Format: audiobook 🎧 | 🎙️: Bahni Turpin | Genre: West-African Inspired Teen Fantasy 🐆💫 | 📍 Tropes/Themes: Majis & Royals; Swords & Mysticism; Betrayal; Found Family; Multiple 1st Person POV | ⚠️CW: fatmisia and body shaming, racism & racial slurs, chemical warfare, slavery, murder, child abuse, violence, self-harm, death of a parent recounted, torture, war themes, self sacrifice | 🔥: 🌶️ | 💭Thoughts: | Tomi Adeyemi throws us right back into the action with this book! We barely get a breath in before chaos reigns 🔥 | Listening to this at a time when senseless wars and genocides rage on in the real world, I found myself so frustrated with Inan and Amari for upholding corrupt and abusive systems after all they’ve seen. I had to remind myself these are teenagers processing things through the teenage lens, I was yellin at my phone! Adeyemi provides such robust imagery throughout this series, I truly felt like I was in the room during every talk, on the field during every battle, touching every blade of grass in the dreamscape, watching the waves in the open ocean. The cliffhanger we’re left with had me wracking my brain!! I can’t wait to listen to the 3rd installment 😭🤞

DNF at page 259.

I just...couldn’t do it. The first book was so good, what happened??

Reading this book made me both angry and anxious—probably because every page is an argument, or someone not being listened to, or something. It was upsetting for me to read. Also, no characters wanted to actually sit down and talk—suddenly everyone was hotheaded and believed their way was the best and only way. It drove me nuts. I don’t like anyone in this, except maybe Amari, and that’s a strong maybe.

I won’t be continuing the series.