*standing ovation*

I really struggled with Fallon in book one. Until she started interacting with Lore, I was convinced I’d never like her. Book one was also thick with world building and planting the foundation for the plot. This book, was absolutely all about the characters, and I really really needed that. Fallon was so much better developed in this book. I won’t say that she became a different person, because she is still definitely the slightly naive optimist she was in book one, but she at least grew enough to recognize that her worldview is limited and that she needs to allocate her trust wisely. How the author made me go from wanting to throttle Fallon, to finding her brand of cluelessness endearing is a mystery to me.

Lore is amazing. I am obsessed with him, his kingdom, and his people. I think the author did a really good job writing the Crows in such a way that they feel unique in a genre saturated with a lot of the same magics and people.

The romance in this book was such a delicious slow burn, ending in an inferno. I am so pleased with how Lore and Fallon’s relationship developed in this installment, and that makes the crazy cliffhanger all the more worrisome!! I cannot wait for the next book so I can get some resolutions, and hopefully more answers to the burning questions!