This was a great book. For a debut novel, Arcadia is deserving of the praise she receives! With plenty of magic, found family, enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn, angst, twists and betrayals, this story never failed to keep my interest. It had the perfect blend of unique characterisation, world-building and political intrigue, as well as delving into realistic issues of abuse, objectification and grief. A lot of the description was gorgeous and sophisticated too.
I really enjoyed the mystery vibes of this story as Theadora tries to uncover who is behind the plots against her life. This had to be one of the best aspects of the story. I loved the characters, especially Thea, Clay and Iris. Theadora is a strong character and seeing her growth as a character was great to see: I cannot wait to see where her story takes us next!
The romance was a more secondary aspect to the novel and the fantasy itself takes the centre stage which, for me, I would have hoped for more of the former. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot twists at the end and one of the betrayals I did not see coming. The main twist unfortunately felt rather obvious and I was hoping it would not be them because of that very reason. Other than that, I enjoyed it!