I both enjoyed and had trouble with this book, it was hard to rate. I would definitely recommend this book to any fans of historical dark fantasy horror, but not without its warnings. I'll preface that I listened to the audiobook version - At times it was extremely hard to follow along what the characters were doing (as they are called many things even in the same paragraph), actions that were going on, tellong the difference between real/dream/permission sequences, etc. I thought maybe it was an issue with just listening, and I highly do recommend actually reading the book instead, but it was not a fault of the audio; the book is written structurally the same way and by other reviews it seems other readers had the same problem. The writing style really gets some taking use to. I think I will need to reread this book, physically some other time, but for now I need a break Setting: A great historical fantasy, with a dark and gritty realm that holds nothing back. It reminds me of the Witcher world, except its mostly religious symbolisim and demon monsters that you aren't expecting at all as it just kinda throws it at you out of nowhere. Things also just kind of get thrown at you, and despite supernatural things not existing in any form in the world, characters just quickly accept and move on when stuff happens (they get healed, swap bodies {maybe I still don't even know if I followed that ploy line correctly}, angles/demons, zombies, etc.). The sense of time is also askewed; like when the characters got separated and found eachother again the FMC "looked a little taller and had budding breasts" yet it was only like a month(s?)? Characters: Besides Thomas many of the characters seem just standard. It is not as subtle with its tropes and themes, but does a nice job on character redemption for one MC; the only hidden themes, that is does well with, are the religious ambiguities and it's only because it is written so obscurely. Also, it takes way to long to show pathos with Thomas (the MC). Why am I just learning about why/how he is the way he is, and his back story, when I'm already 80% done with the book?! Nitpick: The FMC is a walking deus ex machina, both for danger & plot points. Of all the horror and suspensful situations the book throws at you, you know she/some.of the MCs are going to be okay, and she just happens to know literally everything that's going on to be the audiences explanation (grated it semi-makes sense, without me spoiling it, but at the same time, like come on). Also there is a lot of unnecessary things added just for grotesque purposes or way to long of descriptions (and not the world building good kind), did I need to read that when a character died they saw the world go dark, feel their bowels empty, and lastly get hard and 'finish' as his bodies last moment of pleasure in a matter of moments...... no, it didn't help the story, plot, or character development, and was just there to be gross (as one example). Some scenes move extremely quickly that I would want to be longer (like the fight scenes) while others are dragged out way to long (ex: The MCs getting scammed by an old lady, to buy a key to a bad apt., for them to go back and try to find her and her being gone, and them talking to some NPCs that did nothing to further the story, to them going back to said room, for them to not even stay in said room......if you hated reading that excerpt, imagine half a chapters worth of it in descriptive detail. A much as I have gripes, I was also unable to put the book down. I wanted to see what would happen to the characters and the supernatural things that happened and why the characters were doing what they were doing. I had to re-listen to a few parts to make sure I understood correctly, but when the story was getting good or the horror/suspension parts arrived it was done well and very interesting. It did get better in the second half of the book I will say; and the ending/epilogue was great in my opinion.
