The biggest flaw of this book, imo, is its pacing. The beginning, up to the first half, is basically setup where we follow 3 different characters/plotlines. It takes at least half the book if not a bit more, for these lines to converge, and then it rolls down to the climax perhaps a bit too quickly in the last third, where it’s not 100% satisfying. THAT SAID, I just really liked it lol

tbf, I think reading this in the audio format helped mitigate the pacing issues and I could just focus on how much I liked the magic system and the characters/plotlines. I wish there had been more of the latter even, more details, more interactions between them. I found the magic books fascinating. It feels like it’s not often you see a magic system where using magic is difficult and SLOW. Having to read a book for more than an hour to get a spell to work doesn’t lend itself to flashy magic battles. Having to go through a whole ass ritual to extract blood to write the spells and bind them doesn’t lend itself to quick actions either. Which is both a strength of the novel and I guess perhaps partly responsible for the pacing issues. The character dynamics were fun—the sisterly bond/estrangement, the recluse that opens up, the secrets kept by magic, dead fathers, dead mothers, an ill man and his bodyguard, all of them lonely in their own way, reaching for a connection. I think the climax could have been more tightened and more tense, but oh well. I just really dug it, despite its flaws and obvious first novel pitfalls.