thevagabondexpress

I picked this book up after stumbling across the cover during an image search for something else and checking out the synopsis to see what I thought. It looked from cover and summary like it would be a much better written, Black-centered ACOTAR and so far, halfway through the book, it's both lived up to and surpassed those expectations. Sbrana handles the horror-and-trauma part of living as captives in a fae-ruled land incredibly well, especially Lore's run-ins with the Sentries, which are always bone-chilling. Lore is also refreshingly intelligent, figuring out what the ward around Duskmere quickly and harboring appropriate distrust of her fae captors, lying easily for her own safety. I don't always expect my protagonist to be this sharp, but I get frustrated when someone who's supposedly lived a hard life in dangerous or destitute circumstances behaves as if they grew up in soft suburbia.

Further thoughts: everyone is pretty as hell—is Lore, mayhaps, bisexual? Also I don't trust that magic book of hers. I believed what it showed her was true but what kind of deal did she make?? Or maybe that's just my natural lack of trust in unfamiliar technology. Magic is a kind of technology, fight me.