I picked up an advanced copy of Between Dragons and their Wrath by Devin Madson when I was deep in my dragon phase a few months back. I really liked it, but I’m glad dragons weren’t the only reason I picked this up. This is much more than just a dragon fantasy. It was a great beginning to an epic fantasy with really interesting world building and politics.

The reason I mentioned being happy I didn’t pick this up solely for the dragons is because they were barely present. We met one dragon and she talks for maybe one page total throughout the book. I get the reason, and I get the title, I think. But make no mistake, this first book does not feature dragons at the forefront. That said, it did feature a great array of characters that are all so incredibly well developed, I just wanted to climb into their heads to pry out their secrets because I have no doubt that even the characters named in passing have secret lives and stories that we may never learn.

Thankfully, we do get into the heads of three characters caught at the center of an unending political whirlwind that is prime for exploding. Tesha is an indigenous glassworker who, quite rightly, hates how her country is being colonized and gentrified. She sees her people denigrated and their customs disappearing in favor of their colonizers. Tesha is prepared to do anything to preserve her people, and proves it by agreeing to a sham marriage. Her POV is the one that I wanted to continue the most. We see her trying to learn the mannerisms of the nobles as she works to keep up the facade, knowing it will be not only her death, but the collapse of everything she hopes she can accomplish for her home if she falters. She is such a great character. Strong and idealistic, she wants to do the right thing and has done that despite the cost to her own happiness. But, the more involved she becomes, the more she realizes she is also just a girl that deserves to also have something good for herself. Near the closing of this book, as she became even more entrenched in her new family, the tension ratcheted up and we’re left on the mother of all cliffhangers.

Our second and third POV characters start off slow. An indigenous laundress for a strange alchemist that stumbles across a discovery she shouldn’t have which leads to her learning way more than anyone ever felt comfortable sharing, and a noble that was exiled from home to fight in a war against monsters in the wastes, who becomes an unwitting catalyst to disaster. Both characters have unique voices and plots that weave slowly into the main story. Ash’s story I absolutely loved because his internal conflict is so delicious. Falling in love, wanting love, but worried it’s one sided. He’s cognizant of his privilege and power and it’s so incredibly refreshing to see a male character that realizes this could be an issue to pursuing a relationship with someone of a different social standing. Naili made me sad because even in this world’s, the choices of women are limited, as are their rights, especially if you are indigenous. Even when she leaves the alchemist’s employ, she is told how her options would have been cooking and providing pleasure had she not proved her usefulness in other ways. The women she interacts with, both good and bad – noble and not – are also trapped by their sex.

What’s really made Between Dragons and their Wrath so great, apart from the characters, was the immense world building. There are so many intricate details layered into every paragraph from explicitly explaining certain things, to the implicit knowledge we receive as characters talk and interact with the world. It is comprehensive and massive and we’ve only barely scratched the surface. You can feel that there is a history behind this world and though we may never know it, the author does and demonstrates it in the steady surety of her narrative.

With amazing characters, detailed world building, and intricate plot, the only place this faltered was pacing. I think, given the enormity of the story being told – three POV characters and three far reaching locations – it is to be expected. Everyone has their favorite storyline, and so when you cut away from it to someone else, it’s frustrating and breaks tension. It definitely worked better in the latter half of the story once were able to piece together the pieces each POV provided, but at the start it was just difficult to maintain interest.

Between Dragons and their Wrath by Devin Madson is absolutely a book I would recommend to fantasy readers that prefer intrigue and worldbuilding with strong characters. The action is slow to build, but given this is the first book in a series, it is to be expected and still delivers an exciting story. Additionally, though I didn’t touch upon it earlier, there are queer characters which made me love this story even more! It was so good to see a spectrum of characters from caste to color to sexual identity. I absolutely cannot wait for the next book to come out!

This is not quite what I expected, but I still enjoyed reading this and will continue on with the series. I expected the book to be centered more on dragons(I LOVE DRAGONS) but this could be a fault of mine because I was initially drawn to this based on the title and cover. I was not disappointed with the story though and enjoyed the multiple points of view. Sometimes I find multiple POV to be somewhat confusing or sometimes there is a disconnect, but that was not the case here. Overall, I would give this 3.5 stars. I am interested to see what happens in book two when it is released.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for providing me with a digital ARC of this book!

