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** spoiler alert ** Not much to say, honestly. I found this whole book to be pretty odd�� in concept, plot, and characters.

Richelle Mead usually hits the mark with her stories for me. The plots are typically cleverly crafted, characters complex and lovable. But this was anything but. The concept of Eugenie being a shaman and the main focus being faeries—or “gentry�� or “shining people”�� was strange to me. Throw in other strange demons and a freaking kitsune... it felt like a roadside circus.

Aside from the medley of creatures, there’s the glaringly obvious issue of what this whole book hinges on: every character trying to have sex with Eugenie. Every damn one. I thought Richelle would make this concept less creepy but... she did anything but. Made it weirder, if anything, by having Eugenie nearly get raped every day. Like, what? And one of the biggest plot points in this book, Eugenie traveling to the land of the dead to get Kiyo, amounted to having absolutely no consequences. A whole lot of build up and words, all equaling to nothing.

And the biggest disappointment to me: the characters. Eugenie herself isn’t very interesting, Kiyo is blander than anyone else, and Dorian’s most notable attribute is that he likes bondage. None of these characters have much grit, no structure to them. I couldn’t get myself to like them very much. And no, Kiyo and Dorian don’t get any brownie points for being the only men romantically interested in Eugenie and also not trying to rape her. The bar is so, so low for these men.

Some additional problematic bits... Eugenie’s roommate Tim pretending to be Native American. What The Actual Fuck. And another one: Eugenie being furious with her mom for not telling her about her father, when he quite literally held her captive and raped her. Seriously? Where’s the compassion? I wouldn’t blame her mom for never wanting to talk about that, ever. Let her do what she will with her pain. It’s her own to bury. Lastly, what’s up with Eugenie literally having slaves?? Some messed up indentured servitude going on here. Why is this normalized in this book??

I had hoped this series would be like the Georgina Kincaid series, but I can’t see it heading in that direction. I’ll continue to read on for now, simply because I own all the books anyways, but if I get too bored I’ll stop.

Here’s to hoping things turn around in the next 3 books~