“Wait… what’s your real name?”
After a moment, One’s face broke into a huge, beautiful grin, and I knew that was it. I was utterly smitten. Totally, one hundred percent gone for this strange, winged monster with creepy black eyes and ghostly, green-tinged skin.
“Aury,” he said.

I think my impressions on the book are a bit... patchy. I really liked the first half. Ghost and Auri were both so sweet, individually and together, and even though objectively their relationship and the development of feelings moved fast, the way it was described had a very slow-burn feel to it—exactly the vibe I enjoy. Two shy anxious individuals coming together in that gentle way? Give me more.

I also really liked the shift from "wandering around the post-apocalyptic wastelands, stopping at abandoned buildings that mysteriously have water and electricity most of the time" to a far more community-focused story. Lots of new characters to meet here, lots of obvious set-up for future books, lots of interesting relationships in the Raiders' camp. I really enjoyed Anchor as a character and would love to get to know her more. Despite being a side character, she had an interesting arc and her struggles made me feel for her. I also liked Ghost and Rig's friendship, found myself super intrigued by Lilac, and I want to get to know Moth more. 

Later in the story, though, I began to... not quite lose interest, but there were some aspects of the book I found frustrating. The Rycke as a species didn't make much sense to me, neither biologically nor psychologically nor in general. I get the idea, it's a fun and interesting idea, but the way all the bits of it were put together just felt contrived in so many ways. There are also aspects of the setting that still raise a lot of questions for me and threaten to fall apart if poked at too hard. Also, there are some things about the monsters that are getting seriously repetitive—such as, why do they never have to eat or drink? Give me a monster with a really weird food preference instead!