*Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for giving me this arc for an honest review*

I really liked this book. I love a good witch story and it provided it. I loved Ranka as a lead characters although some of her choices angered me. But overall it was a really good book.

Main review: I was somewhat non-plussed on reading this book considering the level of abuse levelled at it and the author by the twitter hangman's circle. It was described as a reverse racism narrative (spoiler alert: that's just racism btw. Racism happens just fine without a white person in the room), colonialist, antisemitic and a whole bunch of other things. All of which were completely inaccurate. In fact, those opinions were so far off the mark, I genuinely wondered what book those people had read. Of course, most people one starring this have not read the book at all. They're taking their 'opinion' from a few tweets posted by an embittered and less successful author on twitter - or that's certainly what it looks like to a casual observer. Please just read a book for yourself before 1 starring it: refuse to join the flock of sheeple.



Anyway, I am slightly outside the target audience for this one. I think I now fall into the category of enjoying books that make good YA reads but that aren't specifically written for a YA audience. I didn't feel a massive connection for the characters and suspect that's just because I'm on the outside. I also don't love very linear plots with little to no subplot.



Having said that, this was still a good book. The story was exactly what you'd expect if you have a few fantasy novels under your belt, but unlike many other YA linear fantasy books, this one made full use of the plot to explore some very gritty and apposite issues. These included found family and breaking free of abuse, dismantling and more importantly rebuilding an unjust system and exactly what the cost would be. And most appropriate of all - especially for those people who buy a political ideology hook, line and sinker without asking what's in it for those organising the decentralised movement - how a cause can blind you to reality; how no division is ever black and white; how you must always always think for yourself and question everything. Basically, if someone is teaching you to hate someone, especially a group of someones based on their perceived power or external characteristics, you should be giving the person trying to use you some serious side-eye. Always ask cui bone? - who benefits? (You can bet your arse it won't be you).



Another point in this book's favour is that despite having strong themes and exploring that breakdown of communication between people and political ideology, it is a story first book. It doesn't just whack the reader over the head and yell 'think like this or you're not one of us' which a disturbing number of books seem to be doing lately. Whether I agree or disagree with an author's perspective, I appreciate nuance. I like someone who is not afraid to consider both sides of an argument.



Overall, I would recommend this, especially if you're in the sweet spot of really enjoying linear YA fantasy.

This book does not in any way deserve the bad reputation that has being dumped on it, a lot of times by people who haven't even read it or did not understand what they read. Do not miss out on this fantastic read because of them.

"Loyalty is not owed"
Ranka is a blood-witch, probably the last of her kind. She is sent to the south to be the bride of a human prince, due to a treaty. In truth, she is sent there to kill him. But Galen is not the evil prince she expected. His sister Aramis seems more of a threat. A mysterious plague is killing witches. Aramis and Ranka are all but forced to work together. Ranka would help with the cure and Aramis would teach her to control her magic. Will Ranka fulfill her purpose, and what is her purpose anymore?

The narrative presents flourishing descriptions for all the senses that give the worldbuilding the 'epicness' needed for this tale. But also small details that make it feel grounded. This is writing that is engaging with a powerful undercurrent, blessed with intrigue and pacing of a comfortable canter always on the verge of a brisk gallop.

Ranka is an unwilling 'hero' thrown into a simultaneously dangerous and awkward situation. She is strong-willed and wants to do what is right despite her predatorial 'curse'. Everyone fears her except for Aramis and watching them keep each other on their toes is all the money. How the privileged royal and the lonely, deadly girl butt heads. Percy with his arrogance and quips will tug at your heart.

The weaving of the plot threads is done so well, with its twists and turns, creating an attention-grabbing tapestry. The mythology is interesting, and the magic system is described so well and so vividly. I really enjoy the way the author depicts the incredible action. There is great insight into the characters. Characters that the author successfully makes you care for. Emotions that cling to the words with devotion.

This book deals with the ramifications of human greed. The brutal harsh reality of prejudice at work (in this story the 'victims' are witches) and human cruelty in the name of whatever belief. About self-worth, what really constitutes an enemy, a monster. That what is, isn't always as it should be. All is fair in love and war. Or is it?

