In this dark fantasy paranormal novel, Primrose depends on Ash, who has always been with her and appears most often in an amorphous human form composed of smoke and stars. Nobody else can see or hear Ash, so Prim gets really good at keeping secrets. She reaches the age of sixteen with the idealism and enthusiasm of a baby goat in a onesie. This leaves her tragically unprepared for a world populated with curses, slothmancers, elementals, practitioners of strange arts, beings with immutable gifts and the vagaries of prophecy. Once she knows her legacy and why Ash is bound to her, she has a lot more questions. Most of them begin with, “Why didn’t you tell me that?!” or “Why would you tell me that?!” Seeking mystical insight comes with sightseeing, meeting terrifying people, laughter, grief, confusion, horror and sometimes donuts.