With how highly rated this book is here on Goodreads, I’m clearly m the minority when I say this was not my favorite. Too many things going on, not enough explanation, and the whole “unreliable narrator” thing, while a nice twist, in retrospect felt more like an act of convenience.

Like others before me have discussed, this book is a mess. Plotwise it doesn't follow cause and effect throughout the story, instead, it has a kind of bifurcation that I can't explain without spoilers, so suffice to say that it doesn't make any sense! Besides that, it's full of offensive stereotypes and tiresome clichés. Most of the villains are cardboard cutouts with vague motives and over-the-top "evil" reactions. Throughout the book we are hit over the head repeatedly with the platitude "people are not born evil" but the author keeps depicting two-dimensional characters that come across as if they were. I simply don't know how it has such a high rating...