I just recently became a Sarah J. Maas fan after reading the first two books in the ACOTAR series before Christmas and then the #overbookedsociety chose this as their January pick, so I decided to read along!

This book follows Bryce, a half-human and half-fae party girl, and Hunt, an enslaved angel assassin, who are thrown together to investigate the murder of Bryce’s friends. Bryce is looking for justice and revenge while Hunt could be a big step closer to gaining his freedom if he can solve this case. But each of them has baggage that gets in the way and the clock is ticking.

I have to say that Maas drops a ton of worldbuilding information on you in the first few hundred pages of this book. I would say it was too much. I don’t usually use tabs when I read but I did with this book to mark pieces of information I was scared I might forget and need to reference later. The hardcover of this book is 799 pages so there was a real possibility I could forget information from earlier on by the time I was close to the end. Looking back, after finishing the book, I do think Maas could’ve cut a couple of hundred pages and the ending still would have had the impact that it did.

Having said all of that, I absolutely loved the characters. As a new Maas fan, I’m quickly learning that she has a knack for writing main characters and side characters that you fall in love with. Even, and maybe especially, the morally grey ones. The growth of the two main characters was a treat to read and their growth along with the mystery they are trying to solve really took me on an emotional rollercoaster ride!

I do recommend this book (I’ve already pre-ordered the second one) but be prepared to wade through a lot of worldbuilding in the beginning. I think it’s worth it!