Gut-wrenching, chest-churning, full of jaw-dropping revelations and machinations. Where enemies become allies and allies, enemies. This is an absolutely cinematic, unforgettable tale of discovery, of being better, of survival.

I got this ARC before the whole issue with potential racism, reverse racism and “black royal siblings oppressing poor white people” erupted, and because I’m trying to be someone who will try things out first before passing judgement, I decided to read this anyway despite my wariness.

Now, that I’m done, I’m on the side of those who label this book as not reverse racist specifically of “black people oppressing whites” as I’ve seen in many reviews and comments).

Why?

To begin, here’s the definition of reverse racism:
“Reverse racism, sometimes referred to as reverse discrimination, is the concept that affirmative action and similar color-conscious programs for redressing racial inequality are a form of anti-white racism.” – Wikipedia

As a Malaysian, the forms of racism I’ve witnessed and experienced are tied to the races within my own country. In this case, it’s slurs, the “go back to ____ country”, the prejudice and stereotypes against ethnicities. Racial discrimination is even embodied within the policies here. I don’t know much about what racism is like outside my country, but I’ve seen the horrors done to POC by white people on the internet. The shoot first, ask questions later. The instant prejudice and wariness against a POC, etc.

With the above in mind, nothing in this book can be specifically labelled as anti-white or anti-any colour. Yes, the main character is pale and yes, the siblings who are to rule the country are dark-skinned but there is no majority race on either side. The third member of the royal sibling’s entourage is, in fact, “dark haired and dark eyed” with pale skin (page 30). On the other hand, the witches are divided into a few covens and in the case of the Skra, “the only difference was their hands; on brown and pale fingers alike, their fingernails ranged from deep gray to the barest tint” (Page 10).

On the other hand, the siblings’ parents are a witch mother with dark skin (page 120) and their father a pale human (page 87). Their father figure after the death of their parents is a pale human with red hair (page 105). Skin tone and hair colour are, refreshingly, not constantly mentioned in this book. Moreover, to say this book is reverse racist because black rulers are oppressing poor white people would be incorrect too. The black people don’t make any ruling decisions throughout the book. The cut-off trade, the poaching, etc, are done by others (some of the notable leaders of these opposing parties are pale). The only time the siblings do make a ruling decision, it was to unite the people in the end.

Rather, if anything is to be deemed as racism in any way here, then it’d be the dislike of witches toward humans and the dislike of humans toward witches because that’s what fuels the unrest between the people in the book. ‘Monsters VS humans’ is the primary, constant focus here and we see it both externally through the conflict between humans and witches, and internally through Ranka as she struggles with the perception of what a monster (that is, what she views herself to be) truly is. What enriches this exploration of the theme is the diverse characters within a diverse social system, making The Ones We Burn a well-written debut novel.

My only issue with the book is how long it is as the story felt like it was being dragged on in the middle. Nevertheless, I do appreciate how carefully crafted the story is. If you’re a fan of the complexities related to the theme of ‘monsters VS humans’, and if you’re interested in a book where skin tones are minimally, passively focused on, The Ones We Burn is a book you should try reading.

PS: If I come off as ignorant at any moment, then I’m really sorry for that 🙇‍♂️🙏🏻 (Also ngl, writing all this here is terrifying as I don’t want to accidentally offend anyone, but I also want to be honest.)

DNF @ 30%

I tried with this book. I really did. But I just couldn’t.

It’s not an objectively bad book. Maybe the reason is simply me and my incompetence when it comes to Fantasy. But I couldn’t get into it.

What is the sypnosis? You tell me.

Ranka is a bloodwitch who has been tasked with killing the prince. But, when she arrives to the palace, she realises the prince isn’t at all who she thought he’d be. He’s actually nice. And then there’s his sister, who’s watching her every move.

In the first 30%, nothing interesting happened. Nothing that could keep me hooked, anyway. The characters were boring, and Aramis kept changing her mind regarding Ranka, so much so it made me bored. Ranka was boring. She was supposedly this badass bloodwitch, but she was really just sad.

