AMAZING – easy 5 stars - This was a great read -A NEW ALL TIME FAVORITE BOOK

I have nothing bad to say about this book other then I wish there was more, this is now one of my top favorite books.

The characters were amazing, the story was amazing, the world was amazing. 
This book made me feel sad, it made me smile, a rare chuckle here and there between the darkness of the story, M. L. Wang made me mad at characters (the bad guys) but then happy when they got their comeuppance. This book was a roller coaster of emotions, and I will defiantly re-read it again in the future. 

(I was given a free earc , but i was planning on buying this book anyways as i loved the sword of kaigen and M. L. Wang’s writing style. I was not disappointed in this book and the second this book is available to buy as a physical copy i am buying it for my personal library)

This book is a standalone dark fantasy (very dark academia with some sifi-fantasy elements). Warning there are some dark topics and some heavy stuff in the book so please check the end of the review for trigger warnings if you are concerned. 

The story follows two characters. The first is Sciona a woman who has been spending her whole life in academia studying magic trying to work her way up to the highest position in her field a Highmage which historically woman have never been allowed this position. You follow her fighting her way through a misogynistic society, where her new colleagues don’t want her there and every turn her sex is being used against her. This brings in our second character Thomil. Thomil is a janitor that Sciona’s colleagues force upon her as her new assistant, as a joke on her and on Thomil. Thomil is from a group of people call the Kwen who are refugees or descendants of refugees from outside the city of Tiran who have been decimated buy a destruction call the Blight. Thomil is consider a second-class citizen and doesn’t have many rights in society. The story follows the two having to work together to help Sciona survive the world of being a highmage and to discover the mysteries of magic. 

The main theme of this book is looking for the truth – the main character is a researcher, “a magical scientist researching how magic works and to how better use magic.” This bring up topics and questions of is all truth good, what should you do with the truth and is it better to be ignorant of the truth or knowingly ignoring it. 

What I loved about the book was the magic system, it reminded me very much of science and statistics and coding (and maybe I am a little bias as I am scientist working in research) it was so very clever. The best way to explain the magic system is the Law of matter or equivalent exchange. 

M. L. Wang is amazing at character development, she writes her characters so realistic with flaws and vices and realistic reactions to terrible and happy events. It made the story feel so real, which is amazing for a standalone book. 

As I have said this book was amazing, I can’t wait to see what M. L. Wang writes next. 
I would recommend to anyone. 




TRIGGER WARNINGS (can be spoilers)
Suicidal thoughts, sexual assault, suicide attempt