this book is a dark scifi fantasy romance. several people, including the author, insist you check the warnings—there is no comprehensive warning list. so i made one.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: rape, childhood sexual assault, pedophilia, slavery, sexual servitude, childhood abuse, PTSD, dissociation, dissociative identity disorder, underage drinking, drugging/roofies, age regression (nonsexual), elements of grooming, disordered eating, self harm tendencies, parental death.

somewhere in this book is a shockingly well written social relationship between 14 year old flynae and her over 28 year old partner. the tension between them at times is romantically charged, but there is no actionable romance or sexual activity between them (despite allusions that there will be in future books). it’s a disappointment that i was robbed of what could have been an incredible “assassin accidentally adopts a new daughter” relationship in order to be given a shallow pedophilic romance packaged as “age-gap.”

this book is also plagued with FREQUENT continuity errors, some typos, and an instance of poor formatting. the plot diverts rather abruptly from political espionage and abuse to a bizarre lengthy period where we follow flynae and her stepsister through public school, ice skating, a house party, and a school dance which all have no pertinence to the larger political space opera at hand. the goal of the emperor and her uncle as established in the opening scene is to torture her and that she’s given ANY amount of freedom seems to be the complete antithesis to the pure violence and heartlessness which we know the 2 men act with.