A decidedly unusual novel, with many levels of reading and drawing on several archetypes. Every character, with the possible exception of Mr. John Loveheart, is taken to the extreme, which in the end makes them somewhat two-dimensional, lacking in nuance. The fairy-tale style with which the story is told is quite pleasant, however, as the reading progresses, one perceives a certain fragmentation in the narrative, which ultimately makes the reading unfulfilling.

First of all, I probably would have given this book 1 starts but it's just sneaking an extra for all the potential it had. Potential that Bee has absolutely wasted.

What could have been a perfectly creepy but charming fantasy about good vs evil, time travel, spirits and a shape shifter has been squandered into a barely legible piece of rubbish.

The title leads you to believe that the book will be about Mirror, a young girl with a soul of an Egyptian princess trapped inside her, and Goliath, a huge shape shifting Egyptian police man who becomes Mirror's guardian when he rescues her from her grandfather's murder attempt. However, after introducing you to them, Bee traps Mirror in a cage and starts to jump around the time line to give you the story of Loveheart, an eccentric member of the gentry who has been raised by a demon who killed his father.

I like books that jump between PoVs but it has to be done well, this book jumps around meaningless side characters quickly enough to give you seasickness. I also like books that rewrite fairy tales or legends but again it has to be done well. This book has the worst Hades and Persephone retelling that I've ever read just shoe horned in the middle for no reason.

There was a lot for me to hate about this but the biggest one - taking a father and daughter type relationship like the one Mirror and Goliath had that was honestly beautiful and then destroying it. He was a fierce protector and she finally had a parent figure who cared for her, it was an excellent set up. Until Bee decided to have Mirror rapidly age up into adulthood because of inexplicable timey-wimey magic stuff and then have them end up together! She is not an adult, she is a child in an adult's body without the same level of life experience that Goliath has but nooooo Bee has to make it weird.