3.5 stars. I really wanted to love this more because the concept is great. The beginning started off super strong but the magic system and world building started getting super confusing towards the middle of the book. I had a really hard time staying focused while reading it, so maybe this is partially on me. I just felt like the rules of the magic were kind of all over the place and only made sense if it was convenient. At one point, I kind of just stopped caring about any of it and was reading for vibes. Towards the end, it made more sense and I think I have a grip of it now, but it took a while to get there.

Either way, I really enjoyed the journey even if it was confusing and am really looking forward to the next book to wrap up this story.