DNF at 50ish pages. There are things I like about this one, but there there were a few too many things I disliked. They kept piling up til I decided to ditch it. I was looking forward to this one, too, so that’s a shame!

The things that piled up:

1. Multiple special gems and jewels and other magical objects. Super rare but we run into a lot of them.
2. Racial essentialism. These people look like this, these other people look like that. To a weird extent while all still usually being human. Speaking as a blue eyed person, we are not that special. Let go of the fascination with blue eyes, authors!
3. Generic main character in Rook/Kihrin.
4. Multiple times when the descriptions were confusing… Kihrin is golden skinned, not olive… but also pale because of the contrast with his dark hair. What color IS he then??
5. The two timelines. For me, I was okay with it if it was for a reason. But multiple reviewers say no, there is no payoff. I’m glad I found that out before I went ahead with the book because that is maddening.