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Amidst the backdrop of political intrigue and elemental sorcery, Rielle must grapple with the consequences of her growing abilities. She seeks not merely to survive but to understand her place in a realm where trust can be a dangerous game and betrayal lurks around every corner. The struggle between fate and personal agency unfolds as they navigate treacherous alliances, revealing the true nature of magic and the price that comes with wielding it.
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In the end, I really enjoyed this, but I have to admit I struggled for the first portion of it.Multiple protagonists are one of my favorite things in a book, but I felt like in this case we got to know one of them way too much before meeting the other, so I resented Rielle for quite a bit for "intruding" on Tyen's story, then once I became interested in her, I resented Tyren every time he came up. Eventually, I think I was more intrigued by Rielle, who had some interesting stuff going on, because after a certain point, Tyen's story just sort of ends up feeling like filler.I liked the idea of the world, but I wasn't terribly impressed by the fleshing out of it. Honestly, I'm not sure if the two protagonists are going to meet, or how, and my grasp on the magical college and the Empire and everything else is tenuous at best. I'm willing to hope that this will be remedied in later books, given this is the first in a series, but it still kind of rankled.I enjoyed the different cultural views on magic, though I would have liked some more answers. Most of those seem to be intentionally withheld, however, for later books, so I'll be picking up the next one at some point to see what on earth is going on regarding that.One of the odder points was the cliffhangers. Cliffhangers for each chapter, or at least for each viewpoint switch, were generally done well, but the end of the book didn't quite manage it. It doesn't feel like a complete story in itself, really (or two complete stories, I guess, which is what is basically being told here), but neither cliffhanger works well as a hook for the next one, either. I'm kind of interested in picking it up, but not in any kind of a rush, and that's sad because throughout I was intrigued enough to want to read the next chapter.While I will be picking up the next book in the series and possibly trying some of the author's other series, I'm not immediately going out to grab them, and I really wish the book had instilled that desire in me.This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
