The twists and turns of this book, the adventure, the characters all had me ensconced. I read some of this book while waiting an hour for a job interview to start and I devoured so much of it in such a short time. I hated to have to put it down. This was the first time I had read anything by Hafsah Faizal and it was amazing. Faizal sets you up perfectly from the first page, and if you’re really paying attention you can see all the breadcrumbs she leaves. When I finished the book I immediately went back to the beginning to piece things together and see all of these little hints and I was absolutely blown away. Faizal does an excellent job of tackling colonialism, racism, and political corruption in a fantasy world. And it did so through a diverse cast of characters! What a welcome change from the very bland fantasy heroes that were often given! And can we just talk about POC vampires that don’t sparkle in the sun? It was great and had so much substance! If you loved Babel but wanted more adventure and more of the fantasy component this book is for you!