And I couldn’t, in good consciousness, continue reading this book or writing this review without mentioning the problematic aspects of it that Rebecca Mix refuses to properly acknowledge. I want to preface that I am white and I’m an atheist/baptised catholic, so I can’t properly comment on these issues because I’m not apart of the groups being harmed here. So, I’m mostly just going to be repeating what I’ve heard.

Firstly, Jewish readers have stated that blood magic is anti-Semitic, and since Ranka’s entire characterisation and background hinges on her having blood magic, this means this book is possible Anti-Semitic. (But again, I’m not Jewish, so I could be wrong here.)

Secondly, the rulers of Ranka’s world are Galen and his sister Aramis. They are Black. Ranka is white. The world building in this book suggests that Ranka is oppressed and Aramis and Galen are the oppressors. This is a typical reverse racism fantasy that is seeped in racism because the idea that white people are the oppressed ones erases the history of oppression that Black people have experienced in exchange for making the white people—who are responsible for the oppression of Black people—oppressed and hated within society. Other people will have said it better than me.

But it’s clear Mix didn’t really do her research on these topics and doesn’t fully understand why these things are bad. Therefore, I’m dnfing. I may pick it up later on just to see how the book wraps up. But for now, I’m done with it.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an e-arc in exchange of an honest review.

I am the monster. I am the shield. I am the knife in the dark.

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding this book- I wasn’t aware of it before I was sent the arc. You can read about it on GoodReads but what I will say is that this need to give books a 1-star rating before the arc copies or actual book is out needs to stop. It’s unfair & those who do it and support claims when they haven’t even read the book are ridiculous. I read every word of this story and believe that the reverse racism claims are not true.

So on to the actual story and book. Interesting concept and idea but poorly written. There is a lot of repetition of thoughts by the MC that could have been removed. Action and important elements of the story take place off the page, leaving you to struggle with what exactly is happening. The characters aren’t as fleshed out as they could have been. Saying that, I really liked the MC Ranka and her struggle to decide who to be loyal to, her coven or to the princess she has feelings for.

As a debut YA novel, this story has potential but the writing and jumps between events without being clear made it an ok read. The fight scenes were the highlight for me as they were detailed and far more immersive than other passages in the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the arc. The Ones We Burn is out now.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

It feels really wrong to give a review for a book that I unfortunately didn't finished, I stopped right after reaching the 40% mark because I couldn't take it any longer. This story had nothing to keep me entertained and interested to follow the plot.

The tone of the story feels very childish and more suitable towards the younger spectrum of the YA genre. The reader is spoon fed every detail as if the author thinks readers wouldn't be able to understand the story on their own. diversity was included for the sake of diversity, a sentence about trans/non-binary witches thrown in there without any elaboration. The royals who are described as being black read like white characters wearing a black mask, they read and seem white- no aspect of culture makes them stand out and gives them agency. This society seems ethnically diverse but only on the surface since the whole set oft characters is culturally homogenous. I don't understand the authors choice making the royals out of all the characters black, other than a failed attempt to create an empowering image for BIPOC readers. It feels that this is a case of a "color blind" attempt to solve the sensitive issue of race and race politics because race has no social significance in the plot line.
on the pic of the witch hate, the reader doesn't get WHY witches are hated so much. Treating them bad is a general thing, it’s not like a race treats them badly, it’s a general hate for them in this world. Which only makes it more obvious that the hate is not at all explained, the reader just has to hear this one witch pitty herself the whole time. It would give Ranka a lot more character depth if her emotions and reasonings, her pain and self pitty would've been explored more than what we can read in the book.

I have to give a huge thank you to BIPOC readers who took it upon themself and made the issues with this story public and started a much needed conversation.

Please note that this is just my opinion on this book.

In this book we follow Ranka on her journey through friendship, betrayal, trauma and healing.
Ranka is a witch who is tired of the death being caused around her. The only thing she wants most is to be left alone, forgetting the horrors of her past. This all changes when she is named Bloodwinn, the next treaty bride to the king of Isodal. Her coven sends her his way with only 1 directive, Kill him.

