Reviews

This was an enjoyable my combination of rerurn-of-the-son, meet cute, and mystery set in a fictional setting reminiscent of post-plague Europe. That said, at times this feels like a patchwork of different vignettes, albeit many of them well-written (whether enticing with action, or tugging at the heartstrings), that make a book-length story but which could've used some finessing to make it a single cohesive novel or expanded into several storylines.

As an aside, it's interesting to think that this was being written or edited during 2020, when the world was so full of uncertainty about our time's plague. And it's interesting to think about the way in which that time period will shape the reader's experience of this book.

tacochelle's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a really cool ya fantasy, with a world inspired by medieval Europe during the black death. The mystery that drives the plot was really interesting, though I'm a little iffy on how it wraps up. The mc Cas has the ability to see and speak to ghosts, and I wish it was used more in the story. It was never fully explained, and with a plot focused on who is killing those closest to the queen, I thought we'd see Cas' power in action more, but it didn't, really.

Content Warnings

lahren's review against another edition

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4.0

I really enjoyed this book! This is definitely a book that you cannot judge by its cover because the cover does not at all accurately convey what you get with this book. I'd never felt a particular inclination to pick this book up off my shelf because the cover made me expect something really gritty and bleak, but instead this book felt more like a cozy mystery admist a medieval backdrop.

I admittedly liked the first third of this book more than the back two-thirds, but that is really down the fact that I didn't know this was an attempted-murder-mystery going in. I know my taste enough to know that I don't tend to enjoy that kind of arc, and that was definitely the part of this book I found the least interesting— but that's not on the book, that's on me for not doing my research first. Really I think the main driving force for me finishing this so quickly was Cas and everything he brought to the table. He had the sort of grumpy, reluctant-good-guy persona that reminded me in some ways of Kaladin from The Stormlight Archives, and most of my interest came from wanting to see where his story went. While the rest of the characters didn't get a ton of development, what we did see hinted at a depth that could have been explored more if this were a longer book or the start of a series.

On the whole I found this thoroughly entertaining, and I'd be interested in reading another book by this author!