The world building is quite good, but the characters are annoying and the plot is predictable. Self-insert characters are irritating nearly without exception, and the fact that Yarros has made the FMC her personal fantasy of herself and the MMC an idealised version of her husband (and does not hide this) is uncomfortable. I genuinely did enjoy the construction of the world itself, and the overall narrative, but the characters were nearly all either deeply unlikable or underdeveloped — the FMC's best friends are cardboard cut outs and

you hardly care at all when one of them dies

. The sex scenes were alright, but there aren't enough for this to really be considered smut; which is fine because the narrative is intriguing on its own, I just wish the characters were better written!

It's good for a fun summer read, kind of like the Kardashians or Love Island of the book world — switch your brain off and have some fun!