This was so much better than I expected it to be based on the average rating! 👀 But I can understand why you might not get this if you go in expecting a story told in a typical fashion. This is dark and weird and emotional and confusing, and I loved it! The way it uses necromancy and psychic abilities to explore trauma and conflicting emotions is so well done! Much of the story is told through dialogue, and there is little explanation or standard character development, but I was so emotionally connected to these characters and the difficult situations they were existing within.

Such a wonderful story told in such a creative way. Each chapter focuses on a story being told about a historical artefact, as our main character creates a reference catalogue. The stories are told by the previously exiled Empress's handmaiden, and focus on her experiences. But through those stories, there are glimpses of the political intrigue the Empress is part of, and the strength of the Empress's character. And it all comes together in such a satisfying and empowering way.

See me suffer through this book in my reading vlog here: https://youtu.be/aLGrUuTxNZU

I started this so optimistically 🥴 I actually enjoyed the framing, and some of the concepts had potential, but then it went steadily downhill. 99% of what happens is pointless nonsense. The points that it does try to make are inconsistent and honestly, stupid. Women-hating, homophobic, trash.

2.5 stars / dnf at 77% because my library audiobook returned itself and I didn't care enough to bother after that ¯_(ツ)_/¯ and maybe 2.5 stars is generous, but I can see why other people might enjoy this.

The general idea of what was going on was complex and interesting. I think it had a lot of potential. But the writing was bland, with a distance from the character that reduced the emotional impact for me. I think it was partially the second-person perspective. I often love second person but not in this case. The general structure was also a contributing factor to my lack of engagement. I wish there had been more of a balance between the present and past timelines. I was into Mercy's ghost talking and ghost cat investigation story, but then the whole middle of the book dropped that. I get what it was trying to do with the perspectives, but I definitely would have liked it more if the timelines were more woven. I think the twist (which I still got up to) would have worked better that way.

2.5 stars / dnf at 66% 😈 I picked this up based off loving Ada Hoffman's previous trilogy, the Outside. I should have guessed based on the synopsis and cover that this wouldn't be for me :( (I had a suspicion but I was in denial) I think this would work better for a YA/NA audience, and/or people who prefer to read more contemporary stories. This is more of a coming of age / coming out story set in a sci-fi world (and I never really enjoy coming of age stories at this point in my life, unless there is something more to it for me to get out). There are a few topics around AI that are introduced, but I would have liked this to be doing a lot more to explore those ideas. But I still highly recommend the Outside by Ada Hoffman :)

A fun fantasy mystery with great characters and a cool world, although I wish it was longer so we could have gotten more of both. If you liked A Master of Djinn by the same author, I think you'll like this too. It also has a touch of fun twisty time stuff which I always enjoy :) and does a good job of bringing it all together with a bad-ass, powerful goddess (with tentacles and an attitude)

This was a fun twist on prophecy with fun fighting magic in a fun and interesting (yet politically and socially fraught) world. I used fun 3 times so that you know that was fun 🤪 a nice balance of humour and realism.

What let it down a little bit for me was the last quarter and the introduction of the FUN and quirky assassin. I hated her lol 🥴 Also, the last part, despite being mostly an action-focused assassination attempt / escape attempt, lost a lot of the plot momentum and seemed to be just arranging events so we could have some cool fights. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ not the ending I was hoping for... but I still have some hopes for the rest of the series...