June Hur’s writing is lovely. I liked The Red Palace more than this one, but it’s still a solid book and worth reading. It’s a dark story chronicling a very dark period of Korean history, and it does that quite well. Our main characters are fictional, but some are real (like the mad, evil king). The author helpfully gives a brief summary of this period at the beginning of the book to put it into context for us.

I think this book succeeds at describing what it might be like to be an “ordinary” person during a time of political tyranny and upheaval. Our MC Iseul isn’t at the frontline of the rebellion leading the charge, as we are used to seeing in most stories; she’s tangentially related to what’s going on, a cog in the machine. It’s a little jarring when you’re used to reading characters that are more significant to the political effort, but it’s not a bad thing. I enjoyed her story and personal growth.

Where it didn’t succeed so well: There’s a serial killer plotline that IS significant to the overall plot but it still felt a little awkward shoved in there with everything else going on. I think that could’ve been done better. The romance was sweet, but similarly felt a little forced. I liked it. It just felt too fast and not quite earned.

I think this book will not be a reread for me, but will be memorable due to the time period in which it was written and how well that was described. It was really fascinating.

Cliffhanger like 10,000 feet high—thank goodness the next book comes out really soon. I was SAT for this one. I loved the magic systems, and the necromancy was more cool than gross (you never know with necromancy). We didn’t get much of it in this book though, so I hope we will get a more in-depth view of it in the future. The characters were VERY well done and so compelling. These are complex, layered people. I enjoyed that so much. The slow burn romance was great, and this is a great example of enemies-to-lovers executed well. As it’s mostly a journeying story with the two principal characters, there isn’t much screen time with side characters—but the brief moments a side character is on page, they feel like real people and not just flat tropes out there for convenience. There seems to be a lot more going on outside of the main story in this book that we only get glimpses of. Looking forward to more of that in the future, too. Overall a really good read.