Seth Haddon is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors!

Haddon has a fantastic talent for building intricate worlds and cultures that feel real to me. From fashions to religions and ideologies, it is clear that this world has been meticulously fleshed out. I appreciate the attention given to detail while never feeling that the information has been dumped on my head.

The characters, much like Haddon’s debut Reforged, felt unique and were fun to read. The POV was split between our love interests Radek and Izra, which I didn’t love as much as I thought I would - Radek’s voice felt lacking in personality to me at times but Izra easily made up for it in his chapters (by the end of chapter one I was willing to kill to protect that man).

Full disclosure - I'm not a fan of the “fated love” trope. Once it has been established that a couple is meant to be together no matter what, the building of the relationship feels disingenuous to me. That being said, I think it is a testament to Haddon's writing that I was compelled to continue reading even after this trope really came to play (I did VERY MUCH enjoy Izra and his puppy dog infatuation with poor Radek who just wanted to sell his fancy fabrics and, ya know, not start a war).

All in all this is another great novel by Seth Haddon who, in my opinion, is an incredibly underrated author right now. And of course, another massive shout out to Julie Dillon who continues to produce the most beautiful cover art!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.