as a writer, i am jealous of this book and its use of language and concepts, as well as the character designs. so much juiciness and rich symbolism. i love that the author mentioned dragon age and fanfiction in the acknowledgements because i definitely felt that vibe while reading, and with my own interest in dragon age and fanfiction and dragon age fanfiction, i can’t deny the pull it has for me because i love consuming that kind of writing. i have a love/hate relationship with the present tense choice. and i’m kind of blinded when lesbians are involved. i started reading it because a) i saw how much people were criticizing it and b) because the concept seemed incredible to me and it seemed like just the kind of medieval horror i’ve been craving. i both feel satisfied and also not satisfied after finishing it, but i did enjoy myself. there were times while reading that frustrated me about how vague some things were and how on the nose others were. i also did want more orgies and sex and gore, but did really enjoy the horniness and the gore and blood it did have. it almost seemed like the whole book would have benefited from stressing and focusing on certain horrors and their weight and cutting back on others, maybe being a little bit less disorganized. i also didn’t feel this story was very historically accurate beyond a surface level. which is also totally fair, it’s a fantasy. and many aspects of it were very well realized and had gravity to them. the language was delicious to read even when it got a little tiresome or repetitive. i also could barely put it down while reading because the tension and angst and horror were constant and i couldn’t wait to figure out how things would keep unfolding. i really appreciated this book and the way it captured my imagination. it’s definitely not for everyone and it’s not perfect, but i still loved reading it and it’ll stick with me.