Beautiful magic system. The plot is nothing like the description, so don’t pick it up if you want a story about a “dragon” taking a girl—that part is very mildly relevant after the first like 30 pages, then it becomes about war against the Wood. This is a story about love and guilt and finding peace in pain, not really a romance (the most powerful love in the story, in my opinion, is the friendship between Nez and Kaisa). 

The Wood is one of my favorite fantasy elements I’ve ever read. The corruption and the magic that’s spoken to defeat it is fascinating, and honestly very beautiful to read. I could hear the songs, and feel the wisps of smoke as I was reading. The book could be bogged down in long descriptions and big paragraphs occasionally, but overall I just really loved how this author wrote. Fantastic magic system.