This review will contain a lot of spoilers! Read at your own discretion.

I picked out this book knowing very little about it, other than the following: it's a gothic-medieval romantasy, the author’s writing is peak, there's a knight/princess-esque romance, and there's cool gods. So you could say I had high expectations, especially for Rachel Gillig.

Specifically, I’ve seen this book hyped up as: a slow-burn, a masterclass in gothic fantasy, an enemies-to-lovers, “best of the year,” old-school fantasy, a complex world, and a total breath of breath of fresh air in the world of badly-written romantasy books. By the end, I was disappointed, because I just wasn't hooked at all throughout this book. Nothing was really interesting to me, and when something even remotely interesting would happen it would be dropped, with little to no further world building or explanation. So, you can understand my frustration.

Where do I start? This will genuinely just be me rambling. No rhyme, reason, or structure. Good luck.

There was a lot of “tell” and not a lot of “show” here. I know, I know, bringing up show versus tell in a review? Red flag! But I mean this is every sense of the phrase. The way Gillig writes is almost elementary to me. Middle-school-like, if you will. She does this thing where she'll tell you what's going on, the exact feelings and thoughts of the characters. Most of the time, the dialogue actually includes said characters actually saying these things themselves. A few examples of writing that peeved me:

“A smile ghosted across Rory’s lips.”

This one happens more than you'd think. What does it mean to have a smile “ghost across one's lips”?

“‘...from the moment I clapped eyes on you.’”

Ok, a little petty for me not to like this. But “clapped”? Now I’m imagining how eyes can clap. Just say laid. Laid, put, placed, fixed, set…

“‘Pith.’”

Is this meant to be Traum’s version of “shit” or “damn”? They swear normally, otherwise.

“I watched him walk away, something cold chafing inside of me.”

Lmao I’m sorry but what doesn't that even mean girl

“I knew exactly how to read the signs—knew exactly what was going to happen to me. It was happening right now. I was falling in love.”

You can't blame me for reading this in a melodramatic voice as if I’m watching a romance drama and the MC is freaking out about being in love. Also, there was no need for her to tell us this. You can perfectly infer this from Rory and Sybil’s previous interactions.

There's also a few gaping plot holes. Namely, Sibyl’s shroud. How is this woman seeing? Her shroud must be the true magical object here, because it's somehow sheer enough for her to see through as if she has 20/20 vision, yet opaque enough so that nobody else can see her eyes.

“My vision was blurry, blotted out by rain and blood and the bruises that were already swelling around my eyes, but I kept going.”

AND she can put a knight's helmet over it and see perfectly fine. In the rain. Swollen around her eyes. Yep, nope.

Secondly, the issue of Maude’s being crushed by a tree and her miraculous recovery. She's described as if she has nearly every useful bone in her body shattered, yet just a few chapters later she's up, walking, and fighting with her broken arm. It's small but I found that to be a lazy decision. It was obvious that Maude was going to live, so it just feels stupid to have to read this.

Thirdly, and this is the big one, I still don't know why the Diviners dream. I was actually really interested in that concept, but it was never answered apart from someone going, “Oh, I have no idea. The Omens are really mysterious, you see,” (not literally, but yk.) And if it was explained further, then that's totally my fault. But, for all I know, who knows why the Diviners dream of Omens? Who knows why their drowning divinations are actually answered? The spring water made them do it, I guess.

Sibyl often mentions that the Omens are “complex,” but they really aren't. Sorry for getting my hopes up, everyone. But I really was disappointed to find out that the so-called mysterious, mythical, god-like Omens are just dudes. Random merchants from long ago that drank magical spring water, formed stone eyes, and picked up magical objects that really aren't as “well fleshed out” as some people make them out to be. They're just.. objects, with a transportative quality and a destructive quality. Okay, so what makes the gods godly is that they're eternal and that they have toys that let them travel about fifty feet away or blow up a boulder. How quaint.

I mean, it's boring. I don't mind a story centered around a quest, of course I don't (I literally love Lord of the Rings), but the entire thing is just the main group hopping between hamlets on horses and carts that seem to equate to cars in this universe. Where's the weeks, even months, of travel? Or are these hamlets really so close together? If not, then this is a very sparse kingdom. Unless everyone is just concentrated into these single six hamlets.

And if they are so close together, then I'd make sense how the Diviners managed to literally RUN from Aisling to Coulsen Faire, and then back again before dawn. This is despite it looking like a fairly far distance on the drawn map in the front pages of the book (which, by the way, feels extremely inaccurate. Where's the stone wall that is mentioned multiple times in the first couple chapters?)

Listen, I’m not trying to scream, “Everything has to be realistic in fantasy books!!!” but it'd be nice to have some semblance of logic. Unless you're going to re-define the laws of physics in your universe, maybe don't make your horse-drawn carts as fast as cars.

