The commentary in this was great! Wang did a great job of portraying sexism, colonialism, racism, and classism, and also corruption in religion. I especially enjoyed Sciona’s character. She’s so unlikable, and I loved that decision. She irritated me a thousand times and it’s great because I feel that a lot of authors, especially in fantasy like this, tend to shy away from having a main character be so unlikable. It was honestly simultaneously one of the most refreshing and frustrating reads I’ve had in a minute. Beyond that, however, I didn’t really care for the plot. There were some interesting moments, especially near the very beginning and the very end, but I didn’t develop a connection to the book outside of commentary and the only three interesting characters. The writing was a bit dull at times too, and I felt that it relied too heavily on explaining the world through dialogue rather than other means. Like, it’s totally a good way to teach the audience about the world, but it was so recurring that I ended up getting bored after a while.

Complex and unique writing style that, despite being a bit of an annoyance, made the book more engaging than it otherwise would have been had the style been simpler. I actually think I would’ve grown bored if the writing style didn’t consistently keep me on my toes because the plot does drag A LOT. The characters were definitely the best part of the book! Many narrators, which, alongside the wacky writing style, left me questioning what was happening half the time lol but each had their own distinct voice which I liked (a lot of them were so infuriating though). I’ll totally be thinking about the ending for a while too (…which might be a good thing?).