I had heard a lot of praise for this one so I’m glad I finally picked it up. I love inspired fantasy tales and this one is such a powerful tale mixing real historical trauma with fantastical creatures. I had no idea that this is, in a way, part of a series – the author has taken inspiration from a song about this idea by a band who were themselves inspired by another band! It’s a great collaborative work in the end.

It’s a heavy book as the blurb suggests but while it dives into that trauma (a pun to lighten the mood), it does so in a balanced way and it’s a beautiful reflection on what it means to be human at the same time.