“[…]the truth was very costly at times. How terrible, to navigate the world without a story to comfort you.”

If you were to remove all of the sentences in this book that described one of the characters blushing, it would probably be about half its current length. I don’t know if this is just a more common experience of fair skinned people or what but I think a group-read of this in which everyone took a shot every time someone blushes would be a pretty fun way to get absolutely shittered with your friends if they also happen to be into horny fantasy mystery novels that involve a lot of quivering and clenched fists.

Blushing and quivering aside this was a truly enjoyable read. Reid is brilliant at capturing the “dark academia” imagery and I loved how she used such a beautifully painted, fantastical storyline to examine themes of misogyny, victim-shaming, childhood trauma, and isolation, as well as gender-based violence, bigotry, and oppression. As a reader who originally chose to read this book to scratch my annually occurring wintertime dark academia itch, its depth and sincerity came as a pleasant surprise.

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cooldudenick's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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kelseydaffodil's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"Why was it always girls whose forms could not be trusted? Everything could be taken away from them in an instant."

wow. WOW. what a book. i loved so much of this. the vibes, the setting, how it was clearly not in our world yet held some of our own things (cameras, cars, phones). the fact that the fairy king was not romanticised, not like other books. the constant guessing. preston. oh wow, what a sweet guy. exactly what effy needed to ground her. and effy. what an incredible protagonist. i loved her so much.

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allisonsmith120's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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chi__'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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elisha002's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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dom_brlw's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A surprising read, with a strange yet very well built world. It had me always expecting the worse, trying to figure what would come next but being gradually more surprised after each chapter. It was a very enjoyable read!

The negative part of the book will have to be the writing though, that sometimes felt too cliché, or too « Wattpad »-like.

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