First of all, please note that the borderline lunacy you're about to see may make you think I didn't like this book. For the record, I did! I agree with most of the criticism in other reviews, that the book was too long and dragged a bit, that the terminology was way too extra (please refer to my non-spoiler forum post from 47%), that some of the characters could be a tad tropey.

HOWEVER. I loved the FMC. I loved that she was snarky and abrasive and violent. Granted, I have still somehow not managed to read any SJM or Fourth Wing, etc., which I can only assume have similarly coded FMCs? So I'm not burned out on that kind of character, personally. The author injected so much humor and casual feralness (ferality?) into the FMC's inner (and outer) dialogue that I just couldn't help but love her.

Also, the lore and world building is so inventive and different from any other dragon books I've read, and I think the author deserves a ton of credit for that. Sarah, if you read this review, I'd love to be an early reader on your next books. I have so much feedback, and I think you're really onto something wonderful.

Okay. So. I'm saying all of the following with love. And keep in mind, no one who hated the book would put this much effort into the lunacy that you're about to see (alright, I'm underestimating the internet, they definitely would). However, that's not where I'm coming from. I give a lot of shits!

Stop here if you just wanted a review and don't want to read the ravings of some goober with ADHD and her fixation of the moment. You have been warned.

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Sarah, I got MAD BEEF with your world timeline. FIVE MILLION? That is a monumentally vast number, my friend. And it's just not plausible in any way, shape, or form. I cannot stop thinking about it. The madness, it's consuming me.

I did some math. ...Ok, AI did some math (and made me these tables). Don't come at me on the AI; I literally picked English as my major because it required the fewest math classes.

First, some baseline conversions. Note, an "18 phase old" person in their world would be about 49 earth years old. These are pulled directly from the book's glossary, so it's all canon.

• 1 cycle: equivalent to our 24-hour day. • 1 phase: 1000 cycles. The book says this is "akin to a year." • 1 eon: 100 phases or 100,000 cycles. • 1 "phase of life:" 1000 cycles.

Unit	In Book Terms	In Days/Daes (Cycles)	In Earth Time
Cycle	Base unit	1	1 day
Phase / Phase of Life	1000 cycles	1,000	~2.74 years
Age	24 "phases of life"	24,000	~65.75 years
Eon	100 phases	100,000	~273.97 years

Brace yourselves, folks. I'm about to go full Pepe Silvia.

For this exercise, we're going to use Tolkien's Legendarium (which encompasses all works in the LOTR universe). Yes, there are longer lore timelines out there -- looking at you, Warhammer -- but everyone knows Warhammer is in a league of its own when it comes to timelines and timespans (and there are like, 800+ pieces of canon Warhammer media and I'm already doing too much here).

I digress. So yeah... This timeline of five million years is ABSOLUTELY BATSHIT BONKERS UNHINGED, babe.

Comparative context:

Timeline	Length in Earth Years	Notes / Context
Earth History (Homo sapiens)	~300,000	Entire human species history
Earth History (modern civilization)	~10,000	From earliest cities / agriculture
Tolkien Legendarium (creation to end of 4th Age)	~600,000	Extreme end of estimates of Arda’s history
5 million phases (this book)	~13,700,000	Time elapsed since the creation of this world and those who inhabit it.

Listen. We know this ain't Earth. You crammed "dae" and "slumber" into our brains and made us do the male/female fantasy trope thing (I still love you, but "dae" makes me so irrationally annoyed). We're clear that it's not Earth, and we're on board with it! So just cut the timeline down by 4.5 million or so and call it a day! That's PLENTY long, I assure you.

The timeline is quite simply breaking my immersion and my sanity. And we are supposed to believe that a single artifact was passed down this long?? Babe, most of us can't even keep track of a chapstick for a full month straight.

Sarah, I beg you. Retcon this. We can all pretend your editor pulled an April Fools on you and did a CTRL-H in Word and replaced every instance of the word "thousand" with "million." Hee hee hee, very funny!

Anywho, I really liked the book and I'm looking forward to the sequel! Promise. 😘

I absolutely ADORED this book. Parts of it were really hard to read, even though I don't personally have any strong triggers. But people who have suffered abuse will definitely find a very sympathetic FMC here. I think everything was handled really beautifully, and realistically. Some things you just don't get over, but healing is possible with the right people surrounding you to help. Anyone who loves found families and broken but strong and determined protagonists, this one's for you.

The author is a super talented artist and did her own covers, and her Instagram is full of incredible character art! Definitely check it out, you won't be sorry!

Part of my New Year's resolution was to cut down on my social media usage, and I've been really good about that one. So I'm not sure if this is trending on Bookstagram or Booktok, but if it isn't yet, IT WILL BE. The author just got signed to a publishing House, so I'm certain when these get re-released and have some marketing money behind them, they are going to blow up. If you're a book influencer, now's your chance to get ahead of the hype!!