Bumpy Oak Books

** I received an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

Ginn Hale’s newest fantasy continues to explore the universe she has previously established in other works. In this book, we follow a wide variety of characters, but most notably Narsi and Atreau. Narsi is a newly appointed master physician, whereas Atreau is an author, nobleman, and is much more than the lush he would have his peers perceive him to be.

Let me begin by stating that I have not read any other books set in this universe, and so I was diving in without having knowledge of characters/backgrounds/setting/magic system that had already been established. While I firmly believe that reading the other books first would have added to my reading experience, I also believe that a reader can enter the universe with this book without suffering for it. Hale’s world-building is rich, intricate, full of culture, customs, magic, LGBTQ+ representation, and more.

The book does begin with a rather in-depth content warning for a wide variety of items. I was both pleased and surprised to see the content warning, and feel more books should include them. However, having finished the book, I can say that the content warning made me expect the story to be far more explicit and aggressive than it actually was.

For as many characters, places, gods, etc. featured in this book, Hale absolutely developed every last one of them. I have no doubt that even side characters had backstories and the characters were both charming and flawed.

As much as I loved reading this book for the amazing character development and world-building, it did make for a very dense read that wasn’t something that could be read quickly. This is definitely a book for savoring rather than blazing through.

I found the ending to be a little odd, and it made me think of the scene prior to intermission of a play. It isn’t a cliffhanger per se, but you absolutely couldn’t allow the story to end there. I’m aware Hale intends on a sequel for this book, so I guess I’ll just have to read the other books in this universe while I wait for that to come out.