★ 3.5 / 5
I am so excited to continue this series! By far the best part of this book happened within the final 25%. I was feeling pretty neutral and occasionally "meh" about it throughout the first half, but right at the 50% mark, things began to change—probably because Quell's confidence in herself and her toushana began to shine in the second half. Anyway, the first half is very slow pace and heavy with the cotillion/academic setting. Quell's making tons of mistakes under her Grandmom's watchful Headmistress eyes, and while it makes sense for that to happen since Quell has not been in this magic world at all until now, I was ready for her unhinged toushana moments. I was a toushana stan from the beginning, so I was bored reading her pushing it down. It took me an extra two weeks to complete this book because that initial portion was dragging so much.
But the good news is the second half made up for that pacing!
As soon as Quell makes the decision to lean into her toushana, especially her first time going into the forest to release it, I was HOOKED. I knew Quell was officially starting her true journey, and it made my heart so happy. I loved getting to see her overall arc. Looking back on her negative relationship with toushana in the first half, it makes sense to lean heavily into that part of her magic insecurity for the sake of this book, and it only made her acceptance of it, in the end, sweeter. The entire binding sequence was incredibly fascinating to watch, and I love how this magic system relies a ton on traditions like stabbing your magic blade into her chest to bind your magic to your being forevermore. Fun, right?
Anyway, the relationship Quell has to her love interest Jordan is pretty knife-in-the-heart-twisted if you know what I mean. The fact that he is a Dragun and kills those with toushana just... I knew they weren't gonna have a happy ending, but it still hurt to watch their final scene together! I was rooting for you Jordan!! I was rooting for you to give up your stupid beliefs to be with Quell and love her for every part of herself!! I'm also still bitter about him telling Grandmom that he'd kill Quell IF SHE WANTED HIM TO. Boy, be for real right now. I know you wouldn't actually do it. You better not. But besides their complicated relationship in the end, I did enjoy the slow burn. Their romance does not really begin until the 50% mark in my opinion, and I loved that they didn't even kiss until the end was nearly in sights. Made their relationship feel organic and natural. I'm hoping Jordan sees the error of his ways in the sequel, or better yet, Quell slaps some toushana sense into him.
My last big point—Yagrin. The mystery POV throughout the book that constantly stumped me because at certain points I thought Yagrin could've been Jordan. Yagrin is a staunch Dragun member at the start of the book, but readers notice his sympathies for the toushana girls he murders. Obviously, he still murders them, so it doesn't really mean much, but Yagrin by the end has fully shifted to destroying the Order. He's in vendetta mode. I loved how his POVs came more frequently in the final few pages of the book. The final chapter/epilogue of the story gave us TWO plots twists involving him. It was a perfect conclusion to this book, and it's only furthered my hype for the sequel.
Thank you to PenguinTeen for the review ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I am so excited to continue this series! By far the best part of this book happened within the final 25%. I was feeling pretty neutral and occasionally "meh" about it throughout the first half, but right at the 50% mark, things began to change—probably because Quell's confidence in herself and her toushana began to shine in the second half. Anyway, the first half is very slow pace and heavy with the cotillion/academic setting. Quell's making tons of mistakes under her Grandmom's watchful Headmistress eyes, and while it makes sense for that to happen since Quell has not been in this magic world at all until now, I was ready for her unhinged toushana moments. I was a toushana stan from the beginning, so I was bored reading her pushing it down. It took me an extra two weeks to complete this book because that initial portion was dragging so much.
But the good news is the second half made up for that pacing!
As soon as Quell makes the decision to lean into her toushana, especially her first time going into the forest to release it, I was HOOKED. I knew Quell was officially starting her true journey, and it made my heart so happy. I loved getting to see her overall arc. Looking back on her negative relationship with toushana in the first half, it makes sense to lean heavily into that part of her magic insecurity for the sake of this book, and it only made her acceptance of it, in the end, sweeter. The entire binding sequence was incredibly fascinating to watch, and I love how this magic system relies a ton on traditions like stabbing your magic blade into her chest to bind your magic to your being forevermore. Fun, right?
Anyway, the relationship Quell has to her love interest Jordan is pretty knife-in-the-heart-twisted if you know what I mean. The fact that he is a Dragun and kills those with toushana just... I knew they weren't gonna have a happy ending, but it still hurt to watch their final scene together! I was rooting for you Jordan!! I was rooting for you to give up your stupid beliefs to be with Quell and love her for every part of herself!! I'm also still bitter about him telling Grandmom that he'd kill Quell IF SHE WANTED HIM TO. Boy, be for real right now. I know you wouldn't actually do it. You better not. But besides their complicated relationship in the end, I did enjoy the slow burn. Their romance does not really begin until the 50% mark in my opinion, and I loved that they didn't even kiss until the end was nearly in sights. Made their relationship feel organic and natural. I'm hoping Jordan sees the error of his ways in the sequel, or better yet, Quell slaps some toushana sense into him.
My last big point—Yagrin. The mystery POV throughout the book that constantly stumped me because at certain points I thought Yagrin could've been Jordan. Yagrin is a staunch Dragun member at the start of the book, but readers notice his sympathies for the toushana girls he murders. Obviously, he still murders them, so it doesn't really mean much, but Yagrin by the end has fully shifted to destroying the Order. He's in vendetta mode. I loved how his POVs came more frequently in the final few pages of the book. The final chapter/epilogue of the story gave us TWO plots twists involving him. It was a perfect conclusion to this book, and it's only furthered my hype for the sequel.
Thank you to PenguinTeen for the review ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.