This book ended up being a lovely, pleasant surprise for me, for two notable reasons. First, I have been having kind of the worst time with fantasy lately, so I was wary when I started. I needn't have been. Second, there are birds. It's kind of a big deal. And yet, it didn't turn me off!
What I Liked:
- Who on earth can be trusted? Heh I like when everyone's a mess and you're pretty sure that no one is the least bit trustworthy. I mean, our girl Enebish didn't always get that memo, but to be fair, I am trusting to a fault too, so I feel her pain.
- This world is pretty dismal. Yes, I consider that a thing I like, okay? I mean my favorite show contains three apocalypses, so. Yeah so I guess it kind of is par for the course with all the lying, but things are not going great here. People are starving and killing each other and Idk even why completely, but I think it's just because this is what humans do sometimes. The point is, Enebish would probably rather be hanging out with her bird friends somewhere, but alas. Sometimes you have to try to fix things because god knows they can't get a whole lot worse.
- Both Enebish and the side characters are very complex. Like, very much so. They all have reasons for their crappy acts, and while it doesn't always excuse them, it does make seem more sensical. I really enjoyed watching her relationships with various characters unfold, because with a lot of dreadful actions comes the consequences.
- On that note, gray morality is clearly a factor here. I mean, what if doing evil things can help do away with evil? I feel like we can almost understand these questions in our current landscape: we may want to take the moral highground, but what if doing so lets the bad guys win? Lots of great questions are asked during this one!
What I Didn't:
- Okay so I did kind of predict a lot of the stuff that was going to happen. I mean. This isn't a dealbreaker or anything, but it happened, so.
Bottom Line: Enjoyable, full of very complex characters, and asking a ton of thought-provoking questions. I will definitely pick up the sequel!