This is a book with a lot of interesting ideas that clearly wanted to do a lot of interesting and complex things with its story. For me, it failed to ever really get me to engage. The big ideas this story wants to work with are largely explored through long detailed explanations of how it's sciencey magic system works, given by characters who are rather offputting as people, which made it hard for me to really find a foothold in the story. The two main POV characters are in a troubled marriage that they are trying and failing to work through and the number of times they fail to have an even remotely useful conversation about their relationship OR the big plot things going on got very annoying. It felt artificially drawn out and I didn't believe in their relationship or feel invested in it working out, and honestly felt like they'd both be happier going their separate ways. Overall, I don't think there was anything wrong with this book, it was just very much not for me as a reader. A plot-driven reader who loves complex science-like magic systems might find what they're looking for here.