from his perspective is getting an insight into what can make a staunch believer into a traitor. Because he really does believe he’s doing the right thing, and also clearly still believes in his cause, as it were. But with the glimpses into his thought processes, the conflict he feels, and the doubts that play out for him as the story progresses, it struck me as a really intriguing and compelling portrayal. I still didn’t like the guy, though.

Weird word choice
There’s an episode from the TV show Friends where Joey wants to write a really good letter for his friends. Because he wants to sound smart, he used the Thesaurus function in Word for every single word in his letter. Needless to say, the letter was rendered nonsensical as a result.

The usage of some words in this story reminded me of that. They were often similar in meaning, and you could see the direction the author was headed in, but they didn’t actually make sense in the context of what was being communicated. This persists throughout the story.

Similarly, the tone for different characters also wobbled at times due to the formality that you got from said weird word choices. It was annoying to me, but wasn’t a dealbreaker. I know this bothers some more than others, however, so your mileage may vary.

Hey, I’ve got mental health
I hate when people say this. Folx, everyone has mental health. It’s just that some of us have conditions or illnesses that more negatively impact on our mental health, okay?

That aside, this is one of the most interesting and clear portrayals of anxiety and panic attacks I think I’ve seen yet. It doesn’t shy away from Ghost continuing to experience anxiety resulting from his past, and resultant issues. And it really sinks its teeth into what it can be like. It’s not a major story arc or anything, but I appreciated this a lot

In summary, this was a very decent read. I found myself wanting to continue with it. If you can get over the word choice issues, it’s worth a try for the worldbuilding and characters.

3.5 ★

I enjoyed this! I thought the themes were handled very well considering how dark it got sometimes. Dinnie was also a very interesting character to read through, and I like how her relationship with Ghost was explored. I do wish the other side characters were fleshed out a little bit more in terms of personalities. I was also kind of confused by the nicknames? It took me a while to realize that some of the characters' nicknames were nicknames and not two different people.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it for fantasy lovers.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Yes! This was amazing! Definitely a must read for anyone that loves great characters and a fantastic world building.

A beautiful story set in an incredibly detailed world. I loved the complex characters, their relationships and how they evolve in this character-driven fantasy. It's different than what we are used to in this genre and it's a breath of fresh air!