Between Dragons and Their Wrath is an epic fantasy book featuring queer characters, dragons, political intrigue, plant magic, unique worldbuilding, and so much more! There's a lot going on in this story, but it sounded like such an exquisite combination of various plot points that I love in fantasy that I assumed this book would be right up my alley. It's a really difficult novel to rate, because there were parts of it that absolutely drew me in, but there were also a lot of things that didn't work well for me.

The story is told through three different characters' perspectives - all of which are written in first person past tense. Tesha is a glassblower's apprentice who is suddenly thrown into a life of luxury when she agrees to be an insult bride to sabotage the ruler who is taking over her city. Ashadi is a noble who has been cast away to become a dragon rider; one day, he notices someone who shouldn't be in the lands outside the citadel, which launches him down a mysterious path where he's not sure who or what to believe. Lastly, Naili is a laundress who acquires strange, dangerous powers from washing an alchemist's clothing, so she must quickly seek out a cure by any means necessary. The three main characters are all very different with only slightly related plot lines and do a great job of showing various settings and classes throughout the world.

I'll start with the positives. This book took me a bit to get into, like most complicated fantasy novels. However, once I got my footing around the 20% mark, I was captured by the story all the way up until the ending. This novel is full of politics and gossip, and it's done really well. I love political fantasy plots when they're written well, but often I find them dry or slow if they're too complicated for the overarching story. In this book, though, the politics are fascinating and scaled pretty well to the world. I was also intrigued by the worldbuilding and characters. There were many tiny breadcrumbs dropped about the world as the book went on, and they were never fully explained. The characters were also incredibly chaotic (I'll get to that more in a bit). So, I just had to keep reading, because I was craving any explanations I could get, and I had to see what each character would do next. It was fun coming up with theories in my head as I read. I was right about a couple of small things, but there was one twist I didn't predict.

I also thought the writing was decent and flowed well. Occasionally, things were phrased in a clunky way or words were repeated too often; I hope those sections were edited before publication. However, other than that, the writing was smooth and easy to read. It was just detailed enough that I could picture the world clearly, but the pacing was never weighed down by the prose. There were clear themes (colonialism, classism, the power of language, and more) that were threaded nicely throughout the story. The writing also didn't seem to take itself too seriously (or be too silly), which kept the story approachable in a genre that can easily be intimidating. I liked the dialogue the best. The characters each had their own voices and felt real.

I have mixed feelings about the characters, though. None of the main three are all that likeable, although I did enjoy watching them grow. I appreciate how they are each balanced - no one is too powerful, as each character has a unique weakness. At the same time, though, everyone is so frustrating! The characters are all chaotic and thirsty. They frequently make confusing decisions. I'm not sure if this was done on purpose or if there are plot holes, because some of their choices are just that confounding. And while I loved that there were two queer main characters (and I loved how queer relationships were normalized in this book), I just couldn't get behind two of the main romances. Tesha has an on and off relationship with a guy she broke up with before the story started. I didn't care about their romance, because I never saw any chemistry. I think it would have been more appealing had we seen them together at the start. I don't even have words for the fling Naili has with a character. It is so out of the left field and makes no sense. There's a spicy scene with them that truly felt like it was written for a different book altogether. I did like Ashadi and Mana's relationship, though - they were the only couple I was rooting for. The non-romantic side characters are intriguing, but no one is given enough time to fully shine.

Now I'll move on to some of my critiques. Unfortunately, a lot in this novel just didn't work for me. I think my biggest issue is that I never learned enough about the world. There are a lot of interesting ideas mentioned, but they're hardly ever expanded upon. Two out of three of the main characters seem to have very different upbringings from our cultural norms today, but we're hardly given any of their backstories. And a lot of the worldbuilding is also vague, to the point that I wasn't sure sometimes if something was a metaphor or actually part of the world (ex: it took me longer than it should have to realize that the "sand ships" are actual ships that move on glass roads through sandy land). I believe this vagueness was a result of too much going on at once, so nothing ever had time to be fully developed. Personally, I would have preferred if one of the three perspectives had been saved for Book 2, in order to give the other two characters more page time. Naili specifically is most removed from the main story line; she's in a different city than all the other characters, and hardly anything she does is related to the overarching plot. I'm sure her story will definitely play a bigger role in the series, but I would have preferred to wait to read her perspective and instead read more about Tesha and Ashadi's lives.

