Yet another book with 80%+ 4-5 star ratings that I ended up being disappointed by, so maybe the issue is really just that I'm a hater :/ Loved the ideas and themes, but the characters (especially the more minor ones, had trouble keeping track of the background council members) didn't feel fleshed-out enough, the worldbuilding is conveyed mostly in blocky exposition dumps, and the pacing in general feels... odd, with a lot of unnecessary jumps in time and awkward transitions. Lots of potential in theory, but didn't quite live up to it in execution for me.

I honestly cannot say enough good things about this book! It got me out of a 3-year reading slump! It's the first print book that I'd read in a very long time!

The characters are so fun! All of their conversations felt very realistic! They did things that surprised me in the best way, and the things that didn't surprise me were done so beautifully that I didn't even care that I guess the plot point! I actually was taking a young adult literature class at my University this year and I chose this book to be my focus. I gave him many presentation and told people what I think that it should be added on to their TBR basically. I think that this book is simply amazing! Everything from the cover, to the characters, to the story, everything about this book was amazing! I am so excited for the sequel... But I read in the synopsis about the sequel and I'm worried that there might end up being a 🤮 love triangle. So we'll see how we do with that!