Thanks to NetGalley and Dexter Morgenstern for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

When I initially went to download this book, for some reason I thought it was a graphic novel (probably the very graphic-novelesque cover art). If it were a graphic novel, I think I would have liked this book more.

While I do really like Morgenstern's writing style, it is a bit dense and I felt that the descriptions of scenery and characters were a bit lacking, and aside from Amos and Bo (the main boy and girl featured on the forefront of the cover), I had a very hard time picturing the people and places. There is a map, which is helpful.

There is a lot of political bits going on, and when the story would deviate from Amos and Bo's quest, I had trouble keeping up. Bo is a girl who is sent to collect a soul from each nation and take it to the Nexus, to save not only her own nation, but the world at large. I really enjoyed Bo as a character, a young, blind girl, and her companion, Amos, who is mute. The other character I found most interesting was Vyuuri (I hope I spelled that right) because he seems to have a history worth exploring in future books of the series and has very interesting development...I see some anti-hero qualities going on!

Overall, this book took me waaaay too long to read for what it is. It was hard to be invested in the other plotline chapters. I thought the end was one of the few rather intriguing parts, because books that end the way this one did, those are my kinds of endings. That aside, I'm not sure if I will continue this series. On the other hand, if there's a graphic novel adaptation in the future, I would definitely love to give it a chance!