I had high hopes for this one after Alif the Unseen, but it didn't pay off. Loved the heroine and her friend, did not love the plot direction and twist, mostly because the latter didn't lean far enough into it. If that was how the bird king played out, let's really DO IT. That would have been interesting. 

---
It's convenient for girls to be angry about nothing. Girls who are angry about something are dangerous.

What is a story but the map of an idea? 

...a knot, after all, was a map of sorts, a path that led into the heart of something and out again.