I was fascinated by the very interesting fantasy culture the author developed for this novel, and most particularly the magical artifacts. The way all artifacts come with serious caveats made the whole thing far more interesting and really resonated for me.
I liked Phehl's character too. She was very believable and her doubts and fears resonated with me. She is not a typical fantasy MC, which is a breath of fresh air in this genre. She muddles her way along and does the best she can in a very difficult series of situations. She's definitely not ready for this quest, and the author balances the call to adventure well with the character's hesitant almost-but-not-quite rejection of the quest. It's an interesting way to play with the hero tropes and I think the author really managed that.
Another aspect I really liked of the lore were the sharklings. The concept of shark shifters who shed their skins like selkies is one I've never come across before and really added a lot to this story. The sharkling character is very well written and her interplay with Phehl worked brilliantly.
There were a few moments that stretched my imagination a little too far and had me shake my head because I simply couldn't suspend my disbelief. The whole tradition of bringing in whale bones, but then parading around as if they were a little larger than a fist, when I've seen whale vertebrae myself and know there's no way I'd ever be able to lift even one of them. But apart from these small moments, I very much enjoyed this novel and I am certainly curious to know what will happen next to Phehl and the sharkling.