Additionally, there is a massive cliffhanger at the end of this book. It's almost as if as soon as all of the action ramps up and the stories start to intertwine, the novel ends. I read a lot of fantasy, so I'm used to waiting for multiple books to get my questions answered. However, basically nothing is answered in this novel, and even more questions are introduced during the last couple of chapters. I'm fine with most of the mysteries remaining open after the first book in a fantasy series, but I still want to feel like I concluded some sort of story when I complete the book. I did not feel like I had finished a book when I reached the end of this - it was way too abrupt of an ending. I also felt that the author purposely hid too much information from readers. There are multiple times when something hugely important is built up, only to happen off-page. And then it's never fully explained later. This gets frustrating after awhile, especially when there's no payoff at the end.

I have a bunch of minor critiques I could ramble on about - the spicy scenes feel out of place, there are not even close to enough dragons to promote this as a dragon book, and more - but I don't feel the need to focus on those all that much, because, like I said above, this book did grab my attention. I had fun reading it. Devin Madson clearly put care into her world, and I think there is something special there, but it just needs to be better fleshed out in the next installment of the series. I'm happy that Between Dragons and Their Wrath was largely enjoyable to me, even though I had issues with it. I'll definitely pick up the sequel. This would be a good introduction to epic fantasy books for newer adult fantasy readers. So, I'd recommend it to folks who read romantasy but are looking for something with more complicated politics or to readers who are just looking for an approachable, yet complex fantasy novel. Just don't expect to finish it with any questions answered!

3 stars out of 5 stars.

This book was very disappointing. The summary sounded like absolutely everything I could ever want in a book, and I was so excited to sit down and lose myself to my fantasy world filled with dragons. There was very little dragons in the book. A new trend that seems to be going around. And instead of plots and intrigue and adventure, was sex driven annoying characters that honestly ruined any enjoyment I could have in this book.

I really enjoyed this! A lot of pieces of this universe were really intriguing and different to things I've read before. A glass-based, dragon-riding, desert society is so unique but also makes so much sense because sand + super hot fire = glass.

I LOVE a multi-POV book so that was super intriguing to me right off the bat. While I of course had a preferred person's POV, I was never dreading any of the others and I feel like that's a pretty common trap for multi-POV books to fall into, so my kudos to Devin Madson! The moments where the connections between the characters were revealed were such OOOOOO moments for me. The politics of this world were fascinating and well-written, although tbh I could've used it spelled out for me just a liiiiittle earlier on in the book. This is sort of one of those books where it drops you down in the middle of the world and you just have to hang in there for a little while before you get a firm grasp on things. The pacing was a touch slow but I was still engaged while reading; it definitely picked up in the last 20% or so and babes, what a CLIFFHANGER in each of the POVs.

I need to know more about the origins of dragons in this universe IMMEDIATELY!! I'm excited to read the rest of the series and I NEED all of the characters in one room together eventually.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for the e-arc!
Between Dragons and Their Wrath is my first foray into Devin Madson's writing after hearing so much praise! I am always excited to see her more fantasy with dragon alchemy. In this book, we follow three people through an empire full of dragons and a looming Revolution. Each character brings so much to the table with alchemy, political schemes, and dragon riding. With three different perspectives and a ton of twists, this series is shaping up to be an incredibly interesting and exciting read. The characters were my favorite part a very diverse cast and really intriguing schemes. There was also a sub genre/plot with plant powers that I wasn't expecting but I'm not mad at.

Overall, I rated Between Dragons and Their Wrath 4 out of 5 stars. It's filled with tension and heart. I truly cared about the main character even if I didn't always agree with her. It’s a story that will appeal to both young adult and adult readers. I enjoyed the author's writing style and am interested in reading more!

This book was well written and interesting, but something about the writing style wasn't really for me. I think it was a personal preference issue, so I will not be posting this review anywhere else.

This was a lot of fun! Multi-POV, political fantasy with a tinge of heist, and of course dragons. I’ll be honest that I finished this a few weeks ago and have been slow about writing a review, but this one has definitely stuck with me as its plot points have repeatedly popped into my head. Lately, I’ve used audiobooks as a major supplement to my reading, but as this was an eARC I didn’t have the luxury of zipping through this during my commute. It turns out that it doesn’t matter because I had no problem making time to sit down and read this one.

