My friend recommended this book to me based on the fact that I would fall in love with Silas. She was absolutely right. I love him to death. But there is a whole lot more to love about this book than I expected.

The introduction of this book quickly and efficiently familiarized you with the setting and the tone of what you were getting into. The whole time I had a thought that the vibes were a mashup of The Magicians and Black Butler. Luckily for me, these are two shows that I love, and this was an aesthetic I didn’t know I needed.

While I loved the plot of the book, which was really solid and fun, the shining beacon was absolutely the characters and their relationships. On paper, the dynamics sound basic. Quirky, kind of nerdy girl meets a snarky and broody love interest and his stoic butler. But the way Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas were written made them so damn likable and special. Their building friendship felt so genuine. The banter they had was funny without being over the top and cringey. I wanted to squeeze all their little cheeks with how adorable they were with each other. Even the romance, which I’m normally not a huge fan of in books, was just so earnest and cute that I couldn’t get enough of it. I am normally someone who prefers a standalone story, but I loved the relationships so much that I finished the book wishing there was a whole series devoted to them.

That’s not to say that the ending wasn’t satisfying. It truly was, in the best way.

I love this book. Everyone else should love this book as much as I do, and yet I haven’t seen it mentioned enough compared to some other YA fantasy out there. I’ve seen a lot about An Enchantment of Ravens by the same author, which I absolutely plan on picking up now.

Overall, I would recommend this to someone looking for the best friendship group of the ages.