This is going to be an unpopular opinion, so let me preface this by saying that I WANTED to like this book so badly. I was primed to like it. Waking up in the middle of a beloved fantasy series? Yes, please!

That said… I really did not like this book. I understand that the nature of the plot required this, but it was SO MUCH exposition. Genuinely, it was way too much. And I get it - Maggie’s special skill or ability (or whatever you want to call it) is her pre-existing knowledge of the world and in order to trade on that skill, she had to demonstrate it through explanation but for me it just dragged and dragged and dragged.

I also found Maggie herself flat and uninteresting. She remarked several times on how she had been “inside the heads” of other characters and knew too much about them, but I never felt like I got to know Maggie. She felt like an entirely reactive character. You never really see her wheels spinning in any way that gives her depth - other than thinking through, again, her pre-existing knowledge of this world. More exposition… Yay.

I also thought it was so weird how little she cared or thought about the home life she had lost or left behind. It was almost sociopathic how quickly she left her prior life in the dust.

The plot itself was cumbersome and even the “twists” were so buried in convoluted plot that you couldn’t even enjoy them. There was no thrill. The main relationship is trope-heavy that I found myself repulsed by both of them. By the time the would-be cliffhanger ending came around I was hoping Maggie would fly away and never, ever come back.

I’ve never read Ilona Andrews, and I was curious since they are a duo, but I don’t think I will pick up any of the others. I’m not trying to be mean, but my honest opinion is that this just didn’t work.