In this intriguing Edwardian fantasy, readers are blessed with a warm-hearted idealist as our hero. Dr. Miles Singer is in some ways a rule follower who can't fathom selfish motives behind noble acts, and in others, he is a rebel who would run from home and defy his father to stand free and use his gifts to help others. He is such a gentle soul, and I would love to read more fantasy protagonists with his overwhelming kindness.

The story draws on many relevant social issues. Classism is a major component here, since lower class witches are shipped off to asylums, whereas the ruling class of mages keeps their power secret, even as they use it to advance their own importance. Imperialism, war, and its traumas are also a large presence here. Miles works as a psychiatrist at a veterans' hospital. Once a prisoner of war himself, Miles' empathy and patients-first attitude make him well-loved by the men he serves. He can't use his magic healing abilities to help for fear of being accused of witchcraft, so he trudges along, filing paperwork, arguing with his boss, and doing his best with limited resources. I really resonated with the way his empathy was trampled on by bureaucracy, politics, and lack of funds.

There was so much to love here. I would say the world-building skews towards social rather than magical detail. I loved the descriptions of bike traffic (including an adrenaline-filled chase scene!), fashion, and technology. There's also a very sweet mlm romance that had a light touch on the story but was still fully realized rather than an afterthought. In addition, a complicated brother/sister relationship left me with a mix of emotions. The layers of mystery and power-grabbing machinations in the story were captivating. I am eager to dive into the rest of the trilogy.

I’m afraid the World Fantasy Award has lost all credibility with me now that I know this book won it in 2019. I can’t understand how such an incredibly poorly edited book won such a prestigious award. Seriously- I was shocked this wasn’t self published because it read like fan fiction.

The author assumes the readers already know everything about the world and it’s races and she never bothers to explain. Her world building is nearly nonexistent. She clearly wanted to set it in Edwardian England, but for some unknown reason she instead makes a fantasy world based of off it with a few minor changes instead. Monday becomes Firstday for example. These changes weren’t necessary and didn’t add anything to the world. So much is never explained. What is Tristan? His race is never explained and we are left to assume he’s something like a fae. How are secondaries determined? How are they assigned? Miles seemed to grow up knowing he would be his younger sister’s secondary, but it seems his mother was secondary to his father. Why wasn’t he bound as a child? If they have to be a certain age before the binding that should have been explained. What exactly is a witch mark? The magic system of this fantasy world makes zero sense because the author glossed over it. 

The romance, if you can call it that, is instalove. We are told they are falling in love versus being shown it. They barely know each other at the end of the book, yet somehow they decide to get married. There’s no development of their relationship. They eat a few meals together and Miles moves in after knowing Tristan a few days, but we rarely see them discuss anything but the mystery. Tristan promised to teach Miles how to use his magic, but that never really happens either. Miles mainly stares into mirrors while Tristan reads a book. There is a ton of buildup towards Miles and Tristan finally sleeping together, but it fails to live up to expectations. We are told they go into a bedroom and that’s it. It kind of felt like the author wasn’t up to the task of writing a gay sex scene. It was weird for a book that’s been lauded for its inclusivity. The whole romance consisted of maybe two kisses and a bedroom scene that we don’t get to read. Does that really count as inclusive?? Tristan is a cardboard cut out of a character. At one point Miles lists his faults to his sister and they aren’t even believable because we haven’t seen any of the faults he’s describing!

The character of Grace was all over the place! The author sets it up so you will absolutely despise her, but then wants you to sympathize with her in the end. She’s the main character of the next book and that ruined any chance that I’d continue with this series. Her character is a sociopath! She would literally rather die than release her brother because she’s so determined to inherit her father’s role. I read the audiobook version, but if I hadn’t I would have thrown the book across the room when Miles refused to kill her to reclaim his freedom. She claims she wants to make life better for the secondaries, but then once her brother is bound to her she betrays him at every turn. Her motivations for wanting to improve life for the secondaries was clear as mud. Apparently it had something to do with her childhood sweetheart? Then at the end she suddenly decides to free Miles after all. No idea why. She just does. Her character makes no sense! I know people were very excited for the sequel because Grace is supposed to be in a f/f relationship, but that makes no sense either. She spent most of the book making homophobic statements about her brother’s preferences. 

I wanted to root for Miles, but it was hard to like his character. He claims that being bound is his worst nightmare, but then he immediately forgives his sister for doing it. He had zero spine when it came to his sister and that really made it difficult for me to empathize with him. He just resigns himself to his fate. His refusal to hate his sister didn’t seem realistic to me. If my sister was constantly homophobic towards me, bound me so she could steal my power, and was trying to arrange my marriage (while ignoring my sexuality) for her political gain, I wouldn’t be falling all over myself to help her. 

I think the author suffered from too many ideas for the plot and that’s where a good editor would have been helpful. Instead, the three mysteries are barely developed and then loosely tied together in the end. The mystery with the veterans was probably the most interesting, but Miles barely investigates it. Really he only solves everything due to luck. The villains she spent most of the book setting up just disappear and we never learn their motivations. Instead his father is the man behind the curtain. The conclusion of the mystery is unsatisfying because you don’t understand how they got there when they did so little sleuthing! This could have been really interesting if it had been fleshed out properly. Instead the author bogged down the book with tons of scenes that did little to advance the plot. It was at once both too slow and too rushed in regards to pacing. It really seemed like the author forgot about certain plot points at time. Like what did Miles’ landlady see in Grace’s tea leaves? Why did Robin disappear for most of the book? Why did the other doctor have it out for Miles? The book ends extremely abruptly after Tristan proposed. It left a ton of loose ends and I’m not even sure what the next book will be about because of how awkward the ending is.

The book had a ton of potential but was ultimately pretty disappointing. Usually historical fantasy is right up my alley, but this was a big miss. I think the author could be pretty decent someday, but she definitely needs a stronger editor.