Well, what a freaking ride of a book. My heart is still trying to beat out of chest from the sheer amount of excitement, angst, drama and heartbreak of those last chapters: what a ride, oh god.

I'm still not 100% sure how to rate this book, because on the one hand, I undoubtedly adored it: it's a majestic, chunky book, with an amazingly original, complex world-building, two protagonists that stole my freaking heart and the writing is seriously GOLD. I'd already seen such a difference in Adelaide Blaike's past books, but I think this futuristic world is where she'll excel: her writing here is AMAZINGLY GOOD, and it sucked me right in from the start. I felt like I was there on Xerxes, with Kyle and Epsilon and their whole wacky family of kink loving colleagues.

On the other hand, this book is very far outside of my usual comfort zone: I have a few things I generally avoid in my romances, and that's sharing, cheating and gratuitous amounts of trauma/violence. This book has all of that, although in different ways than I was expecting, but weirdly enough, I managed to get through them unscarred (well, minus my heart; it will take a dozen comfort re-reads to get over the anxiety this book gave me LOL): I'm weirdly proud of myself too. I've been so excited about this book, I could not let it pass: I'm so glad I decided to give it a go, despite some reservations.
That being said, I still skimmed a few scenes that had me feeling more uncomfortable, and I'm still not the biggest fan of sharing in general, so that's why I'm still very undecided about the rating. Both MCs are sex workers, and very much okay with their professions, so I guess it helped that the author managed to keep the two aspects, the sex for work reasons on the one side (but disclaimer, I don't think they believe in the concept of monogamy either, or at least for now!) and their special dynamic, with the emotional arc and the very present devotion between them, on the other. You can seem how much they love each other very, very clearly.
As a rating four stars seems right though, because I still adored most of the book.

I loved Kyle and Epsilon, and I loved their dynamic. This is the first time romance I've read with a switch MC, so after I got over my initial "how does it work", considering Kyle's very much a Dom, I adored seeing both those sides in Epsilon: I loved seeing what a demanding badass he was, but I also loved seeing him in his most vulnerable, secret moments. He's a tricky bastard, full of contradictions and secrets, hidden pains and distress, and I loved being in his head, despite me wanting to kick him more than once for being a self-sacrificing, lying idiot.
Kyle was equally fascinating: a sunshine Dom, with a mean streak and a love for cheesy 80s music and collecting strays (cats, people, lying, idiotic bastards? He'll collect them all!). I loved him, although I really hope we get to see more of his more competent, protective side in the second book. I'm a sucker for protective Doms, okay?! SUE ME. Epsilon deserves to be taken care of, thoroughly.
I loved their dynamic to bits, inside the bedroom especially, but I'm hoping Kyle manages to regain a bit more of an even footing outside of it as well: I can't wait to see them finally team up and be the power couple we all deserve.

I loved the world-building: it's freaking fascinating, and so damn creepy and dystopian and creative. I've NO IDEA how we'll manage to get a HEA after everything that's happened in the book, but we'll see *side eyes Xerxes's questionable stability*. I loved the side characters so muchhhhhhh, is it too much to ask that we get more books about them too? *stomps feet*

That ending was CRUEL: yes, it's a cliffhanger, albeit one filled with hmmmmmmm.... hope-ish? At least in some ways. Blaike has given us crueller endings, I think.
I can't wait for book two; hopefully it will give my heart a much needed reprieve from all the heartbreak and angst.

TWs/CWs: sexual assault, rape threats, sexual slavery, violence, torture, death, mentions of cheating, sexual, emotional abuse and mistreatment, instances of racism. If you're like me and need more information about the sharing aspect (and also, the cheating bit: it's not what it seems though!), feel free to comment below.

Many thanks to GRR for the ARC. This is my honest review.