Throughout the book we follow Ranka as she gets to know the prince and the princess of Isodal. We unravel her magic with her and see her becoming stronger and stronger. We follow the main characters of the book search for and unravel the mysteries surrounding a magical plague.

I loved the magic in this and the way the author took it in her own hands. Ranka her magic might be called blood magic, but it's different from anything I've seen in other books. It doesn't necessarily craves blood. But it does get awakened by it, it craving dead and not stopping until it has what it wants. Together with the narrator we unravel why Ranka is who she is and how her blood magic got awakened.

All in all, I think this was a good read! It is not my favorite of this year, but I definitely enjoyed reading it.

" The family you choose are the ones who leave the deepest mark "

I stopped reading after the first 10% firstly because the plot severely lacked. For something that is supposed to be a story about witches, I cannot even begin to explain how far removed from witchery this book felt.

My second and more important reason for why I will not continue to read, support or endorse this book is because the book is a reverse racism fantasy, as well as being antisemitic. I don't think there is any need for me to expand because that should tell you everything you need to know.

I will always remain true to my beliefs, and if that means giving bad reviews then so be it. But I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for their generosity in providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

DISCLAIMER: I am aware of the controversy surrounding this book and tried to keep this in mind as I was reading this book. I am not POC or Jewish though, so I highly encourage looking up other people’s reviews to see their stance on the book.

I want to however start this review off by saying that, in my opinion, the contents of this book have been taken out of context slightly.

Although the royals in this book are black, the author didn’t make them oppressors. Both the populations (the humans, as well as the witches) are mixed and the royals aim to provide the best for the population and end up being the good guys. The royal princess, for example, visits the population and takes care of them by providing medical aid. It is just what Ranka, the main character, has been taught that influences the way she sees the royals at first.

The blood magic in this book also isn’t really blood-related. The powers instead are revolving around needing death when the urge shows up at random, and could maybe have received a better name than blood magic.

That being said, the book, to me, was just average. It didn’t really stand out, but I also feel like it was a decent YA debut. It manages to tick off the right boxes to make it a good book. However, throughout the story there is nothing of particular interest that you wouldn’t be able to find in a different YA book, and therefore doesn’t manage to grip your attention more than other books would.

The writing in the book is good, although not great. Rebecca seems to know how to write well, but throughout the story there were a couple of times where I felt like the writing jumped from one point to another without being very clear about a time skip. The fighting scenes in the book were, for the most part, not very detailed, and I felt like this could have elevated the book to the next level.

With that being said, I’m rating it 3/5.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 stars
The Ones We Burn is a story about Ranka, a blood-witch, sent as a bride to the human prince to honor the treaty.

“The family you choose are the ones who leave the deepest mark.”

I love a good story about witches, and loved every minute of reading this one! I dove into this story and had such a hard time putting it down!

The writing and plot were basic, but so good! It has the typical fantasy tropes and characters, but so much lore and worldbuilding was put into this world! The different types of covens, witches, powers and the humans made the world feel wholesome and big. I loved getting to know the world.

The plot was very good as well. Ranka going under the guise of marrying Galen and killing him to save the problem of suppression of the witches. It is something I’ve seen before, but the execution was done so well. The political unrest, the plague killing witches and the tensions were written so well. I just wanted to keep on reading to find out what would happen next.

The characters were really well developed and I loved them. They are noticeably teenagers and often act without thinking, but I loved the development and growth they went through. Ranka especially grew so much. I loved how she went from blindly following to really standing up for herself and becoming confident in who she is (she really reminded me of Zuko so much). I also really liked how kind-hearted and gentle Galen was. Percy was just so funny and Aramis really stole my heart.

I loved the found family aspect of this book so much! While Galen, Aramis and Percy were a bit established already, Ranka fitted in perfectly. They found a safe place in each other while trying to solve the problems kids shouldn’t have to deal with. I also really loved the little bits of romance that lifted the book to a higher level for me. it developed from “hate” to mutual respect and them needing each other to love.

