oh my god i love fantasy books. this was so much better than i anticipated i need the sequel NOW. as a slight aside i would like to say that this book is so beautiful. i have the hardback and i love the artwork on the dust cover, its so magical and i love the details. and the book underneath the dust cover is sooo gorgeous omg i love the shiny details and the crests of sardovia and kesath are a nice touch. aside over. this might be one of the best enemies to lovers i’ve ever read and i think the reason it’s written so well is because it’s really drawn out which is how it should be. they didn’t get together til the end but they’re still not actually together and all the tension and pining and internal conflict they both have because they’re confused about their feelings UGH so so good. and they are proper enemies for political reasons not just they find each other annoying. the worldbuilding was good, not overly complicated so it was easy to understand. and i love a book with a map. i’m very intrigued as to where they will go from where they are now because alaric still seems set on conquering the entire continent but talasyn is obviously not going to let that happen. will alaric concede? hmm. OH AND UNRELATED BUT WHEN ALARIC CALLED HER TALA LITERALLY IN BED i died