If Alyssa were this way in the first book I would likely have removed myself from the tour. Her attitude, petulance and lack of regard for both herself, but especially the people around her, is miserable. It’s not that she isn’t still sympathetic. In ways she is. But the moment she bemoaned being bullied in school out of fear of being isolated again after almost manslaughtering her friend I stopped sympathising with her. Those situations are not on par. And stewing in her own self-pity while being angry that her friend is unhappy with her for that is unpleasant to read.

It’s not the only time this happens either. And everyone keeps apologising for hurting her feelings after she causes them physical and psychological harm. There’s more than one accidental almost-killing too. It feels like no one’s feelings but hers matter. Up to and including making fun of a character’s childhood abuse. And Alyssa’s feelings are fickle. Only a few chapters after crying about how she can’t lose anyone else one save yourself plea and she doesn’t even hesitate. There are moments when she’s scolded for her dangerous and childish behaviour. But that doesn’t mean the other characters don’t also snipe, yell, put upon others, and otherwise have contempt for one another. It’s exhausting to read.

But I do want to congratulate Prasad on this. I don’t understand why this is the decision that was made but it was done and done well. Alyssa’s refusal to bother trying to mitigate her problems was so stressful as it drew near its conclusion too.

That isn’t to say that there’s nothing to like. More than the others, The New Enchantress is all-in on its fantasy and adventure elements from the first page. And these I still consider the series’ best strengths. The villains are full of machinations and I liked rooting against them. While only one of them is given a perspective, there are other characters whose perspectives we get to follow along with. We’re right there for the action. There’s no point where it felt like the story was happening off-page.

What I enjoyed best was the compounding of threats. The farther we got the more, and the quicker, they came. It built and built and built until it became a point of fascination to see what could happen next. The higher stakes and darker narrative set it nicely apart from the first two books too. It should be interesting to see how that plays out given the set ups for further books.