Overall, The Ones We Burn is a great story with a full plot and story, fun, humor, heartbreak and mind-blowing moment.

I have listened to this via Audiobook and ebook with both ARC and ALC provided by NetGalley.

<b>Disclaimer: </b> I’m reviewing this book in the context of having read it. I can’t pretend to be blind to previous criticism, however, I do disagree with it.

⭐️The magic is called blood magic in this case because the magic lives within her blood, it’s described almost the same as the Berserkers in Norse Mythology but a little more magical. It gives her a lust for blood but not in the ‘I need to drink it’ sense but the bloodlust of a warrior who needs to kill. Magic in this world is within someone from the day they are born, blood magic is born from murder (think Vampire Diaries when Tyler doesn’t become a werewolf until he kills someone). Humans also have magic but it is described as being external so doesn’t come from any part of their body I suppose would be kind of how we’d expect magic in a fantasy to be (controlling the wind, controlling animals that sort of thing).
Quote: “All witches came from humans, And the lines between them were blurred at best. The marked difference was their power: human magic manifested externally, granting the ability to stir a breeze with the twitch of a hand or bend the mind of an animal with a whisper. But witchery was in the bones, the blood, the breath. With it came a tougher body, a longer life, sharper senses, and a turn of the nails’

I don’t feel comfortable speaking to the notion of a ‘reverse racism’ fantasy, as I feel there are previous reviews on here written by POC whose voices matter more on the subject, however, I will say that the colour of someone’s skin isn’t an issue for the characters in the world Mix has created. On both the side of the Skraa witches and the humans a variety of skin colours are mentioned. ⭐️

<b>On to the actual review</b>

As a debut fantasy novel this book is great, not amazing, but good. The main character Ranka is an incredibly villainous and unreliable narrator, she makes absolutely terrible choices and at times you as the reader find yourself hating her. The book is written from her perspective and shows that she has been brainwashed into believing so much that isn’t true at all. I love the twins, Princess Aramis and Prince Galen, they’re sibling relationship is so adorably realistic.

This book can be heavy at times, it deals with childhood trauma and trauma bonds.

Trigger warnings ⚠️ :
Body gore
Death
Child abuse
Disease

I got a free copy from Netgalley all opinions are my own.
I have both an e-arc and the audiobook arc.

I'm probably going to get some hate for this review lol.

For starters, I think that people just want something or someone to hate on. They want to see everything as problematic, and even though I'm no saint, the cancel culture just isn't healthy.

Most of the people writing bad reviews about this book looks to not be POC. And I'm not saying that only POC are allowed to call things out, but I've noticed a rise in a lot of non POC finding things racist or appropriating, which gets really tiring🙄
I do recognise that some POC have written bad reviews too, and I won't discredit them or their experiences and feelings.

Also a lot of the 1 star reviews are literally from people that haven't even read the book. Which I find very infuriating.
There's also a lot of "fake" accounts only made to review this book. Those "fake" accounts, either write bad or good reviews, so I feel like all the reviews should be taken with a grain of salt🤷🏻‍♀️.

Anyways finished with my rant lol.

I don't see any reverse racism of the sort, maybe I'm just blind, but I really didn't notice anything problematic.

It's a pretty basic fantasy story in my opinion, and follows the usual tropes. The characters are okay, they act just like teenagers does, which suprisingly didn´t annoy me.

Overall I didn't mind this book, it was okay, it wasn't bad in my opinion. I think as I often do with audiobooks, that I would have liked this much better as a physical copy. I really should stop reading audiobooks, I rarely get the full enjoyment from audiobooks if it's my first read.

Luckily for me I also have an e-arc, and the chapters I read, I did like. I liked that the chapters weren´t too long, and I liked the writing.
I liked the ending too, it was nice.

