I loved the story. It was a good time.

The writing could use a little work. We’d be in the middle of a conversation and the book would veer off into explaining something, and readers wouldn’t even get the end of the convo?

I did skip bits because it didn’t seem to fit with what the story was talking about at that point.

All that being said: I loved it. Feels in a similar vein as Ilona Andrews’ sweep series.

Bad writing: too much stream of consciousness, yet motivations unclear. Self-insert: 'how cool am I' - more in love with the world than the reader had any chance to get

I enjoyed this book, but I wouldn't say it was especially good.

Zelia has been tasked with delivering a rare loci crystal to the world walkers' Synod. She must get it there before the Synod ends or else the vote for how to use it won't happen for five years, when the Synod meets again. Duty matters to Zelia, so she is determined to get it there on time. She also hopes it will get used to open a pathway to Howff, where people are being exploited, hoping the pathway will bring freedom for those oppressed by the Howffian rule. Her best friend is part of the Synod and good at politics, so Zelia is hopeful.

However, a chaos storm chases her into the Darkhouse of Doom for sanctuary. There she meets the House and Tavor, the goblin tasked with guardianship. More precisely, Tavor was cursed by the House's creator, Xolotol. It was his dying curse. The wicked sorcerer is gone, but Tavor remains in a sort of forced existence that he tries to make the best of.

I really enjoyed the characters and the world of this story. I struggled with basically every angle of the development. The explanations of the magic system were clunky, and I still don't really understand many aspects. The book also relies a lot on the telling, and not showing strategy for development. Zelia is adamant that she has all these connections, and she can't abandon them to help Tavor and the House the way they wish, but there aren't any scenes that really show her connections and exhibit any heartfelt moments with anyone. It made it hard to understand the stakes for her if she did commit to the House and Tavor. Then on top of that, I wasn't sure why she couldn't help the House and still commit herself to her current goals. That was never entirely explained. And finally, the chemistry between Tavor and Zelia was not there. That needed better writing and more development to make me believe their relationship.

Somehow with so many flaws, I still enjoyed the book enough to find the next one. I don't know if it was expositional struggles that are the author's Achilles heel, so I'm willing to try the next one.

Had an interesting buildup but the climax kind of lost me, with her not confronting many of the problems of being a sorcerer. The realization of being in love felt a little too fast, too.

Meh, not into it

This book, like its main character, Zelia, refuses to the well-trodden path and for that I enjoyed it. However, because of this, gaps usually filled in by more repetitive plots and clichés means that the big ending falls flat. I wish the romance had either been a bit more outright, or taken more time. As it was there were so many elements going on at once tha  there was little to no time given to the main couple. I loved the overall world and story but it's so closely tied with the flat romance, the ending left me disjointed.