And don't get me wrong. I absolutely live for a good map in fantasy books. But when I’m left confused and questioning how things are even possible, you can see how that takes out of my experience.

I haven't read too much in the forums, but there's something someone pointed out that I was surprised I didn't notice until now: the people themselves. Every single hamlet has an aesthetic, right? Based on their corresponding Omen. Which is like, fine, I get it, you want to make it so that somehow this very small kingdom has hamlets with diverse cultures. But, I kid you not, every single person has the same profession. And I would throw personality traits in there, too, but you could argue they're varied. But, you're telling me that nobody who grew up in, say, the Cliffs of Bellidine, didn't want to be a weaver? Everyone just grew up and said, “Yeah, this is what I want to do.” Who's cooking? Banking? Lending money? Governing? Smithing? Building? Teaching? How is this hamlet even thriving?!?!?

Also, I didn't feel like I understood the characters enough for the ending to be anything more than an, “Oh btw I’m going to use you because politics is forcing my hand, oh and also let me just stab my best friend real quick and betray anyone who has ever cared about me, as if I couldn't just ask the Diviner to help me out and we could have compromised, no because politics and the rich knights wouldn't allow that so you have to become my queen now, and by the way I’m going to act really out-of-character and creepy from now on.” Benji does show some cunning moments, but nothing to garner this kind of switch-up. Not on this scale, and especially not when everything has gone right for them.

Let's talk characters!

First, I want to address Rory. Roderick Myndacious. What an unfortunate name. Even more unfortunate to have a woman reminding you of your last name every few minutes, simply because she refuses to use your actual name. I feel almost bad for Rory, because he felt like he was only there as a plot device. Before you scream, “Well, no duh!” let me explain… Rory’s backstory is kept just vague enough for us to not really question it. He's from the slums, delivered to an Omen by Benji’s grandfather, taken in and apprenticed by the Artful Brigand (said Omen), and has been the king's most trusted knight ever since.

Somehow, he's the foulest knight in all of Traum… why exactly? He's faithless, he's proud, and he's a little rude. That's it. He hasn't committed any other crime than having a pissy attitude. I mean, he's even killed an Omen for Benji’s sake and yet the guy still calls him a “bad knight” at the end of the book. What??? If anything, this guy is chivalrous. You should see how many “touch her and you die” trope moments Gillig has snuck into this book. It's actually impressive. But, anyway, everyone including Rory himself is convinced he's a “bad knight” which is very strange considering he hasn't even done anything morally bad, except apparently not following their religion.

I don't know if I have much to say about Sibyl. She wasn't horribly written, but, just like Rory, I really know nothing about her besides that she loves Rory’s dark eyes and that she really likes to talk about her breasts… like, weirdly, a lot. I’m kidding, obviously. I know more than that, it's just that I couldn't connect with any of these characters. Maude had more of a personality than Sibyl did.

Now… let's talk about their romance. Call me old-fashioned, but I love stories where you can see the deep bond between two characters as love that grows throughout the story, through hardship and pain and happiness. Where, “I can't stand the way you think and I’d do anything to stop you” becomes, “I know why you think this way and I’d do anything to stop you from hurting yourself in the process.”

For Sibyl and Rory? I don't see that connection. Sure, they go through a lot, but it doesn't seem like their relationship improves except for the dial on their attraction meter going from 10 to 100. The only thing they do is screw. Like, thrice, in the span of a week. And then, magically, a switch flips and Rory is so down bad that his entire character has taken a 180° and suddenly he'd do anything for Sibyl. I just can't find it in me to honestly say that's a good way to show their trust in each other. Sure, it's the most vulnerable act, and it can be used well, but… someone's gotta understand what I’m saying here.

They're giving that one high school couple doing PDA in the hallway, and I’m surprised nobody in the group is uncomfortable when they start flirting in front of them. Their relationship consists of Rory being inexplicably rude, Sibyl disliking it and challenging him, him liking the challenge but then being embarrassed of his actions later, and the two of them proceeding to do nothing but banter for the rest of the book. Oh and she really likes his dark eyes. And his back.

How about a little light in all of this, though? The gargoyle! Everyone's love and savior. He's very funny, most of the time. He's a comic relief but doesn't feel bullied by the author, and he actually has a part in the plot. I like that Gillig used him to put some humor in here. He's quirky, and I like it, but not for what the book was trying to be, which was some sort of dark gothic medieval story. Even so, he definitely carried the book for me.

I’ll end this by saying that the end of the book was very unnecessary. This could have been a standalone, and I’m probably going to keep it that way! We need more standalone fantasy books out there.

You can go ahead and call me the most negative person in the world now. I’m convinced I’m either an idiot or just picky for not loving this!