i really really wanted to like this but the writing was super painful at times, often dragging on and on and losing my interest. I managed to finish it by pure force.

a redeeming quality of this book is Orion Lake, I enjoyed his character. Concept of the book is good, execution was meh for me.

edit: also — after reading a few reviews from other folks, I took a star off for the portrayal of El as a BIPOC character. I totally missed it upon my first read, but some BIPOC readers have noted the inaccuracies of El’s culture and how her race seems more of an after thought than a component of her character and I definitely agree here.