I kept waiting for this book to hook me, but it never did. This is mostly due to weak characterization. This book gets so wrapped up in the worldbuilding (admittedly, cool) and the slow mystery of our protagonist's dark backstory (admittedly, interesting) that it forgets to give our protagonist emotions. Even when our protagonist has lost everything dear to her, the typical reaction is one line of, "She sighed," and then the story moves briskly along. We never stop for reactions, or anticipation, or planning, or emotions of any kind.

Oh, and don't even get me started on this romance. No chemistry. No emotions. Just the very occasional, "Wow, he's hot isn't he? But, I'm not here to make friends so I'm not going to think about it." The book is just expecting you to fill in the romance yourself based on the bare minimum tropes it hints at.

The audiobook is well performed. The narrator includes a Bulgarian accent for some of the characters, making the setting and people in the book come alive.

DNF at 59%

Thanks to Netgalley, Tor Books, and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.