Ok so perhaps first time I’ve said this in the history of ever but… this would have been so much better with no romance. Like the premise was interesting and there were parts I really enjoyed. Those parts were only the Touraine parts with no Luca 😭😭 even tho Touraine made so many dumbass decisions like girl ur so dumb what are you DOINGGGG. you just killed everyone and betrayed everyone multiple times. Anyways. Luca fell so flat for me, she was a complex, morally grey character but there was not a single thing I enjoyed about her and her and Touraine had -1500 chemistry now all of a sudden they are in love? Huh? Anyways. I think that if they knocked out the whole Touraine/luca of it all they could have spent more time on Touraine and her moms dynamic, the magic system, de-programming her soldier mindset etc etc, and Luca could have had a ton of interesting introspection on her need for control how her need for the throne impacts others. Just way more self reflection needed. I get that this will likely occur in future books but the plot didn’t feel compelling enough for me to want to continue. I did tear up a bit at the end tho like aw :(