This book started out kind of slow and it was hard to engage with the story at first. I think part of this might have been having all these characters and magic powers thrown at the reader so quickly.
The story is told from a number of POVs; you hear from Safi, Merik, and Iseult as well as a few others. I really enjoyed Safi's parts and also Merik's. I had some issue with Iseult; she is supposed to be cold and controlled but for some reason this just made her character kind of dull and hard to engage with.
I did enjoy the focus on the friendship Safi and Iseult had, it was nice that this was a main theme throughout the story.
There is some good world building and a lot of magic in here. I would have liked a better explanation of how the magic actually worked, but we don't really get that. Hopefully that will be expanded upon in later books.
Overall this was a good start to a new YA fantasy series. It took a while to engage in the story but I ended up really enjoying the magic, the action, and some of the characters. This is a solid start to a new action-packed YA fantasy series and I would recommend.
The story is told from a number of POVs; you hear from Safi, Merik, and Iseult as well as a few others. I really enjoyed Safi's parts and also Merik's. I had some issue with Iseult; she is supposed to be cold and controlled but for some reason this just made her character kind of dull and hard to engage with.
I did enjoy the focus on the friendship Safi and Iseult had, it was nice that this was a main theme throughout the story.
There is some good world building and a lot of magic in here. I would have liked a better explanation of how the magic actually worked, but we don't really get that. Hopefully that will be expanded upon in later books.
Overall this was a good start to a new YA fantasy series. It took a while to engage in the story but I ended up really enjoying the magic, the action, and some of the characters. This is a solid start to a new action-packed YA fantasy series and I would recommend.