So you know what I like this book. Hate me all you want.
It's more a 3 star read for me, but due to all the low ratings, I'm giving this 4 stars to bump it up🥴

Ok.... so the situation is this, there is a lot of talk about this book and I apologise but cant really ignore that however I'm also not sure that I'm qualified to talk in too much depth over it, I'm a reader that looks to be transported to a fantasy world for fun and escapism, I don't often like to super analyse a book, its why I love YA, its usually easy to follow, fun and a bit more carefree.
I requested the eArc of the text prior to the discourse surrounding it. I love Hodder books in general and the blurb sounded right up my street but, in all honesty, I ended up reading this to form my own opinion as I couldn't find any solid, detailed information backing the claims from the account that started the controversy around this book.
Having now read it, I don't understand this controversy and the comments made.

It's important to say that I am not black or jewish, I am very aware that my experiences and knowledge will be very different from others and my perspective and opinions are my own. I may have some learning to do here but let me explain what I read and understood.
Ranka does not seem to be oppressed by the royals. Yes she has a tough time of it, an abusive relationship with a parent figure, yes, having to fear for her kind because of a virus killing them, yes, being married off against her will because of a treaty, also yes, but my understanding is the countries and groups responsible for this are multi cultural and it is not the royals imposing this, in fact I'm almost certain I read that the Prince himself was often not able to even read the laws that were being passed by his council until he comes of age (which I believe consists of multi-cultures)
*spoiler alert* if anything the 4 main characters seemed to form a found family bond and help each other solve the problems.

I don't know, maybe I missed something which honestly could be possible because I had some trouble getting into the book, it was a slow start for me. Once I got going I realised I was having trouble with the lore/magic and this is what caused my slow start. I had a lot of questions that made me stop and start. Who was who? what magic was possessed and why? where did it came from? why is a Bloodwin so special? what is the Scra? the list goes on a bit, I had to keep thinking and flicking back to reaffirm groups of people and their alliances. Perhaps that's a reader problem for me, I enjoy my YA and id say this is on the upper side of that genre.
It is certainly more politically focused and I would have enjoyed some more world building to bring the various countries to life more.

I did enjoy the fact that nothing seemed to come easy for any of the characters and for once we have an enemies to lovers romance that isn't insta love disguised as enemies to lovers or a romance that turns into this head over heals love formed from an enemies beginning, its tentative and real, moving through phases that reflect the situations they have found themselves in. In fact the character growth all round is really very good, all of them learn and grow throughout.

I did find the plot and the mystery really interesting and great to follow it has lots of twists and turns and a fair amount to unpack for those who like political YA and a good character development story also has LGBTQIA+ representation.
Im pleased to be given the opportunity to read this and form my own opinions.

The Ones We Burn is an intense story that circles around the idea that while we might not always be able to trust those around us, we should always be able to trust ourselves. Rebecca Mix introduces an intriguing array of characters who exist fairly firmly in the realm of morally grey, which only makes the story more exciting. The story also rests on an equally intriguing premise: in a world where humans can practice magic, what does it mean to be a witch? The answer, is one worth uncovering.

It's impossible to read this book without knowing of the controversy surrounding it - as a white, non-Jewish person, I cannot comment on the representation of Black people or Jewish people within this book, and I encourage you to read reviews by Black and Jewish reviewers for opinions on these matters.
I was very confused reading this book - I don't know if I missed something at the start, but I don't feel like the magic system was really explained at all, so throughout the book, I could not understand where these blood-witches came from or what it means or what a Bloodwinn is, or any of that. And it really marred the experience of reading the rest of the story because it felt like I was playing catch-up the whole time. How do witches come about? Is it random, is it genetics, I don't know.
The writing was pretty good, it wasn't anything super amazing - I don't know that it's the next big thing (as it was being promoted as before the controversy came out), and I also felt that the characters all were quite similar to one another. None of them were anything I've never seen before.
Overall, a decent fantasy, but I would definitely recommend checking out the reviews of OwnVoices readers if you are considering picking this book up.

Thank you Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was a quick and enjoyable read for me. It did deal with some heavier topics, among others, abuse and grief. However, it is not so much about abuse and grief but about how we deal with it and the hope and love that can help a person heal. And not only does it already have these powerful ingredients for a beautiful book. It also has that mysterious element of a witch-killing plague that needs to be solved. All in all, this is a very good book that people will read with pleasure!

