I got halfway through this book and I no longer feel the need to force myself to keep reading. I don’t find the characters compelling except maybe Harrowhark, but I’m getting tired of her constantly wandering off without explanation. There are far too many characters and factions introduced all at once, fights happen for seemingly no reason, and on the whole the story comes across as an ensemble of OCs with “plot” thrown in as an afterthought. Gideon’s behaviour doesn’t fit with her backstory so every time she does anything I’m like ?? why are you like this?

The setting is interesting in theory (sci-fi + gothic is very much my style) but the execution is limited. The lack of descriptive prose makes it hard to visualise, well, anything. It’s dialogue-heavy, and the dialogue is kind of cringey.

I’d hoped it was just a rough start but at the 50% mark I’ve finally decided to call it a day. I may revisit it at some point but for now I need to move on to something else.