Let's get one thing straight, I am reserved at any young adult book tackling social injustice and arranged marriages. Usually how this plays out is the protagonist would hesitate entering the relationship and even be hostile towards her husband. Then her husband shows how kind and sensitive he is because he doesn't rape and beat her.
Since this is also a polygamous marriage, she get jealous sharing him because she realizes he's not so bad and maybe even a catch in this society. Someone like Carmen, the second wife, will try to sabotage Dani and the husband has to prove how much he loves her by not sleeping with the obviously more beautiful girl and believing her "lies".
Then in comes the dangerous rebel who is smoking hot, but wants her to betray her new loving husband. It's not like her husband is at fault for people starving while they well to do. It's not as if his wealth is built on the exploitation of labor and strategic poverty. Of course, she'll try to be stealth and cunning but fail on every point and have to be rescued from her awful plans. Oh, and there has to be a makeover especially one where her husband gives her material things and they have a touching moment where he reveals his grand scheme. It always involves him retaining power however and maintaining the status quo but with some regulations so literally neoliberalism.
Okay, take everything I just said and throw it out the window because we deserve better and we have it here in this book. There are LGBTQ+ rep, actual spying, current political dissent, a complicated protagonist, intrigue, and cultural diversity. I actually love this book and the statement that revolution involves violence or self-defense is necessary. Solely peaceful protesting is a privilege. To not fight back is to also accept death and sacrifices at the hands of your murderers. I completely recommend this book for people fed up with the genericness of prepackaged YA fantasy without understanding the ways in which it reproduces abuse. This is a book I have been waiting for and something we deserved all along.
I love the technique of paper cutting and the way it's done with the gradient. It's a visually striking book marking it as different from the illustrative girl holding a sword formula. I also like the stylized, almost wild west victorian typeface, too. This definitely drew me in and convinced me to give this book a try.
