Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book felt very fresh and new while simultaneously feeling like a timeless fairy tale. The classic fairy tale elements of quests and magic made it feel familiar, while everything else gave it a wonderfully modern spin. The best comparison I can make is to Neil Gaiman's American Gods. I adored each of these characters for their own reasons, despite each of them being very flawed and downright dislikable at times. I think Mo is my favorite because I am drawn to his simultaneous selfless devotion to his family and his selfish focus on his own desires and wants.

Now for the complaints. The first is that portions of the book seemed irritatingly repetitive. I realize that part of this was due to each character having different pieces of the puzzle, however, it became a little frustrating how many times certain events happened

Spoiler

(looking at you, Susannah's splinter and accompanying explanation)

. The next (and related) complaint is that there were too many perspectives. I lost count after 7. These differing perspectives didn't add a whole lot to the story, as most of the time they just rehashed the events/revelations of the previous chapter from a new character's point of view.

Publication Date: 8 February 2024