One point of frustration that I did have with this was a case of the insta-lust. I’m finding that this is the case with more and more new releases. While it happened on a limited basis with this book, it didn’t hamper the experience as I thought it would, and I was never on the verge of a DNF.

There are a lot of things going on in this story (in a good way), and I will definitely be picking up the next in the series. There is a lot of potential here and I really hope that it lives up to what had been set up in this first installment.

Such a beautifully crafted introduction to what is sure to be a phenomenal series. After three chapters - one for each POV character - I was completely hooked.

This book was less plot and more the outlining of a dramatic setting for future books. The care that was taken in timing the reveals and connections was evident, and it really made the whole book for me.

The worldbuilding was deep but also woven into the story without major info-dumping. The characters were diverse and so so fun! Perfect fantasy set-up.

If you need lots of action and plot, I’d hold off on this one until the series completes. There is no real resolution to anything that arises (yet). For me, it was still a lot of fun, but I know that’s not for everyone.

The handful of spicy scenes were fairly mild but well written. The only strange thing for me was the the main characters are all completely horny all the time. It works for the writing style, I suppose, but I sometimes found myself taken out of the story to think to myself, “Really? They’re turned on by that, too??!” So yeah. But it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book to read and review. All opinions here are my own.

I went in wanting to love this book! I am so sorry, it just wasn't for me. I usually like longer books with heavy politics in the plots, however, this book was just not finding the right audience in me. I know there are those out there that will love this book! Unfortunately, I am not that audience.

This book should be on your TBR if you enjoy high fantasy, dragons and dragon riders, anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism, and sultry romance! Wonderful worldbuilding, captivating characters, and clever political plans with a strong anti-colonialist undertone. This book features numerous points of view, a multicultural cast, and a lot of LGBTQ+ representation. The story is immensely engaging because each point of view seems to have its own distinct vibe, which ranges from an old western with dragons to political games with forbidden romance, infecting plant-like powers and bio-horror, and much more! Readers will be giddy with excitement for this intriguing story's continuation because the novel ends on a cliffhanger.

"Between Dragons and Their Wrath" is an intriguing mix of romance, political drama, and fantasy, set in a stunningly crafted world of sand seas, glass-scaled dragons, and dangerous alchemy. The story is told through the eyes of three very different characters: Tesha, a glassblower’s apprentice who becomes embroiled in high society politics; Ashadi, a dragon rider who’s searching for answers after his dragon is attacked; and Naili, a laundress cursed with strange magic. The world-building is rich and immersive, but the book can be overwhelming at first with so many moving parts and perspectives.

While the pacing might be a bit slow and the political intrigue dense, the characters are compelling enough to keep you hooked. There’s plenty of tension, both romantic and otherwise, and the queer representation is refreshingly normal in this fantasy setting. Be prepared for a cliffhanger, though—it leaves more questions than answers. If you enjoy a good blend of fantasy, romance, and political scheming, this one’s worth checking out, though you might want to brace yourself for the next installment.

This is a world where dragons exist, and where Ash, Naili, and Tesha go about their lives. Naili is a laundress who works for an eccentric alchemist, and finds one day that she is manifesting strange powers. Tesha finds herself becoming an insult bride to the brother of one of the most powerful men in the world. Ash has been exiled from his family and has become a dragon rider, and the enemies that they fight are becoming more and more mysterious.

I quite liked this book. It did take me a while to get into, but once I got there, I found myself reading into the wee hours, waiting to see what would happen. I enjoyed Naili and Tesha's stories, but Ash really stole the show for me. He was a really interesting character with an interesting backstory, and the relationship between him and his warden Manalaii was another thing that kept me reading well into the morning. It had a certain amount of will they/won't they and I am a sucker for that type of thing.

By the time the book ended, I really wanted there to be more book, and so it is a sure thing that I'll be reading the next volume in the series!

This was a well thought out world that I can't wait to see more of!

3.75/5 stars

An epic fantasy with tons of politics and romance.

In this book we follow 3 POV's set on seemingly different quests throughout the kingdom. One a tribute bride. One who gains magic and is learning what to make of it. One a dragon rider separated from his dragon.

