If you are looking for a dark fantasy novel filled with magic, ghosts, scary creatures, secrets and murder, look no further – this is the book for you. Slow paced, slowly revealing its characters, the surroundings, the plot and the whole dark academia setting. Slowly we get to know that universe that will hopefully come back to us soon, in another novel.
I mostly struggle reading fantasy, I find it naรฏve, stereotypical and unconvincing, with flat and uninteresting characters only concentrated on descriptions of new and unknown worlds.
(Of course, the Stephen King blurb on the cover, helped me get interested in this fantasy.)
But this was not at all the case with this novel. It is slow, but gripping, exciting but with not too much action. Interesting and very hard to put down. When you start reading it is hard to stop until you reach the very end.
I liked the multi-layered character of Alex, there isnโt too much of anything in her. Not too much positive nor negative, not too much action or passiveness, she is not too genius nor too much of an action hero. She is just believable and seems very – liveable.
Maybe the villain (I am not going to spoil it for you) was a bit predictable, stereotypical, as well as the good cop character. But in general, a good novel that I immensely enjoyed and I am looking forward to the sequel!
If you are looking for one fantasy novel to read this year, I am sure this one would be the best choice! Highly recommended!
A Literary Snob 