~~Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books for the ARC!~~

2.5/5 stars rounded up.

This book had such an intriguing premise, and its setting in fantastical precolonial Filipino was the nice cherry on top that pushed me to request this book. Now that I have read it, all I'm left with is a simple shrug while saying, "Yeah, it's alright."

Let's start with the positives, such as the worldbuilding. The magic system is the strong undercurrent that moves through the book's landscape, from the political turmoil to religious beliefs. The driving conflict between the Gatdulas and Kulaws spans at least two generations, and the history between them is rich and complex. The conflict between Duja and Imperia especially was drove me to keep reading.

The downsides to the book are primarily its writing and characters. There were a lot of exposition dumps about the worldbuilding that halted the story too often for my liking, and it didn't help that the tone got a bit dry as well. It bogged down the pacing; I was kind of over it even when the pace sped up in the last third when all that buildup finally was paying off.

The POVs in this book are primarily Laya, Duja, and Imperia, but there are also random dashes of Luntok and Laya's littlest sister that didn't feel very necessary. Laya's POV, particularly, suffered a lot because, despite the narrative telling us how smart and powerful she is, her thoughts and actions made her out to be immature and stuck up; she didn't really grow as a character until the story forced her to at the very end. I also wished we got to see the conflict between her and Duja more, because I never really felt the animosity of their relationship other than what the narrative told us.

All and all, a fine read, but not quite what I wanted from it.