Fun, very unserious comedic romantasy that’s over quickly, with a hook for a sequel. 

I didn’t like Halla the mc at first, feeling like Kingfisher made her a little too absurdly head in the clouds, but the story recontextualizes her relatively quickly and I grew to like her a lot. She gets some decent character growth over time, and is the only one who has much in the way of development. Sarkis, Zale, and the rest of the cast all join her in being really likeable and injecting levity and charm into nearly every single situation, making even what should be relatively dire stakes feel absurd. There’s some introspection and attempt at growth with Sarkis, but honestly I didn’t really feel it. 

There’s a fair amount of nonfussy, straightforward lgbtqia+ rep which is always nice to see. I like when it’s just treated as an everyday thing.

A Gnole would like to see many more books just about Brindle, who is clearly the best character in the book by far and it’s not even close, but it unfortunately probably wouldn’t happen.

There’s some artificial feeling injected drama later on that threw me a bit, but it felt like Kingfisher didn't like it much either and resolved it rather quickly. The romance is lighthearted, quick, and rather unbelievable, but that’s in line with the style of the whole book and I deliberately didn’t think too hard about it and enjoyed it (advice for the entire book honestly). There’s a sex scene thrown in, which is very trendy and booktok-y; shrug.

Great read when you want something lighter!