This book is tragically underrated.

The writing is beautiful, the themes are heavy and tragic and real.

This is NOT a romance... Yet.


This is a story of an imperfect, naive, and scared young woman who had to make impossible decisions in the face of losing those she loved. This is a story of a young woman whose world has been overtaken, whose people are victims of genocide, and who wants the best and is scared to see the worst.

This is the story of a young woman falling in love with words of manipulation, distorted dreams out of the mouth of someone she wants desperately to see the best in. Because seeing the worst in him is admitting to the worst in her and in humanity. War is nothing but a gray area and Ruying learns the hard way that good intentions can still result in evil outcomes.

The reviews saying this romanticizes colonization/colonizers have completely missed the fucking point in my opinion. As do the reviews that DO like Antony.

At no point did I think her falling for Antony made Antony a good person. At no point did her misguided efforts for peace make the Romans well-intentioned. The entire point was when faced with the absolute worst for your loved ones and for your country-under the threat of death-what decisions would YOU make? It's gray morality and manipulation and being in the wrong. And learning how to bounce back after making the wrong decisions.

I don't think we have seen the true beginnings of the romance in this story yet. I have a feeling I know who the REAL love interest is, and it isn't the colonizer.

This story was gorgeous and gut wrenching and I'm excited to read the next book and see how Ru can be redeemed.