Renka is a blood-witch living in the coven of Skra in Witchik's wild north. She is tired of fighting and wants to be left alone, but then she is named Bloodwinn, the next treaty bride to the human kingdom of Isodal. She is sent south with the mission to kill the prince. Soon witches start turning up dead, killed by a mysterious plague. In the palace, Ranka learns that the prince is not a vile monster and that he does not want to be king at all. His sister, though, the wickedly smart and beautiful princess, makes Ranka an offer: help her develop a cure for this plague; in return, she will teach Ranka to contain her deadly magic.

The Ones We Burn was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022 and when I saw it on Netgalley I jumped into it.So before I started I wanted to thank Netgalley and HodderBooks for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

So, first of all I want to say that I enjoyed this book very much. It was intense, demanding, but it is certainly a great book and I was amazed that it was the author's debut, especially from the writing.
Well this is totally my book. In fact I liked it, a lot.
As a category it fits perfectly into fantasy (and then it's a standalone), with a good queer representation (yeah) in which the romance does not outclass the fantasy genre at all, indeed, it is really very, very little.
On a narrative level it is a very coherent, intense book that is very mature for a YA. Nothing to take away from the YA, but usually when we are in this sub-category that concerns the age target there are books with a simple, linear flowing type of writing, which entertains you. This book has all these characteristics, but the writing is very mature, which also makes me think (things later confirmed) that this book is the result of years of work, which has really stood on the author's desk for a long time and has been subject to revisions upon revisions.
I really enjoyed the world-building. It is steeped in politics - we are in a very delicate moment of handover where the heir is very young - This often and willingly, both in books but in true history - led to moments of crisis , or in any case very delicate, and indeed so it is. Honestly, I liked it to be honest, but I would have insisted more on some elements, such as the culture of the people of Ranka, which could be very interesting (she wields an ax and I always thought she is described as practically a Viking, a ShieldMaiden), with many more whys and how to understand more fully what are her motives.

"Ranka had been reborn amid fire and blood. She was ruled by the death in her veins, has accepted her role of monster long ago."

At the narrative level there is nothing to say. When you have this type of books you tend to always start from a truth which then turns out to be completely untrue when the main character connects all the dots, and so it was.
It is a pleasant reading but in some parts very intense, others completely dynamic.
The story is not very original (he could have dared a little more here in my opinion) but it works very well, especially because both the world and the characters are very well written.
I believe that there are two things that keep me glued to a book: the world and the characters. I have already told you one and I have nothing more to say. The characters are fantastic and what is most beautiful is that, although at the beginning they are complete strangers, when it comes to the end they come to the bitter conclusion (and even us who read) that everyone has always and only been loved but in reality manipulated for the power they represented and that they could acquire through what they represented for others. What I liked the most was the protagonist, because obviously we are inside her head, which is imbued with a resentment that has been going on for years and then pushes her to be suspicious of everything.

As you can see, it was a really enjoyable read for me.
If I can say (always him) the ending. It's not that he left a bad taste in my mouth, because I liked it, but when I start a book and think "I wish it would end like this" and then it ends like that, it's like I'm disappointed by the simplicity. I don't know if it is understood, but I definitely prefer when I turn the last page and remain with my mouth open for a quarter of an hour, here!

Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review, but I am holding myself accountable and will not be promoting this book any further.

I originally had a different review for this book, but since being made aware of the situation, I deeply apologise for overlooking these issues.

I've seen some others give reports of anti-black elements, reverse racism and Jewish stereotypes within this book.

The author has since released a statement on Twitter saying her book isn't for everyone and that she didn't do anything wrong. It also says that none of the problems in the book will be fixed either.

There have been bipoc/Jewish people saying that this is offensive. Of course, there will always be a minority that don't get offended, but a majority of them have been, so I'm going to listen to the majority.

I will be will be more critical of the books I choose to promote on my platform in the future.

Really interesting magic system, and a really interesting read! Looking forward to buddy reading this with friends soon!