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What I liked:
– Once again loved the complex, visceral heart-wrenching world
– Sage’s escape from her people is legit cathartic
– Beautiful writing
– I really loved the sweet relationship between Sage and her love interest
– strong found family
– deliciously righteous resistance

What I didn’t like:
– The romance is kind of insta-lovey. I actually didn’t mind it all that much, but it will definitely bug some people.
– The pacing of this one is all over the place. I feel like it started off kind of slow, and it was definitely painful to endure Sage’s culture along with her (I actually almost DNF’d at one point.) But once she escaped, I devoured this book.
– The end isn’t really an end. Obviously this is because this is a bridge into book 1 (though I don’t recommend reading this one first) but it didn’t quite leave me satisfied,

Overall though, I really enjoyed this read, totally recommend it for fans of book one, and I’m super excited to read book 2!

⭐⭐⭐⭐½

Post Review Note: So after I wrote this, I read a few reviews of books later in the series, and it sounds like the series goes in a love-triangle direction I’m not a fan of. So, I made the (actually kind of difficult) decision to stop reading this series while I still enjoyed it.

So, I’m left with mixed feelings on this series. Maybe one day, I’ll pick up the sequels for myself, but at 5 (long) books and counting, that’s a big time investment. We’ll see!

Thanks for reading!