I have no idea why I waited so long to start this series. Obviously the wrong choice, because I love it! This first book isn’t without flaws, but it hits so many of my preferences in such good ways. I knew going in there would be lovecraftian horror elements here, but I didn’t realize it’s full-on lovecrafian fiction, down to the MC being a Miskatonic University alumni. Lovecraft made queer happens to be my favorite brand of horror in the world (I’m kinda an eldritch thing at heart), so that alone was enough to make me squee in excitement early on, and the way all the horrors were handled? 10/10! The vibe and the ratio of horrors to investigations to interpersonal hijinks reminded me of some of my favorite Call of Cthulhu campaigns I was in. Just. Exactly the absolute correct balance, 100% what it should be, can’t properly put into words the absolute rightness of it.

Whyborne, the MC/narrator, took his time to grow on me. At first, I was low-key annoyed by what a blushing virgin he was, and I don’t even mean his behavior in regards to his budding relationship with Griffin, just his whole wallflower mindset. It really seemed way over the top. But as the story progressed, I began to think that I would’ve been far less annoyed by him—maybe the opposite of annoyed, even—if I was seeing him through someone else’s eyes, not his own. He’s not *actually* the epitome of awkwardness, he just strongly perceives himself as such! He’s an unreliable narrator when it comes to himself. Once that clicked, I actually started appreciating him a whole damn lot. He may feel like he’s constantly making a fool of himself and annoying people, but when you just look at his actions, he’s in fact pretty badass. I loved all the multiple uses he found for the single fire spell, the way he kept coming close to falling under the implied influence of the eldritch spellbook and noping out every time, and everything he did around the culmination of the plot. 

Griffin, on the other hand, stole my heart practically from his first appearance. There was just something so endearing about him and his kindness from the get-go, I totally understand why Whyborne fell for him so fast. There was a hot minute when I thought that maybe he was getting a bit too perfect, but then he started revealing hidden depth, ranging from eldritch-related trauma to some excellent acting/lying skills, and my interest was renewed again. I just kept looking at all these puzzle pieces, all the things he clearly wasn’t telling Whyborne without Whyborne realizing it, and thinking about all the potential ways they could be used in the third act to create the perfectly painful misunderstanding that would make way too much sense. (That is, in fact, exactly what happened. I loved every bit of that specific misunderstanding and everything that followed.)

I’m still unsure if I’m buying that I’m buying these two characters as an OTP, though. I’m definitely seeing the chemistry, and the grounds for bonding over bad past experiences, and they kick ass together against eldritch horrors and creepy cultists with a reasonable amount of synergy. But what I’m seeing in this book, at least on Whyborne’s part, feels kinda more like sexually charged puppy love with a potential of simmering down into great friendship rather than the beginnings of a strong romantic feeling. But hey, the series has like 10 more books to convince me of this partnership, and I’m definitely reading on for the love of the eldritch, so I’ll give these two a chance!

As for other characters, Christine is my absolute favorite. She’s awesome on every level. I would read a whole prequel series about her becoming this badass archeologist despite whateveer nonsense the men around her had to say about this. I hope she remains a fixture in all the subsequent books, and I hope she never changes because I’m in love with her no-nonsense attitude, her dry wit, her subdued compassion, her courage—*everything* about her. In a far less positive sense, I am fascinated by the Whyborne family and eager to read more about them. I expect some delightful messes and maybe a mild improvement in like 5 books or so, at this rate. Also, all the cultists who actually got names, personalities, and goals were really engaging to read about (and yes, I understand why they couldn’t all be important named characters, but I still remain curious about the rest).

When it comes to flaws, I guess I can complain about the spicy scenes being kind of cringey and some minor continuity details being off here and there. All in all, there’s this sense of the author and the story still finding their footing, with the narrative literally becoming stronger with each next chapter. I’m really excited for all that comes next.