This book was a page turner, straight from the beginning! An excellent blend of characters and storylines. It was very easy to immerse myself in this book, and almost imagine myself right there in Louisiana, with all of the characters!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this book and story so much. I was hooked from the start and haven’t put it down. As you read thru each page you can visualize the story as if it’s a movie you’re watching. The smells, sounds, environment were painted so perfectly! I can’t wait to share this book with a friend! Definitely adding this to my top 5 books of all time 💜
This book started on one trajectory and ended in a completely different dimension, for me. At first, I thought this was a story based in magical realism and that the mysticism was more subtle. For some reason I thought it would be about people with heightened abilities finding themselves; something more introspective. Then, about halfway through I would say, it swung the other way and so much happened in a more sensational, action filled, explicitly overt way! It was a pleasant surprise.
In fact this book kept surprising me. It had many different things going for it: mysticism, character development, recipes. It felt like a large jumble of ingredients delicately sautéed, and other times haphazardly blended together to create a dish with layered flavors and curious textures. I was not always sure I understood what I was eating but I definitely enjoyed the experience.
Furthermore, I would say it was refreshing. It was great to read an adult fantasy novel in the sense that these characters were older than me and around my own age and that they were somewhat realistic personalities -albeit with a supernatural twist- imperfect and mostly complex. I did feel that some characters were a bit more fleshed out than others. I also felt that a lot of this book was tasked with setting the scene and slowly illuminating the creatively complex world that the author had divined.
I will say there was a lot going on and I didn’t always follow the logic but I didn’t mind suspending logic and seeing where this led me. There were multiple villains and some of the “good guys” were also dubious, and made me question if I was supposed to root for them or not. Which made it all the more interesting, really. I kind of like that it was not so straight forward, not a cookie cutter fantasy trope, at least in my eyes. I just had to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Love the addition of actual recipes and a great guide at the end of some of the larger points of magic. Looking forward to seeing what the second book holds!
