Rarely have I ever devoured a book as quickly as this one! It is amazing! Drop everything and read this book!
Okay, sure, I'm a real sucker for enemies-to-lovers with boatloads of betrayal
But there is so much more to this novel! It has an excellent storyline with amazing worldbuilding. The whole idea of the royal line of each kingdom being magically linked to the land and having a kindred animal was amazing! On top of that magic, there's also the harmonic magic where two mages born close together will be "mirrors" of each other. I like that somehow the natural balance is maintained by always making sure the magic users balance each other out. That just resonates beautifully for me. So very harmonious!
The characters are amazing! Riona is so fierce, but as she starts seeing the lies that she's been told or the things that have been omitted so as to keep her a princess-soldier bent on revenge for the murder of her parents and the annexation of her country. Some of the twists were so well done and Ria's realisation that she's faced with a decision was such an amazing scene! To come to the understanding that you either continue on the path others have set for you or choose your own. It was awesome!
Tristan was so endearing too. Kind and always thinking of others, he has a really dark secret. I found it interesting how none of the characters take into consideration that his "monster" moment, that pushes him to become even kinder and to an extent self-effacing, happened when he was a child. The other characters' lack of perception and understanding definitely made me root for him even more.
So, I started reading this yesterday and I blazed through it. It's nail-biting stuff! I was about fifty pages from the end when I had this fearful moment where I thought it would be impossible for the author to actually tie it all off. To me, that's a big red flag for a cliff-hanger and I continued reading with trepidation. But what a surprise! Lopez, with mastery reminiscent of Eddings, tied off every loose end and provided an exceptionally satisfying conclusion and even set up some hints for a future book about Tristan's friend, Liam. Wow!
I was invested from the first chapter. I couldn't put it down, just had to keep turning those pages. And a satisfying ending!
Please can I have MORE!
