Wow, this was deliciously dark and propulsive and I'm annoyed it just came out and that means I have to wait so much longer for the next book. In Ilvernath, seven families select a teenage champion to compete in a battle to the death to decide who controls the high magick for the next two decades. It's the result of a curse that was enacted upon them centuries ago, and nobody really seems to think too deeply about it. But since the last competition, their secret competition has been revealed to the normies, so now the world is watching with bloodlust in their eyes. This story is told from four alternating points of view, from four of the potential victors: Alistair, Briony, Gavin, and Isobel. Throughout the book, and as the battle nears, we see these teenagers interrogating more and more the stories they've been told about the necessity of the fighting, and explore whether there's a way to end the curse once and for all...

This book is about our unwanted inheritances, the trauma and anger that can be passed down through generations, about coming of age and coming into your own. It complicates the idea of villainy, and reveals these teenagers as nuanced, complicated, annoying, annoyed, full humans, which I always appreciate.

My one overarching quibble is the use of the word "monster" was heavy-handed and redundant, to the point where I noticed it so much that I did a search of how often it appears in the book. (Sixty six times.) But obviously that didn't have an overall impact on my enjoyment of the story.

If you liked The Hunger Games or your favourite book in the HP series was Goblet of Fire, I think this one is going to be for you.