Okay. So. I have a lot of thoughts. Most of them being that this book was fine. Nothing was like a major issue, but there were like a bunch of little things that bothered me.
1. Rosy's aversion to war made sense at first. Her grandfather was used and discarded by the Kingdom and then her Grandmother was punished for what seems to be a very natural reaction (familiars going feral when their bonded partner dies). But Rosy keeps acting like the kingdom just wants to go out and conquer land when at least by all appearances they are being attacked and need to defend themselves. Like, you choosing to not help defend your people when you have the ability to isn't going to stop the war from coming to you? I'm pretty anti-war but it felt like a weird take.

We do learn at the end that the war is pretty manufactured, but Rosy doesn't know that.

2. The kingdom has ALOT of politics regarding class systems, wealth, family bloodlines, etc but gender and sexuality isn't one of them. I love a world where homophobia doesn't exist, but it didn't feel like anything was solved/worked through, it felt like any problems that might arise were ignored. The princess is a powerful bone witch, from the bloodline of an extremely powerful bone witch. Where is her heir going to come from when she bonds with Rosy? Whether it's magic that helps them produce a baby together, or a donor is used, it felt like a weird omission when the King wrote to Shaw critiquing her courting choice.
3. In the same vein, no one was worried at all about the only potential heir dying in battle? There is no backup plan and this is crazy to me.
4. The use of the word terrorist so often just felt odd to me. This is a personal thing I think, but it's used so often with racist connotations in the real world, that it felt jarring to hear it in fantasy.
5. The prejudices against Shaw felt less like actual problems and more like a way to manufacture a slow burn relationship. Rosy's gran hated Shaw because a prophesy about her leading a war, but loved her grandmother the queen she fought under? And Rosy just inherited that prejudice and was a bitch to Shaw because of it? Like hate the King, sure, but Shaw has nothing to do with anything.
6. It was also a weird dissonance where, in a book where gender/sexual politics weren't an issue, we spent a very long time in Rosy's inner monologue reviewing the importance of not misgendering someone. Either it's a lesson we need to learn, or it's not a problem that occurs in this world. We can't both acknowledge and ignore it.
7. This book leans heavy into classism / wealth inequality but doesn't actually do anything to address it. The classism seems to exist solely so that Rosy can not care about status, because she's not like the other girls. Shaw tells Rosy she wants to offer scholarships to ALL witches/familiars that can't afford it when she's queen. Like that's great in theory but where is this money going to come from? What's the plan? It gives ethical billionaire vibes, and she's doing nothing to stop the bullying of less fortunate students at witch hall now. You're just suddenly going to do it when you're queen?
8. The ending where

Rosy determines she CAN fight but still won't bond with Shaw. Because she's not cut out for Court politics? This is just so random. Two chapters ago Rosy was complaining about how the ranch is doing just fine without her and how much she misses everything about Witch Hall. These circumstances keeping them apart make no sense except to further the relationship drama. They don't serve any other real purpose.