I did not expect this to give me Romance Feelings, and it did? This felt like This Is How You Lose the Time War except it isn't epistolary and it's only half as confusing and it's somehow even darker. Vo's writing is so evocative and lush and I love it - this is borderline purple prose but it feels fitting in this unsettling reflection on love and judgement and violence. This is entirely character-driven, as time stops and starts and flashes back fairly seamlessly to show us glimpses of the people our main character has loved through her too-long life. Vitrine, you absolutely ruthless, heartsick creature, I love you (but please don't love me back).

A few of my favorite quotes:

" 'Mine,' she said, and then she turned to shout it to the city in a voice that could be heard only by the dead, the listening, and the cats."

"Vitrine loved her city like demons and cats may love things, with an eye towards ownership and the threat of small mayhem."

"This is how you break yourself into a thousand pieces that are all equally wrong and unloved."

"The bitterness rose up in his voice like the taste of clove through sugar candy, something sharp and significant. She liked him best with it, because sugar alone was so dull and plain and because once you have mixed a drop of clove into a vat of sugar, nothing in the world could take it out."

"I love you so, I love you best," she whispered, nipping firmly at his ear. "I will walk in you, and I will care for you, and I will bring the whole world to rejoice in you."