I love a good retelling and I appreciate the choices she made changing aspects of this story. The characters were strong as ever; I love the character type kingfisher writes. I think the romance fell a little flat this time and I think I’ve decided that her retellings are my least favorite of her particular stories. I really love her original works that aren’t based off of other fairy tales. I don’t think this will be a multi-read for me.

This author did a good job of writing a fantastic story that explored all the dynamics of the male loneliness epidemic; money, social standing, efficiency, status, isolation. Isolating yourself from others has you living half a life. If you are isolating and just going with the flow, you’re not a part of the community. You feel things halfway (which was very well done with the writing since the MC felt so disconnected most of the story) and how every time he starts to isolate the cat shows up and takes him back on the right path. He has a whole community wanting to bring him in and connect, but his grandfather was his only person. This book did a good job of showing that community, connection, and empathy are the best path forward. You have to have emotional relationships and let people in.

I love this genre so much usually but this was a lower rating than normal for me. I feel this writing style would have done better as a novella than a full novel and it would have fixed some pacing issues. The labyrinths he was fighting through felt too similar to each other. Up until the end + translator notes this was a 2 star book for me but the explanation in the translator notes and the ending with the final labyrinth pulled it together a bit more