Let’s start with the good. The characters are everything. We love a found family, we love a diverse cast, and we love characters who don’t let romance ruin their entire life’s plans. This was a highly character driven book, but a tad too short to really get background for our four most prominent characters. We got a decent bit about Eli the main character, but my fingers are crossed the sequel is either focused on a different characters perspective or at least delves into the past of more than just her. This, of course, is biased because I liked two or the other characters more than Eli but you get the point. The other major good is I like the concept of how the witches’ world and the human world connect in this book.

I think this books biggest downfall is simply the poor start. The beginning felt like I was reading a sequel without reading the book that came before it first. We were tossed into a magic system and whole separate world without explanation. On top of that the characters had next to no initial background of any sort, I thought two of the main characters were just side characters that didn’t matter until suddenly they both showed up again. While they did develop loveable personalities later on they gained no background, it took too long and many people will not be willing to push past that beginning to get to the middle and end, let alone a sequel. I am glad I pushed through, as the book as a whole improved over time but the world building sadly did not. The world and its magic system were not spelled out, simply passed over head in hoped you’d see them go by but often I did not. I had to double back in the book to re-read things, and even then I couldn’t find myself understanding the world or being sucked into it at all. Too many holes in the actual books plot regarding the world itself. The prose just didn’t fit the narrative, it is a very complicated idea with so much potential but the writing was too simple to keep up. Which is unfortunate because I didn’t dislike the writing style at all, it just felt suited to low fantasy or even contemporary where the world is already built. The concept is all there, and again this is an ARC, the first in a series and a debut so there’s a decent chance this will improve and so will the author.

Overall, I’m not writing off this author, I still plan to keep an eye on their works and I’d still suggest giving this book a try if the description really intrigues you. This book just didn’t meet expectations for me personally.