This book had an interesting premise, but lacked in so many ways. I’m honestly not sure why I kept reading. I guess I wanted to see what would happen? But there isn’t really any world-building or backstory, no distinct setting, the characters lack personality and, except for a few instances, their voices all sounded the same. It is clear from the beginning who has secrets impacting the rest of the group, so it was predictable. The murderous plan itself was not well flushed out and did not have any contingencies, so it wasn’t satisfying to read about any planning or execution of the treasonous attempt. I didn’t understand the relationships everyone became involved in and they felt mostly irrelevant and insta-lovey without substance. The relationships didn’t add anything to the characters or the plot either, other than people feeling more betrayed (I guess? I didn’t feel the rage/hurt through the writing). The writing style was clunky and very “tell” and not “show,” so I couldn’t get invested in the snippets of interesting things we saw. Though the little bits of mystical creatures, ancient relics, murder, and treason kept me interested enough to continue reading despite the story being not well written. Considering how long this book was, very little happened with the plot. I guess I still want to know what happens in the next book, but I’ll probably just Google it… I should have DNFed this book.