What I really enjoyed about this book:
- The writing. This book was written so uniquely compared to other fantasy novels I have read. It was darker, less emotional and felt like I was transported into the age the novel was set in.
- The characters. I was interested in each of their storylines, struggles and romance sub plots.
- The mystery aspect in this book kept me intrigued, making me want to continue reading. Honestly once I got to about 25% into the book I couldn't put it down.

Things that did not quite work for me:
- I had to keep asking myself what the point of all of it was. Yes there was plot BUT I felt we didn't advance in the story very much for how long the book actually was.
- All politics and no action. (or at least no epic scenes you expect from high fantasy). Which made some things in the book feel pointless and drawn out.
- The lack of dragons in this book. You actually forget that this book even has dragons half way through!

Overall this book took me a while to get into but once I connected to the characters I really started to enjoy my time and couldn't put the book down. I did feel like the book was setting the grounds for future instalments that will consist of more character development and action which makes me excited to continue on with the series. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys heavier political fantasies but also to people who enjoy romance in their fantasy (as each POV has a love interest that is talked about often)

Many thanks to Netgalley for the Arc in exchange for an honest review

(have added this review to goodreads and will post to my instagram stories in next few days)

3.5-4 ⭐️ range

This is a ride. It took me a few chapters to get into it – I think I even asked another reader who was a bit ahead of me what was going on at one point. Three storylines that don’t feel related happen independently until they converge – this is intentional. Once I started to catch on, I was so happy I stuck with it. I loved the political aspects of this story. I also genuinely liked the MCs, Naili and Tesha more than Ash simply because we got more time with them. I’m looking forward to see where Madson takes this with book 2.

I’m grateful to the audiobook for having 3 narrators. I don’t think I would have successfully kept the POVs straight if one narrator had tackled this. The narration was good considering how heavy the world building is for book 1 from an epic fantasy author. Book 1s of fantasy series are hard to get readers to hold on simply because they usually take a LOT of brain power to sort through. This book is a good example of that.

Thank you to NetGalley, Devin Madson, Hachette Audio, and Orbit books for arc copies of this epic fantasy read.

Ever since reading the excellent Priory of the Orange Tree last year and the stunning Radiant Emperor duology this year, I've been on the hunt for some more politic-heavy, betrayal-laden, world-building-galore queer fantasy. Toss in some dragons and I felt certain that Between Dragons and Their Wrath was going to be a new favorite of mine.

Unfortunately, this book didn't quite live up to everything I expected. For one, don't go in expecting dragons to play a massive role. The politics behind the dragons -- the scaleglass trade, the colonization of various parts of their world, the use of dragons in wartime and the treatment of dragon riders -- feature prominently, but actual dragons? Nope. Our dragon rider, Ashadi, loses his rider identity fairly quickly. Now, this isn't exactly a dealbreaker for me, but it did make Ashadi's storyline less compelling in later chapters than it had been in the beginning. And, speaking of the characters, it took me a very long time to warm up to them. I think this is because we're essentially thrown into each character's POV, and they're...not exactly easy to love? Tesha, a glassblower's apprentice who becomes a bride in a political gambit, feels rather wooden at the start, although her plot does end up becoming engaging. Ashadi, a dragon rider, was my favorite, but only when he was with his dragon; I didn't love him with his love interest at all, nor did I love the direction his plot took. And Naili, whose plot ended up my favorite, is just constantly lusting over everything. Like, girl, doing laundry is not erotic. I also agree with the reviewer who said it was kind of a sapphic stereotype; the relationship that Naili ends up in equally did not sit well with me -- lots of coercion and a spicy scene that came out of literally nowhere.

Now, I know this sounds super, super harsh, but I am very picky about my characters. For someone who likes their high fantasy for the tangled politics and the worldbuilding and the plot, I think there's a lot to enjoy. Each of the characters' POVs covers a different facet of their world: Tesha has the nobility, Ashadi has the dragon riding and the most traveling, and Naili has the magic and (later) some pretty cool gang/spy stuff. And the chapters are clearly well crafted, each one functioning like a short story and feeling both self contained and expansive. The quality of the writing is solid. The cliffhangers at the end of each of the POVs are a nice setup for Book 2. I do still think this is a promising start to the series, but I wish the characters had spent more time developing and less time on their respective romances. I am all for a good queer romance and all for the spice (see: half of my shelf), but this felt...more the George R. R. Martin school of romantic writing? All I'm saying is: more dragonfire, please, and less heat.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Orbit Books, and Devin Madson for gifting me this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Between Dragons and Their Wrath
by Devin Madson
Shattered Kingdom #1
Fantasy Politics
NetGalley ARC
Pub Date: Aug 27, 2024
Orbit Books
Ages: 18+

Skipping the vote, the city is now under the control of the Lord Reacher, who promises to stop those attacking the mines and citizens.

