This is a love letter, to anyone who, was once gifted, but has fallen, disappointed expectations.

I had a lot more fun with this one than I had expected. I appreciate that Blake really commits to the character studies approach throughout, especially characters that are actually morally grey. Her writing style here can feel a little heavy-handed, but, in my opinion, this only furthers the narrative and creates a world that orbits the Wrens, just as they assume it does.

The plot is slow to start, allowing plenty of room for our Wrens to wax lyrical about how hard each of them has it, until Thayer dies and unfolds their web of tensions and histories, one that draws in people outside of the Wren family. Overall, I found I did not mind the slower plot in favor of enjoying the characters.

Speaking of, the characters here absolutely steal the show. I oftentimes find that authors are unable to allow their characters to truly be bad people, but I was delighted to find each of these characters, especially Meredith, to be spectacularly immoral, each in a unique way. Meredith is downright corrupt, Eilidh behaves as a petulant, naive child, Arthur has no agency in his own life, and, of course, they are not without reason, but there is no need to rationalize every action here. They could have made different decisions, they chose their fates. Thematically, the characters each convey entirely different facets of what it means to be gifted. To thus, grow into an adult body, with the childish, lifelong expectation of being great, greater than life itself, and burn down because of it. And the twisted relationship with love itself that results.

The tone here varies widely from almost academic breakdowns of character motivations and opinions, to sarcastic, tongue-and-cheek style remarks from our narrator. While jarring at times, it never bothered me enough to deem it a true problem, but it definitely diffused some tension and slowed scenes. The narrator, though, is not without their unique moments and surprises, something I always love in a story.

Overall, I adored reading this, it felt like watching a grand, historic building collapse before your eyes. There goes the open foyer, the stately pillars, the gauche murals, etc. Of course, watching something so beautiful fall is always a little sad, but you cannot help but appreciate that it may never be as beautiful as it is right now, while it's burning, and love it more for that reason alone.