Heck yeah, politics and nonbinary magicians!

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Best parts:
– The nonbinary rep. Hands-down the coolest part of this book. Strega (basically witches) with the ability to shape-shift, including shifting their bodies to be masculine or feminine, depending on which one feels more right to them at any given time?? HECK YES.
– Queer romance, because the world can ALWAYS use some more queer romances
– The scheming and politics, including the intersection of politics, religion, and prejudice
– The Italian-inspired setting was a newer-feeling take on the classic “witches and witch-hunters” trope
– Cielo, the genderfluid strega who introduces our heroine to everything else in this story, because they’re a charming, dark-haired, super-powerful character and apparently that’s a trope I love reading
– The main character’s little brother, who loves science; seeing more contemporary science (or at least things like electricity) alongside magic was a cool twist.

Worst parts:
– Sometimes, it felt like the romance started to overshadow the actual plot
– Nothing felt very surprising within the actual plot. Like, I’m a big fan of schemes, but none of the betrayals we saw were shocking
– Sometimes the characters were kind of flat; I would have liked more depth on most of them