Tesha, a glassblower's apprentice, fears Lord Reacher will destroy the city and its diverse cultures along with anyone who will not bow to his rule. Volunteering to become a false tribute bride to Reacher's younger brother, puts her within the household to destroy him.

Naili is a laundress to an alchemist, and she suddenly finds herself cursed with strange new abilities that have possibly already taken another's life. After the alchemist refuses to help, instead calling the law, Naili finds herself facing death or joining the underground, if she can pass their test.

And sent away by his father for disobeying, Ashadi is a dragon rider, there to protect the city from the monsters who live in The Sands, but someone shoots his dragon, an almost impossible feat because of the strength of the dragon's glass scales. He starts asking too many questions and finds himself betrayed.


As a major politically inspired story, along with gossip and being better than another, it did not start off with explaining things very well. At first, I had no clue why people were wearing veils, then about halfway through, it was to keep bugs out of their faces. And I also have no idea why they were wearing skirts, both men and women. I don't know if it was because of the heat, or if only a certain class wore them. I know those are little things, but the little things add up and can distract the reader from the important things. If they are doing it and it's different than our world, a little explaining goes a long way in developing the world and its people.

And with the politics, being the major plot point of this story, the blurb should have explained this. And also relating to the blurb... I have read two different versions, and while one majorly exaggerates the plot, the other jumps ahead in the story and stretches the characters' roles. Then there is the title of the book... Between Dragons and Their Wrath... Umm, the dragons only had a very minor role in this one (though maybe a bigger one in the next) and they weren't very mad.

This is also written in first person, for three different main characters. It was hard to follow at first because as one character was developing, the next chapter was a different person's view.

It's not a bad story, though the politics/royalty and backstabbing were boring, the twist was good, though not a big surprise. I think deep down I suspected it.

Will I read the next? If I can get it on the cheap.

A low...

3 Stars

I liked this book, but I felt like rather than it's own complete story it felt more like the first 6 chapters of a different books stretched out to fill the wordcount of a whole novel.

We follow three characters: Tesha, a young woman from a conquered people infiltrating the highest echelons of the colonizing society as an insult bride to disrupt a political marriage, Ashadi, the disgraced son of a nobleman who's serving at the borders as a dragonrider, and Naili, a washerwoman to an alchemist who has begun growing flowers from her skin.

If these three storylines sound disconnected from one another that is because they very much are. Our main characters never meet one another in this book. I've seen this kind of storytelling work, where each character offers a distinct perspective of a complicated political system and world which weave together into a cohesive story even if the characters themselves are never in contact, however I don't feel that it worked well in this book. There is not central conflict or storyline that marries all our characters together. While they are all aware of the tense political developments and the distant threat of war, only Tesha's motivations and concerns are directly tied to that reality. Naili is concerned primarily with her own developping magic, and Ashadi with his struggles with a mystery he uncovered during his latest battle. I can see how in later books these characters' stories could marry together, but it left this books feeling very disjointed and unfinished.

Additionally, for a dragon book there is a distinct lack of dragons in this book. Ashadi's dragonriding is established in the first few chapters, and then dragons disappear from our story completely for the rest of the novel. Again, this feels like something that will come back in later installments, but for a 500 page dragon riding book to feature almost no dragons felt very odd.

In conclusion, I think this book sets up an interesting world and by the end I was invested in all the characters we were following, but rather than the first book in a series it felt like the first half of a book that had been chopped in two, then padded to fill the run time of a novel.

Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest reivew

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I did enjoy it but it definitely felt like there was a high barrier to entry, at least for me--this was definitely a high fantasy through and through. I also liked that this featured anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism themes and discussion. Also there was a romance that was a lot spicier than I was expecting, but I thought it was well done. I was definitely eager for this story, and I am content now having read it. Also it looks like it's going to be a series which is awesome and I'm looking forward to more in this world and more from this author!