There were so many things about the world found in this book that had me deeply intrigued and somehow left me feeling like I was unravelling some kind of mystery at the same time that I really enjoyed.
There are so many questions that both the reader and the main character, Arla, are presented with about the world she lives in, particularly about Hadalyn, her home, and Kastonia, their neighbour. There are the questions of whether the dragons people talk about and the gods often mentioned are actually real, whether in the past or even in a lesser state in the present as some people wholly believe in them, whereas others like Arla think they are a made up story. This also ties into the question of magic, said to be related to the dragons though seemingly something only talked about as if it exists, and never actually seen.
It felt like these were questions that Arla was on a path to find answers to, whether she intended it or not, and the way the answers felt so secret except to a certain few added an element of mystery that I really enjoyed in this book, particularly because I wasn’t expecting it and it created this unique atmosphere to the story that I loved.
As far as characters, I quite enjoyed Hark, grumpy and constantly butting heads with Arla, yet seeming like he was denying even to himself that there might be more to his feelings for the assassin then disdain. Arla wasn’t as exciting of a character in comparison in my opinion, solely because she felt like a bunch of other fierce warrior-esque, deadly killer type females I’ve read in the past and it left her feeling like a not very unique character. As much as I understand why she is a certain way, because of her upbringing, her past in general, and her status as an assassin, I just felt like she could have been more of her own character if she didn’t feel like she was such a contrived personality type. She was also very childish and at the same time felt like she was tooting her own horn about being the greatest assassin ever which had me growing pretty tired of her. I didn’t dislike her by any means, I just found myself very meh about her as a main character as a result and not deeply invested in her.
The book also suffered a bit from taking too long to get to the point and really go anywhere that left it dragging and had me struggling to get through it and keep reading. The plot of Hark and Arla going off together to find out why a shipment was disappearing on the King just took up way more of the book than it needed to and as a result made it feel super slow paced and difficult to push through at times. I felt like I lost a bit of interest around the halfway point which left me putting off continuing with the story for an extended period.
All together it was OK, but not overwhelmingly exciting or groundbreaking. There wasn’t quite enough happening in the plot to keep me interested and it felt like it took too long to get to the point of the book and I just didn’t feel entirely invested. The characters themselves were also for the most part underwhelming, with the most interesting by far being Hark. In the end I could take or leave this book though it could have potential going forward.
