What a phenomenal book. I have to wait for the next one to come in from the library. It’s a subtle story, told through the history of things and then you realize what has happened, what those things actually were and your brain explodes.

The audio narration is so gentle, so soothing you think you’re listening to a cozy fantasy instead of the white knuckle, high stakes political intrigue it actually is.

I’d love to see this book taught in writing classes about how much you can do with very, very little.

Hold on, this is going to be a REVIEW.

My initial thought was that this book was going to be an exploration of wealth vs climate destruction and the people who are primarily responsible for some/most of these policies have made themselves immune to their consequences. It is not that at all. Pity.

The thing with stories and tropes is that we know all of them. Someone has said that there are only two plots:someone leaves or someone arrives. It’s what an author does with that that makes all the difference.

Aris goes on this long journey for a very specific purpose and goal. Journeys be it in books or real life are supposed to change you both physically and emotionally. Aris changes physically, but there is little emotional growth or change If you’re wondering if she keeps talking about the same things over and over again in her head, the answer is yes. This lack of growth makes her a very weak heroine and the reader is left wondering how little she’s changed emotionally. Because she has zero emotional growth, the reader is left wondering why she makes some very stupid choices.

The central relationship in the book needs so much work. It spends way too much time being flat. At best, this relationship is an example of why trauma bonding is a bad idea. Instead of being this great romance, it’s transactional. The start of the sex scene? Tinder dates have more foreplay and passion.

I suspect that the author was told to make this a two or three book series because this went on to damn long, especially the trip itself, but also lots of the things at the start. In the end, it didn’t seem to add to the plot but it did add to the page count which means I’m not sure if I’ll read the rest of the series. I listened to the audiobook and Anthony Palmini was criminally underutilized.

I understand that this is the author’s first adult book and I think it shows. And as a YA novel that has 200 pages ripped out of it, some of these issues might be fixed.