Lily Crozier

I think people, it is incredibly confronting.

There are some really dark themes.

But I think the way it's handled is nuanced and respectful.

And I think it's, I really like those dark themes and like exploring things level in real life.

And I found that quite interesting.

Enjoyable to read is probably not the right word, but interesting and compelling.

So I'm going to have a confession here.

I don't fully understand the magic system.

I didn't feel like my lack of knowledge of how it works impacted my understanding of the book on any level.

And I kind of, I understand like the surface level of like vivmancy, alchemy, necromancy.

I know there was another one.

Animancy.

Animancy, yeah.

But like the intricate science, it was like I enjoyed the reading of it, did not understand it.

But didn't need to in the same way that if you're, like, learning another language, you let the words that you don't understand wash over you.

And I think also because it's set – I mean, it's written in third-person close, and so it's the way she sees the world.

And so, like, Helena is taking you along with it, and those kind of intricate things, you're seeing how she's thinking about the magic as well.

And so I think it builds the world but also builds the character, and I like that, even though I could not explain to you what she does.

It's hard to really think about it and especially hard to discuss in a spoiler-free way, but to isolate the trauma from what is happening because they're encountering the traumatic events throughout the book as we experience it with them.

So we don't, although in the third, you do see a bit more of them sitting with the trauma, it's,