This book sounded like it would be an interesting novel but I couldn't get very far in it. I just came to a stall while reading it. I am going to start the book again and see if I can get further into it later this year.

I absolutely loved this book. Told from multiple characters POV, this mystery thriller of subjugated fae with their magic kept from them, and the goblins that won the war. The iron wall keeps them from their magic except when they take the addictive "Dust". This really was a stunning debut book from this author. I LOVE when you don't see that twisty coming, and it annihilates you. The. Best. Dialog. Granny Spregg was my favorite. Dark, gripping, angsty with one huge badass woman. Highly recommend this book. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC from Netgalley.

A, lot of people are going to love this book, I think. Unfortunately, I am not one of them.

I like the overall concept of the story, but I wasn't keen on the execution. I like the idea of the fae being subjugated and oppressed for once, by goblins, no less, entrapped in a city made of iron, cut off from their magic. They are made to work in mines, kept in poverty, and any rebellions dealt with brutally. The effect of the mines is cancer, short life spans (human short), and for many, an addiction to Dust, a drug that allows them to briefly touch nature again. The world itself is cool and the ideas behind it are excellent, but the deployment of the story just wasn't for me.

You get the story through several characters, some fae and some goblins. There isn't really a single character I cared about. I felt that they were very one-dimensional, cliché kinds of characters. I didn't feel that any were really that likeable, and I mostly found that they were just too flat with no depth to them.

I felt that the pacing of the book was kind of slow at times. There were times where I almost decided to give up on reading. That said, it's still a fairly quick read.

In terms of plot, there was loads going on, but I'm not sure how much of it was necessary to the overall story. I feel that at least one of the main characters was completely unnecessary and did nothing to advance the plot at all. If anything, it just seemed to be filler to add more pages to the book.