I was very excited to see Cassandra Clare venture into high fantasy after loving the Mortal Instruments/Shadowhunter world. I did love this book and thought it had some great twists and turns. I also really loved the world building. However, I can't rate it 5 stars. Clare has always drawn from the Bible and real myths and events in her books, but this book is on another level. If you have a decent understanding of the Roman empire and the events of the Georgian and Regency era monarchs, there is a lot that can seem predictable. Additionally, while Clare did have sensitivity readers, the Ashkar are obviously a parallel to the Jewish people pre- and during- World War II (depending on the part of the world they live in, which again, matches the real world) Not only is their treatment nearly the same as the Jewish people under the early Nazi regime, their religion/myth/history is lifted directly from the Tanakh (The Hebrew Bible). While the origin of their religion and the "Sundering" is supposed to unfold in bits and pieces in pre-chapter "excerpts" from a history book and a religious text, if you have any knowledge of the Old Testament, none of it is a surprise. Luckily in the modern plot, there are surprises. But I was surprised some of the Ashkar elements made it through sensitivity reading, to be honest. Additionally, the different "cultures" in the world have direct real-world counterparts, which isn't atypical, but is especially noticable on top of all the other parallels.